Electronic democracy

We need much more citizen power and responsibility, coupled by new types of mandate for political decision-making.

Participation is increasingly electronic. Whether we like it or not, online platforms and tools are more successful in generating engagement and are becoming the norm in many situations.

Open online political participation is therefore to be celebrated, developed and extended into various areas of public life. It allows waves of common people to define the direction of any organisation, including political parties and governments.

It is true that participatory democracy, as opposed to the traditional representative democracy, generates asymmetries, as it gives more real power to people who are more active. Research carried out on in the area of participatory budgets across the world confirm the obvious: local activists who have more time at their disposal, and therefore more information and opportunities to coordinate their actions, can shape the decisions. This is natural and inevitable in any system in which common people have a real opportunity to participate politically on a regular basis and become influential activists if they wish so.

Openness is the way forward. Only the establishment has anything to fear.