Articles
The Role of ICTs in Democratic Processes
Technology, Democracy & Empowerment.
The popular uprisings that have swept North Africa and the Middle East throughout the spring (I would be cautious not to associate it as bluntly with what happens over here in Europe or North America – although I do think that these separate events are somehow interrelated), have raised a whole lot of questions on the relationship between ICT and democratic processes.
Widely recognized as key elements in enabling popular movements, social media have become an important tool in the mobilization of crowds. The consequences have been unprecedented.
ICT tools are crucial in the effort to hold leaders accountable to the citizens, North Africa is a good example of this demand of accountability. But it is also crucial to understand the importance of social economic and cultural context. As Dr. Dorothy Okello from WOUGNET (Uganda) underscores: “What ICT is in one place is very different from what it is in another.”
This is true; and while access is the first crucial aspect of Empowerment, what happens at the other end is just as important, if not even more so. If the government makes itself open to input from citizens, something needs to be done with this information and there needs to be a response. There is also a strong need for the filtering of information, the presence of information brokers who will make relevant information accessible to various groups.
If ICT is going to become an integral part of democracy then we should be asking is who is going to take the cost? In short: Who is going to pay for democracy? In this sense, after the initial elation it soon becomes apparent that democratization is a slow and complicated process.
On 9 June about 40 representatives from government agencies, civil society organizations and academia gathered in Kista Science Tower to discuss the influence of ICT on democratic processes.
It was the intricate relationship between democratic processes and ICTs that was the focus of the Democrazy workshop which consisted of three panels, focusing on Empowerment, e-Governance and e-Government.
After a brief introduction by Paula Uimonen, the Head of the Swedish Programme for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER), our Executive Director, Vasilis Koulolias (Gov2u) opened the workshop by bringing the focus back to Europe, where recent social protests illustrate that this is a pervasive trend over the world. Vasilis underlined that technology is only a tool, an enabler, and that social and cultural issues must always be taken into account.
If you want some answers to these questions click here for the event and here for the full report.
Hate reading? No worries - just visit Democrazy's dedicated vimeo channel - all the panel discussions are on there - courtesy of our friends at Spider.