The question of what sort of political philosophy we need in the age of e-democracy - raised by Tom Steinberg - has been picked up by Mary Reid, another speaker at last week's conference.
I asked Mary, a former chair of the Local E-Democracy National Project, if she thought we are now entering a second phase of e-democracy, and she agreed we've moved from experimentation to a more mature use of online tools. She added, for example, that suburban commuters who can't get to local meetings in Kingston upon Thames - where she is currently Mayor - are particularly active online.
In a follow-up email discussion on e-democracy exchange, Mary - recapping her conference contribution - neatly summarises a model that she calls 'participatory representative democracy'.
Essentially, the model pairs high levels of citizen participation with strong elected representatives. Strong representatives are needed to balance the inevitable attempts at dominance by the loudest voices, to draw out the full range of views, to empower citizens to find their voice. But the representatives are the ones who are ultimately accountable for the decisions that are made.
This works best where all councillors, not just Cabinet members, have decision-making power. We have achieved that in Kingston through our Neighbourhood (Area) Committees which have a range of executive powers and substantial budgets. All councillors make decisions about issues that directly affect their wards, and are seen to do so in public meetings where any citizen can contibute.
I also described some real practices in my Neighbourhood in which citizens get involved in working parties with council officers that analyse problems and propose the solutions. The citizens then consult with their neighbours on the possible solutions. The role of the elected representative in this process is to ensure that the processes work smoothly and that the working party is as representative as possible. This approach ensures that the detailed impact of proposals is understood and that specific needs are met.
With this model of participation we need e-tools that:
1. provide a space where many types of information can be stored and be made easily accessible and searchable by anyone, e.g. reports, proposals, background information, timelines - ideally these should be geographically related and support annotation
2. provide a discussion forum where ideas and views can be exchanged
3. provide simple consultation tools with graphical online analysis
None of this is new, of course. In fact, we've been doing offline democracy like this for many years in Kingston, and it's quite easy to add on the e-elements to enrich the processes. The question is whether we can develop tools that themselves edge citizens - and more importantly, Councils - towards this kind of model of democracy.
It seems to me that we need this fine-grain practical attention to the way in which representative and participatory democracy can be combined, in order to provide the basis for using new tools as an additional channel. In her conference contribution - download pdf - Mary set out in more detail how consultation, participation and devolution work in Kingston, where residents can set the agenda for tackling local issues through neighbourhood working groups. She says:
The e-tools, of course, build on but do not replace other methods of communication. They increase the reach and encourage participation from groups that might not be able to attend meetings.
But perhaps e-democracy does have another role. Working the other way round, it can act as a catalyst for change. It can start a debate amongst councillors and officers about participation in council meetings. It can give tools to citizens that will help them to pressurise for greater involvement. It can encourage councillors to try new ways of communicating with their residents.
Maybe e-democracy can be the lever for democratic renewal.
Mary is now on the Board of ICELE - the International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy. However, as Mary says, e-tools are not a substitute for other traditional methods, and after our interview she dashed off to fulfill her Mayoral duties in Kingston switching on the Christmas street-lights ... and write her own blog.
Comments