Representative democracy is starting to creak. Political participation is no longer exhausted by voting; we have to create new forms of interaction.” This is the premise of Democrazia digitale, the latest book by Emiliana De Blasio, Vice Director of the LUISS Centre for Media and Democratic Innovation and Professor of Sociology and Communication, e-Government and Political Communication, and Gender Politics.
The field of digital democracy, or e-democracy, is in continual redefinition and is intertwined with other important themes such as digital citizenship, online participation and e-government. In her book, published by LUISS University Press, Professor De Blasio offers a theoretic approach and highlights both potential strengths and limits of digital democracy. “In recent years, the decrease in participation, electoral absenteeism and the growing dissatisfaction with democratic institutions have increase the appeal of new participatory, deliberative and digital approaches to democracy. Frequently terms like e-government, e-governance, open government and e-democracy are used indiscriminately, however, digital democracy must not be confused with electronic government.
E-government, says Professor De Blasio, refers to administrative and government functions of institutions and public administration while “e-democracy regards the opportunity for citizens to take part in decision-making processes. It is not a top-down process, but horizontal, meant to favor the adoption of new forms of deliberation and participation. Naturally, this doesn’t always occur.”
The term open government refers to a fluid concept: it is the open and transparent management of a local, central, public administration. “France provides us with an interesting example: everything is centralized and the government has financed participatory models such as Democratie ouverte, which was primarily designed by academics.” Another interesting example are new platforms promoted by British institutions such as Fix my street, “where anybody can report local problems, administration then acts on the issues and then reports on progress. This way, citizens take part in managing public affairs, which stimulates participation in other processes.”
There are a few examples in Italy as well, "such as the use of participatory budgeting in some towns. During crises, participation is more important. Citizens must be involved in making decisions. The United States has done it for many years, while in Europe there have been various attempts at the local level.”
However, before putting digital policies and platforms into use, it is important to consider certain risks and problems: “First of all, transparency in public administration is necessary. All acts must be digitalized and accessible. Another problem is investment. Who develops these platforms? How will online deliberation processes be organized? For example, the American government uses open source programs to allow local bodies to organize them with ease according to their needs. The Five Star Movement uses an activist-developed version of the Airesis platform.”
According to the LUISS professor, recent measures taken by governments, such as new cookie legislation, are a good sign. However, the book also focuses on controversial phenomena related to the web, such as Anonymous, Prism and WikiLeaks. “The negative aspects of the web are the most fascinating, but we must focus on positive aspects, those we can perfect.” In response to this issue, De Blasio explains the classic distinction in digital democracy studies between cyber-optimists and cyber-pessimists. “I don’t support either position, but I’m open minded. The foundation has been laid and the path has been drawn, we must simply always keep the risks and consequences in mind.”