E-participation on the local level – A census survey approach for researching its implementation

ABSTRACT

Research shows a gap regarding knowledge about the diffusion of e-participation projects actually implemented in local contexts. This study provides an approach that allows for collecting exhaustive data on e-participation projects for specific political units. It enables an analysis of its implementation over time and regarding explanatory factors. By applying the approach to a local unit with almost 400 municipalities, we discuss its opportunities and limitations. We present a feasible method to develop a quantitative data set of the diffusion of specific, implemented e-participation projects; however, its capacity to explain this process in detail is limited.

KEYWORDS:

• Diffusion
• eDemocracy
• ICT
• local government
• political participation

Notes

1. Participation in the planning of the municipal budget.

2. Developing strategies for the future development of the city or city districts.

3. Citizens can report problems and deficiencies (e.g., with the urban infrastructure).

4. “The function of urban land-use planning [Bauleitplanung] is to prepare and control the use of land within a municipality, for buildings or for other purposes” (§ 1 (1) BauGB). Public bodies create a legally binding land-use plan, determining the “designations for urban development” (§ 8 (1) BauGB).

5. Exploring possibilities to effectively reduce public noise, usually following the EU Environmental Noise Directive.

6. Data retrieved from: www.landesdatenbank.nrw.de (last accessed: 29/11/2017).

7. Data provided by: www.breitband.nrw.de (© Copyright BMVI, TÜV Rheinland).

8. Data retrieved from: www.landesdatenbank.nrw.de (last accessed: 29/11/2017).

9. Data retrieved from: www.statistikportal.de/(last accessed: 29/11/2017).

10. Multiple responses were possible.

11. E.g., large cities normally have a higher debt per capita as well as a higher share of households with fast Internet broadband than middle-sized cities or small municipalities.

12. The number of cases varies here because the calculations are based on two different data sources (see Section 3.4).

13. In this analysis, n = 396 cases were included, Cox&Snells R² was = .121 and Nagelkerkes R² was = .168 thus the variance explanation is acceptable.

14. In this model, n = 129 cases were included, R² was = .275 and Nagelkerkes R² was = .168, which corresponds to a good variance explanation.

15. In order to test the factor “Central Position in the Administration Responsible for Citizen Participation Management”, we added it to the linear regression models, but none of the variables included subsequently showed significant effects. Moreover, the explanatory power of the model decreases (R² = .245), which is why this factor is not included in the model.

16. Survey data can be viewed and downloaded from www.monitor-online-partizipation.de. Data is open under the cc-by-sa 4.0 license.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malte Steinbach

Malte Steinbach (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) has been a PhD student at the Chair of Business Administration, in particular Work, Human Resource Management and Organization Studies at the University of Düsseldorf and in the PhD-programme “Online Participation”, supported by the North Rhine-Westphalian funding scheme “Fortschrittskollegs”. He is now working at the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy. His research focuses on e-participation, public administrations, and neo-institutional theory.

Nadja Wilker

Nadja Wilker (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) is a political scientist. She completed her PhD at the Department of Social Sciences at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and took part in the PhD-programme “Online Participation”, supported by the North Rhine-Westphalian funding scheme “Fortschrittskollegs“. She is now working as an advisor for Science Communication and a lecturer for Political Communication.

Sabrina Schöttle

Sabrina Schöttle (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) has been a PhD student at the chair of Sociology and in the PhD-programme “Online-Participation”, supported by the North Rhine-Westphalian funding scheme “Fortschrittskollegs”. She is now working at the Statistical Office of North Rhine-Westphalia.