Bringing e-democracy back in - Why it matters for future research on e-governance

The author argues that contemporary digital information communication technologies (ICTs) facilitate new forms of e-government-enabled public sector policy making that enshrine some of the important norms and practices of e-democracy. The potential for linking e-democracy in civil society with e-government at the level of the local and national state is far from straightforward but nevertheless achievable. Following a consideration of the democratization effects of e-democracy and e-government, the author outlines how their norms and practices are converging in four principal areas: online consultations integrating civil societal groups with bureaucracies and legislatures, the internal democratization of the public sector itself, the involvement of users in the design and delivery of public services, and the diffusion of open-source collaboration in public organizations. These now feature as some of the core areas for research in this field and our broader understanding of how ICTs are reshaping governance, the state, and democracy.