E-democracy/E-participation
- LAST REVIEWED: 02 July 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 21 November 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0107
- LAST REVIEWED: 02 July 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 21 November 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0107
Introduction
The term “e-democracy” refers to the relationship between democracy and new media and information and communication technology (ICT). The nature of this relationship is a matter of considerable debate both empirically and normatively. Although many commentators view ICT as a democratizing force, others suggest that the democratic effects of ICT are minimal or perhaps even deleterious. Writers also disagree in normative terms about what type of democracy ICT should be used to support. Like democracy, e-democracy is a complex and contested concept, and a number of different models of e-democracy have been advocated. Reflecting these different views, e-democracy may encompass a wide range of democratic practices and is by no means limited to the formal institutions of representative government and politics. However, the term “e-democracy” is most often used to refer to activities in and around the sphere of conventional politics; this narrower definition is given primacy here. Defined as such, the field of e-democracy includes the conceptualization and empirical study of key practices such as voting, rulemaking and consultation, deliberation, political campaigning and party activities, petitioning, and information provision and open government.
General Overviews
A number of good general introductions to the field of e-democracy are available. Chadwick 2006 includes a useful introductory chapter on e-democracy and reviews a range of other relevant material. Coleman 2007 and Vedel 2006 both offer good introductions to the concept of e-democracy and to the central questions and issues addressed in the field. Chadwick and Howard 2008, a handbook on the Internet and politics, includes a number of contributions relevant to e-democracy. Wojcik 2011 provides an overview in French of recent e-democracy debates in Europe and the United States.
Chadwick, Andrew. 2006. Internet politics: States, citizens, and new communication technologies. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Systematic overview of the field of politics and information and communication technology (ICT) that serves as a useful introduction and good reference point. Contains a dedicated chapter on e-democracy (“Community, Deliberation and Participation: E-Democracy”) and related chapters on e-mobilization and e-campaigning.
Chadwick, Andrew, and Philip N. Howard, eds. 2008. Routledge handbook of Internet politics. London: Routledge.
Collection of high-quality contributions examining the relationship between ICT and politics, organized around four main themes: institutions, behavior, identities, and law and policy. Serves as a useful introduction and companion to the field.
Coleman, Stephen. 2007. e-Democracy: The history and future of an idea. In The Oxford handbook of information and communication technologies. Edited by Robin Mansell, Chrisanthi Avgerou, Danny Quah, and Roger Silverstone, 362–382. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Good general introduction to the field of e-democracy. Discusses e-democracy theory and research and the contribution of ICT to key democratic practices such as information provision and public deliberation.
Vedel, Thierry. 2006. The idea of electronic democracy: Origins, visions and questions. Parliamentary Affairs 59.2 (April): 226–235.
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsl005
Good general introduction to the field of e-democracy. The article describes the origins and competing interpretations of e-democracy and explores the key questions and issues raised by e-democracy around three main themes: information, discussion, and decision making. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
Wojcik, Stéphanie. 2011. Prendre au sérieux la démocratie électronique: De quelques enjeux et controverses sur la participation politique en ligne. In Internet, machines à voter et démocratie. Edited by Elsa Forey and Christophe Geslot, 111–141. Paris: L’Harmattan.
French overview of current debates relating to e-democracy, which covers the research contexts in Europe and the United States.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Accounting Communication
- Acculturation Processes and Communication
- Action Assembly Theory
- Action-Implicative Discourse Analysis
- Activist Media
- Adherence and Communication
- Adolescence and the Media
- Advertisements, Televised Political
- Advertising
- Advertising, Children and
- Advertising, International
- Advocacy Journalism
- Agenda Setting
- Annenberg, Walter H.
- Applied Communication Research Methods
- Argumentation
- Attitude-Behavior Consistency
- Audience Fragmentation
- Audience Studies
- Bakhtin, Mikhail
- Bandwagon Effect
- Baudrillard, Jean
- Blockchain and Communication
- Bourdieu, Pierre
- Brand Equity
- British and Irish Magazine, History of the
- Broadcasting, Public Service
- Capture, Media
- Castells, Manuel
- Celebrity and Public Persona
- Censorship
- Civic Duty
- Civil Rights Movement and the Media, The
- CNN
- Co-Cultural Theory and Communication
- Codes and Cultural Discourse Analysis
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Collective Memory, Communication and
- Comedic News
- Communication Apprehension
- Communication Campaigns
- Communication, Definitions and Concepts of
- Communication History
- Communication Law
- Communication Management
- Communication Networks
- Communication, Philosophy of
- Community Attachment
- Community Structure Approach
- Computational Journalism
- Computer-Mediated Communication
- Content Analysis
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication
- Crisis Communication
- Critical and Cultural Studies
- Cross-tools and Cross-media Effects
- Cultivation
- Cultural and Creative Industries
- Cultural Imperialism Theories
- Cultural Mapping
- Cultural Persuadables
- Cultural Pluralism and Communication
- Cyberpolitics
- 3D Media
- Death, Dying, and Communication
- Debates, Televised
- Deliberation
- Developmental Communication
- Diffusion of Innovations
- Digital Divide
- Digital Intimacies
- Digital Literacy
- Diplomacy, Public
- Distributed Work, Comunication and
- Documentary and Communication
- E-democracy/E-participation
- E-Government
- Elaboration Likelihood Model
- Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM)
- Embedded Coverage
- Entertainment
- Entertainment-Education
- Environmental Communication
- Ethnography of Communication
- Experiments
- Family Communication
- Federal Communications Commission
- Feminist and Queer Game Studies
- Feminist Data Studies
- Feminist Journalism
- Feminist Theory
- Focus Groups
- Food Studies and Communication
- Freedom of the Press
- Gatekeeping
- Gender and the Media
- Global Englishes
- Global Media, History of
- Global Media Organizations
- Glocalization
- Goffman, Erving
- Habermas, Jürgen
- Habituation and Communication
- Health Communication
- Hegemony
- Hermeneutic Communication Studies
- Heuristics
- Homelessness and Communication
- Hook-Up and Dating Apps
- Hostile Media Effect
- Identification with Media Characters
- Identity, Cultural
- Image Repair Theory
- Implicit Measurement
- Impression Management
- Indexing
- Infographics
- Information and Communication Technology for Development
- Information Management
- Information Overload
- Information Processing
- Infotainment
- Innis, Harold
- Instructional Communication
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- Interactivity
- Intercultural Capital
- Intercultural Communication
- Intercultural Communication, Tourism and
- Intercultural Communication, Worldview in
- Intercultural Conflict Mediation
- Intercultural Dialogue
- Intercultural New Media
- Intergenerational Communication
- Intergroup Communication
- International Communications
- Interpersonal Communication
- Interpersonal LGBTQ Communication
- Interpretation/Reception
- Interpretive Communities
- Journalism
- Journalism, Alternative
- Journalism and Trauma
- Journalism, Citizen
- Journalism, Citizen, History of
- Journalism Ethics
- Journalism, Interpretive
- Journalism, Peace
- Journalism, Tabloid
- Journalists, Violence against
- Knowledge Gap
- Lazarsfeld, Paul
- Mass Communication
- McLuhan, Marshall
- Media Activism
- Media Aesthetics
- Media and Time
- Media Bias
- Media Convergence
- Media Credibility
- Media Dependency
- Media Ecology
- Media Economics
- Media Economics, Theories of
- Media, Educational
- Media Effects
- Media Ethics
- Media Events
- Media Exposure Measurement
- Media, Gays and Lesbians in the
- Media Literacy
- Media Logic
- Media Management
- Media Policy and Governance
- Media Regulation
- Media, Social
- Media Sociology
- Media Systems Theory
- Merton, Robert K.
- Message Characteristics and Persuasion
- Mobile Communication Studies
- Muckraking
- Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Approaches to
- Multinational Organizations, Communication and Culture in
- Murdoch, Rupert
- Narrative
- Narrative Engagement
- Narrative Persuasion
- News, Fake
- News Framing
- News Media Coverage of Women
- NGOs, Communication and
- Online Campaigning
- Open Access
- Organizational Change and Organizational Change Communicat...
- Organizational Communication
- Organizational Communication, Aging and
- Parasocial Theory in Communication
- Participation, Civic/Political
- Participatory Action Research
- Patient-Provider Communication
- Peacebuilding and Communication
- Perceived Realism
- Personalized Communication
- Persuasion and Social Influence
- Persuasion, Resisting
- Photojournalism
- Political Advertising
- Political Communication, Normative Analysis of
- Political Economy
- Political Knowledge
- Political Marketing
- Political Scandals
- Political Socialization
- Polls, Opinion
- Priming
- Product Placement
- Propaganda
- Proxemics
- Public Opinion
- Public Relations
- Public Sphere
- Queer Intercultural Communication
- Queer Migration and Digital Media
- Racism and Communication
- Radio Studies
- Reality Television
- Reasoned Action Frameworks
- Religion and the Media
- Reporting, Investigative
- Rhetoric and Communication
- Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication
- Rhetoric, Religious
- Rhetoric, Visual
- Risk Communication
- Rumor and Communication
- Schramm, Wilbur
- Science Communication
- Scripps, E. W.
- Selective Exposure
- Semiotics
- Sense-Making/Sensemaking
- Sesame Street
- Sex in the Media
- Small-Group Communication
- Social Capital
- Social Change
- Social Cognition
- Social Construction
- Social Identity Theory and Communication
- Social Interaction
- Social Movements
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Protest
- Sports Communication
- Stereotypes
- Strategic Communication
- Surveillance and Communication
- Symbolic Interactionism in Communication
- Synchrony in Intercultural Communication
- Tabloidization
- Telecommunications History/Policy
- Television
- Television, Cable
- Textual Analysis and Communication
- Third Culture Kids
- Third-Person Effect
- Time Warner
- Transgender Media Studies
- Transmedia Storytelling
- Two-Step Flow
- United Nations and Communication
- Uses and Gratifications
- Video
- Video Deficit
- Video Games and Communication
- Violence in the Media
- Virtual Reality and Communication
- Visual Communication
- Web 2.0
- Web Archiving
- Webcare
- Whistleblowing
- Whiteness Theory in Intercultural Communication
- WikiLeaks
- Youth and Media
- Zines and Communication