“Simply put, our goal is to make your government more accessible to all Americans.”
-President George W. Bush, March 2002
Thesis
Although E-rulemaking has its flaws, it nevertheless warrants a try because it will help to legitimize democracy. E-rulemaking promotes the legitimization of democracy by lowering information costs, increasing public participation, and improving deliberation and communication between different members of society.
Until recently, information technology has been serving an ancillary role to democracy. The word “democracy” is defined as “government by the people, either directly or through representatives.” With the advent of E-rulemaking, however, the playing field for democracy has been irrevocably altered. A marriage has thus been formed between information technology and the very concept of democracy.
By definition, democracy is not government by a selected few. If only a few participates in a decision making process that affects them, democracy will be falling far short of its ideals. Thus, in order to have effective government by the people, a few key elements ought to be satisfied.
First, there should be public participation. Without public participation, it would not be a government “by the people.” Second, the public should have reasonable access to the information that is essential for the issues at hand. The public cannot make good decisions when denied relevant information. Moreover, without knowing which laws will be affecting them, the public would not know when they need to participate and when they should participate. Currently, through the use of online commenting, the internet is the best way for the public to provide input to the government. Consequently, the internet is arguably the best way for the public to receive information relevant to rulemaking. However, there is one caveat. Unless the “digital divide” problem can be solved, true public participation will not exist. On this point, this paper will show that science, not politics will ultimately bridge the digital divide.
The final element to be satisfied in order to have an effective democracy requires that the public have an accessible, deliberative process where view points may be exchanged with one another. Accordingly, the democratic process will be enhanced in several ways. Having a deliberative process will force each participant to examine his...
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...eople of different income level, educational background, gender, or race will be necessary to shed light on this subject.
Such analysis shows that as of February 3rd, 2005, there are 199,861,345 internet users in the United States, or 68.8% of the population. In comparison, the internet usage rate was 62% of the population back in 2001. In other words, approximately seven out of every ten Americans have access to internet today and this number is continuing to grow. Despite these positive facts, not all sectors of society have equal access to the internet.
This begs the question; does the rich have significantly more access to E-rulemaking than the poor? In answer, we must take a look at internet access rate difference between different income classes. When we do so, it is easy to see that there is an undisputable correlation between income level and internet access rate.
Data from 2001 (Family Income/internet access rate)
i. $75,000 + (82.1%) ii. $50,000 ~ $74,999 (69.2%) iii. $30,000 ~ $49,999 (54.5%) iv. $15,000 ~ $29,999 (35%)
v.
The effects of new digital technologies and their policy implications result in a complex issue that is always evolving. The “Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power” by Sandra Braman presents a breakdown of policy development for the constant evolution of the technological world and how it affects the state and society. She theorizes that the ‘information state’ is in the process of replacing the welfare state, to the detriment of the citizen and the democratic process. Braman “looks at the ways in which governments are deliberate, explicit, and consistent in their use of information policy to exercise power, exploring not only such familiar topics as intellectual property rights and privacy but also areas in which policy is highly effective but little understood,” (The MIT Press 2014). She argues that development of information policy causes transformation in the nature of governance, making the state more powerful and the citizens lose their rights, freedom and identity.
Before that can be established, I think a definition of democracy should be stated so that it may be called upon later in this essay. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, democracy is stated as "the principle of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" .
Janda, K., Berry, J., Golman, J., & Hula, K. (2009). The Challenge of Democracy: American
Digital democracy is closely linked with e-democracy, which is the idea of allowing people to use digital devices in order to cast their vote, which is said to have the potential to greatly increase electoral turnout by allowing some voters to vote using digital devices, which they wouldn’t have otherwise done with a traditional electoral system. However, it is important to understand that there is a severe danger of some sort of manipulations being done in order to influence the potential result of an election, through hacking or some sort of fraud. Overall, the idea of digital democracy will likely gain popularity with time as the ability of governments to provide secure ways of such e-voting to be
In making this argument this essay seeks to five things. Firstly, to define democracy within the contemporary context offering the key characteristics of a modern re...
With an entity as vast as the Internet, it is not surprising that a variety of unanswered questions will arise. I’m positive that the Internet will continue to confound scholars as it continues to quickly evolve. By analyzing the views of the celebrants and skeptics, I have been able to understand the potential that the internet has. By using the PEC, I have been able to understand how democracy and capitalism relate to the issues of the Internet. In the future, I hope that society can develop a further understanding of the Internet and move toward the Internet that the celebrants had hoped for.
One of the contemporary definitions of democracy today is as follows: “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives; Rule by the majority” (“Democracy” Def.1,4). Democracy, as a form of government, was a radical idea when it manifested; many governments in the early history of the world were totalitarian or tyrannical in nature, due to overarching beliefs that the strong ruled over the weak.
Democracy: a government by the people, in which citizens rule either directly or through elected representatives - the latter description more relevant to today’s societies. Quite evidently, democracy is not perfect; like any other political system, it is subject to a plethora of flaws. For instance, it is no secret that voters tend to make illogical decisions – not out of sheer malice, but as a result of being wrongly informed. Politicians also make erroneous choices, whether they do so because they are dishonest or simply out of touch with the true will of their constituents. Further, anyone who has studied the government of a parliamentary democracy knows gerrymandering can have a powerful say in determining elections. Despite these and other flaws however, democracy still seems to work.
A memorable expression said by President Abraham Lincoln reads, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Democracy, is a derived from the Greek term "demos" which means people. It is a successful, system of government that vests power to the public or majority. Adopted by the United States in 1776, a democratic government has six basic characteristics: (i) established/elected sovereignty (where power and civic responsibility are exercised either directly by the public or their freely agreed elected representative(s)), (ii) majority rule(vs minority), (iii) (protects one’s own and reside with) human rights, (iv) regular free and fair elections to citizens (upon a certain age), (v) responsibility of
...ation, or more efficient government management (worldbank.org, n.d). E-government [2] that describe the patterns of interactions of digital governments with the public: The first stage of e-government focuses on “digital presence” with simple information-providing Web sites of a passive nature, namely a digitization of government information. The second stage provides simple Web-based interactions of governments with citizens, businesses and other government agencies through email contact and interactive forms that can dynamically provide information needed. The third stage of this evolution provides online transaction services such as license renewal, permit applications and tax payments. The next stage is when the government promotes shared governance to transform how the government operates, in terms of seamless information flow and collaborative decision making.
This paper is going to explore the topic of e-democracy. As our society becomes more enthralled with technology and communication via the Web, it is important to consider what kind of methods and tools we use to communicate about issues that vastly affect everyone. Although some believe that there are positives and negatives regarding e-democracy, every subject is going to have pros and cons. Throughout this paper, I am going to explore what the “mainstream” media has written about e-democracy and both the positives and negatives of it as well. By using previous research, I would like to express why I think e-democracy’s positives outweigh the negatives and how society can benefit from such a technological breakthrough.
People want the freedom and empowerment to use technology, while being protected against malicious actions. Protection starts with awareness and education, the government needs to begin empirical goals around previous campaign successes. President Obama noted, “The government is bringing about unprecedented transparency and liability for Americans to take part in their democracy.” (Obama, 2009).
Even in countries like Europe or the US, there is still uneducated people, including the lack of digital and language literacy. According to McKinsey & Company (2014), approximately 900 million of people who are not accessing or connected to the internet are uneducated. Incentives can also become a barrier, even though the internet utility is developing increasingly to providing access to information and resources in order to improve quality of life. However, there are still many people who still does not have a compelling reason to go online. Incentives, low incomes and affordability, user capability, and infrastructure are all a great barriers that stand between millions and accessing the
Democracy has come to mean a principle under whose flag has most of the developed countries aced in their race for Imperialism. It has gone beyond all previous governing systems and has made room for progress and development. By offering free and fair elections, democracy has redefined human dignity and patriotism. It has also helped to improve decision-making among the citizens, and brought down the crime level. Democracy is for sure the most fitting among the other types of government, and needs to be implemented fully for effective functioning of a state.
In today’s world, democracy faces everyday challenges. These challenges affect each and every country. Each country has a particular way of encountering these challenges in order for the citizens to have some type of voice. The voice of the people makes a stronger impact on using democracy as a means to challenge the government of their country. As we take a look at the countries in the world today, we will see the path towards the challenges to democracy.