CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Cameron, Calum John |
|---|---|
| Title | E-participation: Democracy's False Friend? An Investigation of the UN E-participation Index and its Role in Quantifying Progress in E-government |
| Summary | With the emergence of e-government has come a belief that internet technologies will lead to democratic renewal, creating new ways for citizens to participate in government. Hence, there has been some surprise that the UN e-participation index (EPI), the biggest global survey of e-government, has awarded authoritarian regimes with high e-participation scores. Scholars who have previously examined the index have claimed that its lack of correlation with democracy is a failure of measurement. This criticism assumes the EPI is a measure of e-democracy and should therefore reflect real democracy. This thesis evaluates the index, clarifying its proper function and reappraising its effectiveness. Quantitative data analysis is used to retest the index’s relationship with democracy, serving as a basis on which to tackle the theoretical assumptions that it should correspond to democracy. Ultimately a case is made that focusing on democracy relies on faulty assumptions and that the index should be judged solely on its accuracy at measuring e-participation. Recommendations are given to improve its quality based on a substantive definition of e-participation. |
| Supervisor | Huebscher, Evelyne |
| Department | School of Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/cameron_calum.pdf |
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