Civic Participation in the Datafied Society| Participatory Governance in the Digital Age: From Input to Oversight

Authors

  • Rikki Dean Goethe University Frankfurt

Keywords:

citizen participation, digital technology, participatory governance

Abstract

Digital technologies are now an integral part of citizen-state encounters. This article surveys the interaction of four such technologies with four modes of public participation: knowledge transfer, collective decision making and action, choice and voice, and judgment and oversight. It enquires how different modes of participation are shaping the adoption of digital technologies and how digital technologies can amplify, challenge, or reshape modes of participation. The comparative approach enables a nuanced account of the ambivalent mixture of potentials and risks that sensing technology, data analytics, governance platforms, and social media represent for each participation mode. It also guards against a determinist mindset that overstates the transformative effect of technology, instead arguing that digitalization is less likely to create something radically new than recalibrate the composition of participatory activity, shifting emphasis from inputting expertise and preferences before a decision to oversight and judgment of decisions and implementation.

Author Biography

Rikki Dean, Goethe University Frankfurt

Dr Rikki Dean is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Democratic Innovations Research Unit at Goethe University Frankfurt. He research focuses on participatory governance, deliberative democracy, the relationship between public administration and democracy, and political process preferences. His work can be found at www.rikkidean.com.

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Published

2023-05-18

Issue

Vol. 17 (2023)

Section

Special Sections

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