eDemocracy:Public Online Engagement by the European Commission

Inhaltsangabe: Abstract: Research on electronic democracy is still limited to a number of institutions, researchers and academics. Nevertheless, interest in the topic grows and new trends and best practices arise. The aim of this thesis was to elaborate on the founding principles of eDemocracy, to build a model for designing eDemocracy initiatives and to examine the current status quo of eDemocracy projects within the European Commission. This thesis is divided into two parts: a theoretical part and an empirical part. In order to build a solid foundation of the core principles of eDemocracy the thesis links reform mechanisms, which were developed under the New Public Management efforts, to economical and institutional theories that scientifically support the necessity for new ways of governance. It becomes clear that the evolution of eDemocracy is an outcome of diverse political and economical influences and that eDemocracy can substantiate efforts to re-invent governmental work processes. The first part of this thesis is based on an extensive literature research from various academic disciplines, including Economics, Institutional Theory, Information Technology and Political Studies. Sources for the theoretical part come from academic literature, academic journals and documents retrieved from the World Wide Web. The theories examined and the conclusions drawn upon these theories serve the purpose to gain a deeper understanding for the need to reform the public sector and to improve its outcomes. Further, those findings allow us to incorporate eDemocracy into the eGovernment and eGovernance efforts, which are aimed to digitize governmental work processes. The model developed in part one acts as a benchmark for the examination of current public online engagement efforts on a European-wide level. The European Commissions web site, http: //europa.eu.int, is scrutinized, in order to examine the current level of design and operability of the Commissions efforts in e