Technology and democracy: the who and how in decision-making. The cases of Estonia and Catalonia

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.may.11

Palabras clave:

Voto por internet, participación online, plataforma digital, Democracia Representativa, Democracia Agregativa, Democracia Directa, Democracia Deliberativa, Estonia, Cataluña, Decidim

Resumen

This paper focusses on the use of technology to improve democracy, comparing the cases of Estonia and Catalonia. Both examples are closely related in their use of technology to further democratize the decision-making processes, but have opposite starting points. Estonia´s internet voting system is an offshoot of the comprehensive e-governance system developed by the Estonian government. It is meant to make it more convenient for people to vote and, thus, easier for them to take part in elections. In Catalonia, the online participation system Decidim, initially set up in the city of Barcelona, represents a bottom-up project that emerged from the 15 May protests and aims to make the representative democratic system more direct and participatory. In our comparison we approach both paradigmatic cases from a theoretical reflection on the ideal types of democracy in relation to how decisions are made and by whom. Both projects have evolved and integrated new features that draw them together. First, internet voting is able to reach wider portions of society and digitally transform the Public Administration. Second, online participation platforms increase the potential for collecting citizens´ proposals and enriching discussions. These features make them more like a mixed model which, in the current model of representative democracy, creates spaces for a more direct and deliberative democracy. 

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Citas

Alvarez, Michael; Hall, Thad; Trechsel, Alexander (2009). "Internet voting in comparative perspective: the case of Estonia". PS: Political science and politics, v. 42, n. July, pp. 497-505. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096509090787

Aragón, Pablo; Kaltenbrunner, Andreas; Calleja-López, Antonio; Pereira, Andrés; Monterde, Arnau, Barandiaran, Xabier E.; Gómez, Vicení§ (2017). "Deliberative platform design: The case study of the online discussions in Decidim Barcelona". In: Ciampaglia, Giovanni; Mashhadi, Afra; Yasseri, Taha (eds.). Social informatics. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 277-287. ISBN: 978 3 319 67255 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67256-4_22

Bí¤chtiger, André; Niemeyer, Simon; Neblo, Michael; Steenbergen, Marco R.; Steiner, Jí¼rg (2010). "Disentangling diversity in deliberative democracy: Competing theories, their blind spots and complementarities". The journal of political philosophy, v. 18, n. 1, pp. 32-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9760.2009.00342.x

Barber, Benjamin (2020). Democracia fuerte. Córdoba: Almuzara. ISBN: 978 84 93337841

Barrientos-del-Monte, Fernando (2019). "Dimensiones discursivas entorno al voto electrónico". Revista de ciencia polí­tica, v. 27, n. 1, pp. 111-131. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2007000200006

Besson, Samantha; Martí­, Josep-Lluí­s (2006). Deliberative democracy and its discontents. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN: 978 1 138257146

Borge, Rosa; Balcells, Joan; Padró-Solanet, Albert (2019). "A model for the analysis of online citizen deliberation: Barcelona case study". International journal of communication, v. 13. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10805

Borge, Rosa; Balcells, Joan; Padró-Solanet, Albert; Batlle, Albert; Orte, Andreu; Serra, Ricardo (2018). "La participación polí­tica a través de la plataforma Decidim: análisis de 11 municipios catalanes". En: IX Congreso internacional en gobierno, administración y polí­ticas públicas (Gigapp). Madrid, 24-27 septiembre. https://bit.ly/3ahYSWq

Bua, Adrian; Bussu, Sonia (2020). "Between governance-driven democratisation and democracy-driven governance: Explaining changes in participatory governance in the case of Barcelona". European journal of political research, v. 60, pp. 716-737. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12421

Canovan, Margaret (1999). "Trust the people! Populism and the two faces of democracy". Political studies, v. 47, n. 1, pp. 2-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.00184

Celeste, Richard; Thornburgh, Dick; Lin, Herbert (2006). Asking the right questions about electronic voting. Washington DC: The National Academies Press. ISBN: 978 0 309100243 https://doi.org/10.17226/11449

Deseriis, Marco; Vittori, Davide (2019). "The impact of online participation platforms on the internal democracy of two southern European parties: Podemos and the Five Star Movement". International journal of communication, v. 13, pp. 5696-5714. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/10804

Downs, Anthony (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper & Brothers. ISBN: 978 0 060417505

Drechsler, Wolfgang; Madise, íœlle (2002). "E-voting in Estonia". Trames, v. 6, n. 56/51, pp. 234-244. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230523531_6

Ernsdorff, Marc; Berbec, Adriana (2007). "Estonia: the short road to e-government and e-democracy". In: Nixon, Paul; Koutrakou, Vassiliki (eds.). E-government in Europe: Re-booting the state. New York: Routledge, pp. 171-184. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203962381

Eurostat (2021). Digital economy and society statistics - households and individuals. https://bit.ly/3wKdN3h

Fischer, Frank (2003). Reframing public policy: Discursive politics and deliberative practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0 199242641 https://doi.org/10.1093/019924264X.001.0001

Fishkin, James (1991). Democracy and deliberation: New directions for democratic reform. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN: 978 0 300 15668 3

Fung, Archon (2015). "Putting the public back into governance: The challenges of citizen participation and its future". Public administration review, v. 75, n. 4, pp. 513-522. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12361

Ganuza, Ernesto; Mendiharat, Arantxa (2020). La democracia es posible. Sorteo cí­vico y deliberación para rescatar el poder de la ciudadaní­a. Madrid: Consonni. ISBN: 978 84 16205 55 4

Germann, Micha; Serdí¼lt, Uwe (2017). "Internet voting and turnout: Evidence from Switzerland". Electoral studies, v. 47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.03.001

Gjí¸steen, Kristjan (2012). "The Norwegian internet voting protocol". In: Kiayias, Aggelos; Lipmaa, Helger (eds.). Voting and identity. Vote-ID 2011. Cham: Springer, pp. 1-18. ISBN: 978 3 642 32747 6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32747-6_1

Gomà, Ricard; Font, Joan (2001). "La democracia local: un mapa de experiencias participativas". En: Font, Joan (ed.), Ciudadanos y decisiones públicas. Barcelona: Ariel, pp. 61-76. ISBN: 84 344 1818 5

Goodman, Nicole; Smith, Rodney (2017). "Internet voting in sub-national elections: Policy learning in Canada and Australia". In: Krimmer, Robert; Volkamer, Melanie; Barrat, Jordi; Benaloh, Josh; Goodman, Nicole; Ryan, Peter; Teague, Vanessa (eds.). E-Vote-ID 2016. Cham: Springer, pp. 164-177. ISBN: 978 3 319522395 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52240-1_10

Gronke, Paul; Galanes-Rosenbaum, Eva; Miller, Peter; Toffey, Daniel (2008). "Convenience voting". Annual review of political science, v. 11, n. 1, pp. 437-455. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053006.190912

Gutmann, Amy; Thompson, Dennis (2004). Why deliberative democracy?. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 978 0 691120195

Habermas, Jí¼rgen (1984). The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of society. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN: 978 0 745 60386 5

Hajer, Maarten; Wagenaar, Hendrik (2003). Deliberative policy analysis: Understanding governance in the network society. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978 0 521530705

Halderman, Alexander; Teague, Vanessa (2015). "The New South Wales iVote system: Security failures and verification flaws in a live online election". In: Haenni, Ralf; Koenig, Reto; Wikstrí¶m, Douglas (eds.), E-Voting and identity. Vote-ID 2015. Cham: Springer, 35-53. ISBN: 978 3 319 22270 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22270-7_3

Heller, Nathan (2017). "Estonia, the digital republic". The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/18/estonia-the-digital-republic

Hinsberg, Hille (2007). "Osalusdemokraatia veebi kaudu". Infotehnoloogia avalikus halduses. Tallin.

Kalvet, Tarmo (2012). "Innovation: a factor explaining e-government success in Estonia". Electronic government, an international journal, v. 9, n. 2, pp. 142-157. https://doi.org/10.1504/EG.2012.046266

Kankanhalli, Atreyi; Zuiderwijk, Anneke; Tayi, Giri (2017). "Open innovation in the public sector: A research agenda". Government information quarterly, v. 34, n. 1, pp. 84-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2016.12.002

Kitsing, Meelis (2011). "Success without strategy: E-government development in Estonia". Policy & internet, v. 3, n. 1. https://doi.org/10.2202/1944-2866.1095

Klinger, Ulrike; Russmann, Uta (2015). "The sociodemographics of political public deliberation: Measuring deliberative quality in different user groups". Communications, v. 40, n. 4, pp. 471-484. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2015-0017

Krenjova, Jelizaveta; Raudla, Ringa (2018). "Policy diffusion at the local level: Participatory budgeting in Estonia". Urban affairs review, v. 54, n. 2, pp. 419-447. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087416688961

Krimmer, Robert; Duenas-Cid, David (2019). "Efecto contagio en el uso del voto electrónico en Estonia: de las elecciones a otros niveles de la administración pública y la sociedad". En: Barrat, Jordi; Pérez-Moneo, Miguel (eds.). La digitalización de los partidos polí­ticos y el uso del voto electrónico. Cizur Menor: Aranzadi Thompson Reuters, pp. 247-262. ISBN: 978 84 13099590

Krimmer, Robert; Duenas-Cid, David; Krivonosova, Iuliia (2021). "New methodology for calculating cost-efficiency of different ways of voting: is internet voting cheaper?". Public money & management, v. 41, n. 1, pp. 17-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2020.1732027

Krivonosova, Iuliia (2021). "The forgotten election administrator of internet voting: lessons from Estonia". Policy studies, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2021.1958179

Licht, Nathan; Duenas-Cid, David; Krivonosova, Iulia; Krimmer, Robert (2021). "To i-vote or not to i-vote: Drivers and barriers to the implementation of internet voting". In: Electronic Voting. 6th International Joint Conference, E-Vote-ID 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86942-7_7

Mair, Peter (2013). Ruling the void. The hollowing of Western democracy. London: Verso. ISBN: 978 1 844673247

Manin, Bernard (1997). The principles of representative government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511659935

Mansbridge, Jane (1981). Beyond adversary democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978 0 226503554

Mcpherson, Crawford (1964). The political theory of possessive individualism: Hobbes to Locke. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978 0 195444018

Méndez, Fernando (2010). "Elections and the internet: On the difficulties of "˜upgrading´ elections in the digital era". Representation, v. 46, n. 4, pp. 459-469. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2010.518098

Méndez, Fernando; Serdí¼lt, Uwe (2017). "What drives fidelity to internet voting? Evidence from the roll-out of internet voting in Switzerland". Government information quarterly, v. 34, n. 3, pp. 511-523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2017.05.005

Mergel, Ines (2015). "Open collaboration in the public sector: The case of social coding on GitHub". Government information quarterly, v. 32, n. 4, pp. 464-472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2015.09.004

Morozov, Evgeny (2013). To save everything, click here: the folly of technological solutionism. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN: 978 1 610391382

O´Reilly, Tim (2011). "Government as a platform". Innovations: Technology, governance, globalization, v. 6, n. 1, pp. 13-40. https://doi.org/10.1162/INOV_a_00056

Oostveen, Anne-Marie (2010). "Outsourcing democracy: Losing control of e-voting in The Netherlands". Policy & internet, v. 2, n. 4, pp. 201-220. https://doi.org/10.2202/1944-2866.1065

Oostveen, Anne-Marie; Van-den-Besselaar, Peter (2004). "Security as belief: User´s perceptions on the security of electronic voting systems". Electronic voting in Europe: Technology, law, politics and society, v. 47, pp. 73-82. https://dl.gi.de/handle/20.500.12116/29131

Oszlak, Oscar (2014). Gobierno abierto: Hacia un nuevo paradigma de gestión pública. Santiago de Chile: Red de Go­bierno Electrónico de América Latina y el Caribe. Colección de documentos de trabajo sobre e-Gobierno, n. 5, pp. 1-35. https://www.oas.org/es/sap/dgpe/pub/coleccion5rg.pdf

Peña, José-Antonio; Fundación para el Avance de la Libertad (2020). índice mundial de libertad electoral (IMLE) 2020. España: Freedom Press. ISBN: 978 84 949138 4 6

Peña-López, Ismael (2020). "El ecosistema de gobernanza pública: las instituciones como infraestructuras abiertas para la toma de decisiones colectivas". En: Reniu, Josep-Maria; Meseguer, Ví­ctor (eds.). ¿Polí­tica confinada? Nuevas tecnologí­as y toma de decisiones en un contexto de pandemia. Cizur Menor: Thomson-Aranzadi, pp. 53-71. ISBN: 9788413450285

Pitkin, Hanna-Fenichel (1985). El concepto de la representación. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales. ISBN: 84 259 0723 3

Rosanvallon, Pierre (2011). Democratic legitimacy: Impartiality, reflexivity, proximity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN: 978 0 691149486

Rottinghaus, Bastian; Escher, Tobias (2020). "Mechanisms for inclusion and exclusion through digital political participation: Evidence from a comparative study of online consultations in three German cities". Zeitschrift fí¼r Politikwissenschaft, v. 30, pp. 261-298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41358-020-00222-7

Sarapuu, Kí¼lli; Saarnit, Leno (2020). "Public administration in Estonia: A search for identity". In: Bouckaert, Geert; Jaan, Werner (eds.). European perspectives for public administration: The way forward. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pp. 317-334. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvv417th

Sartori, Giovanni (2007). ¿Qué es la democracia?. Barcelona: Taurus. ISBN: 978 84 30606238

Schumpeter, Joseph (1994). Capitalism, socialism & democracy. Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN: 0 415 10762 8

Solvak, Mihkel; Vassil, Kristjan (2016). E-voting in Estonia: Technological diffusion and other developments over ten years. Tartu: Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies.

Solvak, Mihkel; Vassil, Kristjan (2018). "Could internet voting halt declining electoral turnout? New evidence that e-voting is habit forming". Policy and internet, v. 10, n. 1, pp. 4-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.160

Springall, Drew; Finkenauer, Travis; Durumeric, Zakir; Kitcat, Jason; Hursti, Harri; MacAlpine, Margaret; Halderman, J. Alex (2014). "Security analysis of the Estonian internet voting system". In: Ahn, Gail-Joon (ed.). Proceedings of the 2014 ACM SIGSAC Conference on computer and communications security. Scotsdale: ACM, pp. 703-715. ISBN: 978 1 4503 2957 6 https://doi.org/10.1145/2660267.2660315

Toots, Maarja (2019). "Why e-participation systems fail: The case of Estonia´s Osale.ee". Government information quarterly, v. 36, n. 3, pp. 546-559. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GIQ.2019.02.002

Toots, Maarja; Kalvet, Tarmo; Krimmer, Robert (2016). "Success in evoting - Success in edemocracy? The Estonian paradox". In: Tambouris, Efthimios; Panagiotopoulos, Panos; Sí¦bí¸, í˜ystein; Wimmer, Maria; Pardo, Theresa; Charalabidis, Yannis; Soares, Delfina-Sá; Janowski, Tomasz (eds.). 8th International conference on electronic participation (ePart), Guimaraes: LNCS, pp. 55-66. ISBN: 978 3 319 45073 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45074-2_5

V-DEM Institute (2021). Autocratization turns viral. Democracy report 2021. Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg. https://www.v-dem.net/static/website/files/dr/dr_2021.pdf

Vassil, Kristjan; Solvak, Mihkel; Vinkel, Priit; Trechsel, Alexander; Alvarez, Michael (2016). "The diffusion of internet voting. Usage patterns of internet voting in Estonia between 2005 and 2015". Government information quarterly, v. 33, n. 3, pp. 453-459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2016.06.007

Vassil, Kristjan; Weber, Till (2011). "A bottleneck model of e-voting: Why technology fails to boost turnout". New media and society, v. 13, n. 8, pp. 1336-1354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811405807

Von-Reybrouck, David (2017). Contra las elecciones. Cómo salvar la democracia. Madrid: Taurus. ISBN: 978 84 30618422

Yin, Robert (2019). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978 1 452242569

Publicado

2022-06-06

Cómo citar

Borge, R., Brugué, J., & Duenas-Cid, D. (2022). Technology and democracy: the who and how in decision-making. The cases of Estonia and Catalonia. Profesional De La información, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.may.11

Número

Sección

Artí­culos de investigación / Research articles