Towards a balanced E-Participation Index: Integrating government and society perspectives
Pirannejad,Ali Janssen,Marijn Rezaei,Jafar
Pirannejad,Ali
Janssen,Marijn
Rezaei,Jafar
Abstract
Since 2003, the United Nations has introduced the E-Participation Index (EPI), the first index to evaluate e-participation initiatives worldwide. This index has been subject to criticism for not representing the society side of e-participation initiatives. The EPI assesses e-participation initiatives on the government side only and neglects the society side, which includes all kinds of civil e-participation initiatives. In this work, the society side is included by incrementally extending the EPI with the Human Development Index and the Democracy Index. To identify the weights of the index, the best-worst method (BWM) is used while surveying 23 experts. The results show that political rights and civil liberties are viewed as the most important criteria with which to evaluate e-participation initiatives. Using this ranking, the Balanced EPI (BEPI) is created, giving weight to both the government and society sides. The new index concerns the willingness and empowerment levels of citizens so that the public can influence policy and political decision-making. Dedicated e-participation measures should be developed in further research.
Description
Date
2019-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
E-participation, Balanced e-participation index, Government-led e-participation initiatives, Society-led e-participation initiatives, POLITICAL-PARTICIPATION, DECISION-MAKING, SOCIAL MEDIA, ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT, CIVIC EDUCATION, E-DEMOCRACY, EFFICACY, INTERNET, FREEDOM, KNOWLEDGE, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation
Pirannejad, A, Janssen, M & Rezaei, J 2019, 'Towards a balanced E-Participation Index : Integrating government and society perspectives', Government Information Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 4, 101404, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.101404
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess