Digital technologies have not yet led to a new form of direct democracy.
This week blog post’s topic makes me miss my father so much as when I was in Vietnam, at mealtimes, my father, my brothers and I quite often discussed democracy and what it really means in Vietnam. While this topic is not precisely the same as those I used to discuss I hope I can obtain some new point of views after this blog post to discuss with my father in the near future.
Democratic government is generally understood as meaning that citizens have full rights to vote, usually for representatives, but sometimes also when the government has a referendum. However, it means much more. In a democracy, citizens have the right to speak their voices and ideas, and sometimes even to refuse policies that they do not agree with. The government provide adequate information for its citizens so that its citizens involve in political issues efficiently.
Digital technologies have changed the way that democratic processes work. The citizens can access more information and discuss with each other — not only in their country but also in the other parts of the world — to have more valuable points of view to apply when exercising their right to vote, or participate in direct democratic processes. This enhances the role of citizens, changes the way government and its citizens integrate, and makes democratic processes move smoothly.
However, the use of digital technologies is just a tool in direct democratic processes that can support those processes to operative more productively. Digital technologies allow governments store huge amount of information (data) in cloud services that serve for policies or decision making. Big data and open data allow governments to make policies closer their citizens’ wishes and needs. Consequently, the more information governments have by storing and collecting through the internet, the more likely it is that future policies can achieve success.
Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which people decide on policy initiatives directly. In the age of technology, citizens may be able to engage more deeply with their government through the internet (e-engagement, e-voting, e-deliberation) and break down the geographical distance. In the past, when the internet had not become as popular as nowadays, when the government considered national issues such as changing the official name of their country, they would often have engaged in simple forms of direct democracy. That might have involved holding direct meetings to get ideas from their citizens about that issue, then summarizing and evaluating information and making decision based on what they received.
Additionally or alternatively, it might have involved a referendum. But now, the work related to this process can become easier for many citizens to engage in, more efficiently and more quickly. The referendum can be hold online (online engagement, online meeting, online deliberation) through information technology platforms that can spread information quickly, and deeply involve people in convenient ways.
In addition, the use of digital technologies is giving more opportunities for citizens to express their voice about political issues or policies through various channels such as chat room, email, blogpost, online meetings. For example, the New Zealand flag referendum was held in 2016 and involved more than 10,000 designs through the internet. Digital technologies have changed the way citizens and the government communicate with each other which give advantages in speed and in making more information available to help the government and citizens, so that the democratic processes work more productively.
As discussed above, digital technologies are tools that improve the democratic process. It does not mean the use of technologies lead to a truly new form of direct democracy. Recently, the term “e-democracy”, a combination of the words electronic and democracy that means to apply information technology and communication to promote democracy has become widely used. It is a form of government that assumes that all adult citizens have equal rights to participate and express their voice by using digital technologies. Digital technologies can be used to strengthen government accountability by providing information to its citizens broadly, and they are theoretically politically neutral. It does not mean the countries which apply more digital technologies are more committed to direct democracy.
Indeed, digital technologies can shape direct democracy processes, but it depends on the level to which the government implements them and the ability of its citizens can adapt. Take the old generation as an example to illustrate this point, the old people are considered “digital immigrants” that may have difficulty catching up with new IT skills or knowledge. They may not be familiar with online engagements such as online voting, online debating, and online deliberation. Hence, they will not involve in those activities as they are not confident in using digital technologies and may abandon with them. That may mean that people who were highly involved in democratic processes are less able to participate.
In the digital technology era, democratic governments are being required to change their communication so that its citizens can participate widely and deeply. The more citizens and governments participate through digital technologies, the more productive that direct democratic process can be. However, digital technologies are just tools to support and serve the processes of direct democracy. They have not yet led to a new form of direct democracy.
