Successful Digital Participation Needs Political Momentum
Latvia's petition platform ManaBalss won the Innovation in Politics Award 2023 in the category of Democracy Technologies. In this guest article Didzis Melkis, a board member of the Foundation of Public Participation, writes about the political momentum that was a necessary part of the success of ManaBalss.
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From Clicktivism to Hacktivism
New technologies provide a range of different participation levels that may favour a broadening, rather than a deepening of engagement. Yet this, according to Dr. Bas Baccarne, senior researcher at imec-MICT-Ghent University, is not necessarily a bad thing.
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The Changing Infrastructure of Democracy
At a panel last Thursday, leaders from two of Europe’s most successful DemTech platforms sat down with two civil society leaders in the same space for a conversation about the changing shape of democracy.
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Rahvaalgatus.ee – Enabling Successful Petitions at the Local Level
On Rahvaalgatus.es, citizens can introduce, debate and vote on petitions that will be brought to the table with the respective local governing body once the citizen has received the required support.
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What Makes Participatory Budgeting Work in Rybnik?
DT: What motivated you to start Participatory Budgeting in Rybnik? Piotr Kuczera: Participatory Budgeting in Rybnik started in 2013. But the initial idea came in 2009-2010 when a local NGO – the Social Initiatives Development Centre (CRIS) – implemented an innovative citizen participation project aimed at two very different districts of Rybnik. The goal of […]
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The Growing Market for Democracy Technologies
With the release of the report on 'Democracy Technologies in Europe' from the Innovation and Politics Institute (IPI) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), we thought we would wrap up some encouraging notes on the future of the DemTech market.
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An App to Facilitate Outreach for Citizens’ Assemblies
Making a citizen assembly truly representative of the larger population is a logistical challenge. The Es Geht LOS team has now developed an app that automates much of the outreach process.
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One Third of Eligible Youth Participates in Helsinki Youth Budget
Interview | The Helsinki Youth Budget allows young people in Helsinki to have a say in how the city's money is spent and also to take part in the implementation of projects. We spoke to Johanna Laukkanen, Interaction Specialist at the City of Helsinki about the project.
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Participatory Budgeting at EU Level – Promises and Pitfalls
What are the promises and the pitfalls of participatory budgeting at the EU level? These questions were discussed on a panel discussion organised by Euractiv, five participants, including Andrea Erdai from the European Commission, Elisa Lironi of the European Citizen Action Service, and Member of the European Parliament Helmut Scholtz, explored the
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EU Citizen Participation — What needs to change?
Democracy Technologies: The Bertelsmann Stiftung published an extensive study last year, 2022, calling for an EU framework for citizen participation. What was the inspiration for this study? Dominik Hierlemann: New forms of citizen participation have become a hot topic with interesting developments all over Europe. We have been involved in the field for quite some […]
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Building a Resilient Community in Valongo
The Portuguese city Valongo has developed a programme called 'Switch to Innovation' that fosters citizen engagement and creates a cohesive community through the use of technology.
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Lessons from Ghent
The city of Ghent in Belgium has a long history of citizen participation and have found that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to participation.
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Democracy Without Borders
As part of its campaign to promote global democracy and a UN Parliamentary Assembly, Berlin-based Democracy Without Borders is developing a platform to simulate what that might look like, and encouraging everyone to give it a go.
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Latvia, the Land of Successful Petitions
ManaBalss has been giving Latvian citizens a voice in their parliament for over 10 years now. As one of the digital democracy finalists in the Innovation in Politics Awards, we wanted to learn more about the secret of its success.
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From Consumer to Creator: Experiencing Digital Democracy in Schools
Democracy Technologies: With the aula project, you implement digital participation projects at schools. What is the motivation behind doing this digitally? Marina Weisband: I would say that the digital app is a means to an end – that as many students as possible get involved. For that, digital tools are useful on several levels. Firstly, […]
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