1,721,414 research outputs found
The credibility of regional policymaking: Insights from South America
No full textRegional responses to international threats and opportunities have become prevalent. Yet significant lacunae persist in our recognition of some impacts of regional policies. Where measuring impact of regional policy does exist, this tends to focus on economic impact, heavily influenced by the EU model, or focuses on impacts that we have come to expect from national level policymaking. In this paper we show that important effects of regional policymaking in South American regionalism are being overlooked. Specifically, we argue that failure to recognize the creation of normative frameworks, dynamics of regional diplomacy, and social policy outcomes from regional policymaking has negatively affected the credibility of regional organizations. Lack of understanding of the impact of regional policy risks trivializing progress in regional policy and, critically, affects the legitimacy and credibility of regional governance. We make this case by focusing on regional health and migration policies in South America.</p
Advancing comparison of democratic innovations: a medium-N fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of participatory budgeting
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Can the internet be designed to protect democracy and human rights?
Full text linkThe internet has given rise to many new opportunities and challenges for the functioning of democracy. This paper suggests that early optimism that the internet would be innately democratic in its effects was replaced over time by the recognition of a wider range of positive and negative effects and potential. It notes that this more mature and pragmatic consensus nevertheless values the internet as a vital support to democracy, and even as a human right. The paper notes that the continual emergence of new technologies, most recently generative artificial intelligence, will generate new opportunities and challenges in the future.While attention is paid to emerging threats, more support for exploring the emerging benefits of the new technologies to democracy would also deliver positives. The paper’s conclusions identify lessons from the use of deliberation tools in the broader context of the continued interactions between the internet and democracy, suggesting that democratic activity online could benefit from integrating expertise in democratic discourse into design, and by incentivising investment in and reward for deliberative use of online platforms
Towards a model for monitoring public services projects in Saudi Arabia
No full textInformation and communication technology (ICT) has been adopted by many governments around the world in the form of e-government to facilitate service delivery to the public. Saudi Arabia is an example of such a country that has adopted technology with these aims, but there is a failure in enabling the engagement of citizens with government to deliver public services projects with assured quality standards. The failings are blamed on the system's lack of support for stakeholder oversight. In light of these inadequacies, more effective monitoring of project construction and project implementation is required in order to improve public service quality from a long-term perspective. Fixes have been proposed to the lack of two-way communication between citizens and the government by inviting feedback from citizens through social media and other communication channels, however, a cohesive overarching model that enables the engagement of citizens with government projects has yet to be devised. There is a clear need for a model that can be applied to design official systems to facilitate consultation between the government and the public and to invite feedback from key stakeholders throughout each stage of the project lifecycle. This paper proposes a conceptual model to facilitate citizens in monitoring the quality of public services and the progress of public service projects. It is designed based on an in-depth analysis of the available systems on the market, e-participation studies and theoretical work presented in the literature. The paper also recommends technologies and features that will facilitate the implementation of the model in different contexts
Democracy online: technologies for democratic deliberation
Full text linkThis paper explores the use of online tools to improve democratic participation and deliberation. These tools offer new opportunities for inclusive communication and networking, specifically targeting the participation of diverse groups in decision-making processes. It summarises recent research and published reports by users of these tools and categorises the tools according to functions and objectives. It also draws on testimony and experiences recorded in interviews with some users of these tools in public sector and civil society organisations internationally.The objective is to introduce online deliberation tools to a wider audience, including benefits, limitations and potential disadvantages, in the immediate context of research on democratic deliberation. We identify limitations of tools and of the context and markets in which online deliberation tools are currently being developed. The paper suggests that fostering a collaborative approach among technology developers and democratic practitioners, might improve opportunities for funding and continual optimisation that have been used successfully in other online application sectors
Towards a comparative analysis of democratic innovations: lessons from a small-N fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis
Full text linkWhile there has been a proliferation of academic interest in ‘democratic innovations’, most empirical analysis tends to rely on single case studies. Very little attention has been given to the comparative analysis of innovations, in particular the conditions under which they emerge and are sustained. Recent studies of participatory budgeting (PB) have begun to utilise cross-case analysis in an attempt to explain divergent outcomes. This paper argues that the comparative analysis of democratic innovations could be enhanced significantly through the application of the relatively novel technique of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). A small-N study of PBs is offered to identify the potential (and pitfalls) of using fsQCA to evaluate the conditions under which such an innovation is institutionalised effectivel
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