Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee

Inquiry into Electronic Democracy

Discussion paper, October 2002

[Table of Contents]

3. Impact: Opportunities and challenges

3.1 Methodology

Democracy operates in a complex, dynamic and organic manner. It is not an easy process to codify and explain. However, utility can be gained by simply setting out some of the key activities and relationships as a means of analysing how electronic technology is, and will impact on the democratic process. This is not designed to be a fully comprehensive and detailed analysis. Rather it is an overview to provide a tool for identifying and analysing key issues.

The simple model described in Figure 1 can be developed to provide a framework for analysis and action. The model can be used to:

understand the major elements of the issue; and
give guidance on when, where and how to act.

The simple model has three functional elements that can be further disaggregated:

individual citizens

– representing personal interests
– representing some business interests
democratic entities

– groups of citizens
- representing local (i.e. geographical) interests
- with other mutual interests
  
  – organisations
- lobby groups with an ongoing existence
- businesses
  
  – political organisations
democratic institutions

– parliament
– government
– the judiciary
– other jurisdictions

Each of these undertake a number of activities within the context of the democratic process. While the activities differ from element to element, they include:

Forming

identifying others with a common interest
establishing a coalition of interest

Identifying

becoming informed about

– needs
– issues
– trends
– opportunities
– challenges

Assessing

deciding on relevance
testing issues
identifying priorities
judging practicality

Promoting

informing others
articulating issues
obtaining recognition

Interacting

consulting with others
debating the issues
accommodating the views of others
negotiating

Deciding

developing consensus and consent
electing decision makers
endorsing approaches
agreeing on policy

Implementing

assigning responsibility
acting on the issues

Monitoring

remaining informed
observing and measuring outcomes
assessing changes in circumstances

Evaluating

assessing outcomes
providing feedback

Iterating

repeating processes

These activities are listed in order to make them easier to understand. However, it is important to remember that the processes of democracy are not linear, but complex and dynamic. From issue to issue, many participants will only undertake some processes, they may return to processes several times as the key questions to be resolved are refined, and the nature of the process may dramatically evolve as the circumstances of the issue change.

3.2 Analysis of impact

Table 1 and Table 2 contain summaries of an analysis of the potential impacts of electronic technology on activities for each of the democratic entities – according to whether opportunities or challenges are involved. More detail is contained in Appendix 2.

While the analysis underlying these tables is necessarily subjective, it gives some overall impression of the areas where electronic technology provides the most opportunities and the most challenges in the context of democratic processes.

Table 2: The potential impact of challenges presented by electronic technology