Nowadays, there seems to be an alarmingly growing public disinterest towards participating in democratic processes. Dissatisfaction with current political practices, low public vote turnout at national and European level and limited public catch-up of political news are strong indications of the poor public involvement in democratic decision-making processes.

Strangely enough, citizens are being better informed and are seeking greater involvement in the decision-making processes that affect them. At the same time, new technologies have the potential to involve large numbers of citizens in public debate and decision-making at all levels. As a result, the enhancement of Europe’s democratic decision-making processes remains an abiding challenge on the basis of the commitment to build a competitive and inclusive knowledge-based society.

DEMO-net recognizes the multi-disciplinary skills which are required for greater interactivity in the democratic processes and offers the strategies for achieving this goal.

The primary objective of DEMO-net is to strengthen scientific, technological and social research excellence in eParticipation by integrating the research capacities of individuals and organisations spread across Europe. For this reason, 19 leading research institutions that have studied the underlying principles of eParticipation and actively worked with governments across Europe in applying and evaluating eParticipation are collaborating closely. Moreover, bonds with the United States are enhanced with the participation of an American University.

As eParticipation and eDemocracy involve a wide range of different disciplines (like Social Sciences, Political Sciences and so forth), another issue that has to be addressed is the fact that until now, research in eDemocracy and eParticipation has suffered from being fragmented, disparate and unfocused, with researchers often unaware of developments in different disciplines. DEMO-net seeks to rectify this lack of coordination with an unparalleled opportunity for joined-up, multidisciplinary research to advance the state-of-the-art in research technologies and evaluation frameworks for eParticipation. The ultimate aim of such research is to enable broader and more informed participation in the policy making process.

The wider potential impact of the project is now even more obvious; DEMO-net aims, above all, at enhancing public participation with the use of ICT. And more active and extensive involvement of citizens in all phases of democratic decision making results in better decision making which is translated into enhanced democratic processes and a cohesive European society.

However, a number of key challenges have been highlighted with regard to eParticipation. In order to address these challenges, DEMO-net has established three high-level research objectives.

The first objective is that DEMO-net will establish a corpus of material on research and policy documents related to eParticipation that will be accessible and will form the European baseline for research and policy-making.

The second objective addresses barriers to eParticipation across Europe. DEMO-net is investigating these barriers, among others, by looking at current and emerging technologies, methodologies and techniques for successful deployment in future pro j ects.

Finally, the third objective is that DEMO-net will establish sets of criteria which will allow for the evaluation of future eParticipation initiatives to be undertaken in a systematic and standardised way across Europe.

Obtaining progress beyond the current fragmented state-of-the-art on eParticipation will require a combined effort by researchers representing different disciplines and ex pert practitioners from government agencies. DEMO-net will provide the structural and infra-structural foundation for the longer-term collaborations which will ensure these advances.

All in all, as the EU is on the way to build an inclusive and competitive knowledge-based society by implementing the Lisbon agenda goals, citizens’ participation in democratic decision-making is of major importance and a key objective. However, the employment of state-of-the-art ICTs is not a panacea in strengthening public participation since other parameters have to be taken into consideration (social inclusion, digital divide and so on).

DEMO-net is combining the research ex perience of various research institutes, universities and academia in order to develop a European common approach to eParticipation. However, eParticipation tools should not be understood as technologies in isolation, but also as political and social systems. eParticipation tools reflect particular understandings of policy-making, democracy, social organization and communication. Deployment of eParticipation tools is dependant on political vision and mobilization and often brings changes in democratic practice. This deployment is also dependent on the ability to learn and use new forms of social mobilization and communication.

These socio-economic and socio-technical aspects are just as critical in establishing eParticipation in a societal situation, as the technologies and tools themselves. DEMO-net is the great first step towards integrated and complemented eParticipation. It is up to the society, the government and the public institutions to take the rest steps and create a sound and ingrained democracy.

For any comments and further information you can contact:

Prof. Konstantinos Tarabanis, University of Macedonia, kat@uom.gr , Dissemination Strategy Leader

Nanna Skovrup, The Digital North Denmark, nsk@nja.dk , Administrative Co-ordinato