From:
Daria Santucci
Date:
2007 Nov 19 19:35 UTC
Short link
Hi,
a local research institute (Torino, Italy) asked me if I knew someone involved
in FP 7 Cooperation Work Programme, in particular relating to the following
theme:
"SSH-2007-5.1.1 Democratic "ownership" and participation
Description
The objective is to achieve a comprehensive knowledge of why and how
participation and democratic "ownership" develop or are hampered, with the
focus on Europe. Research shall include the role of civil society, social
partners, non-governmental organizations, political parties and other
relevant organisations; factors causing non participation of citizens and
new processes instruments and structures enabling better informed and
effective participation; political integration and participation of citizens
of the Union residing in a Member State of which they are not nationals;
minorities and migrants; women and youth as social and political actors in
the reconfiguration of democratic practices. The role of education and life
long learning for citizenship could also be included. Research should
compare and assess different forms of participation including direct
participation and representative participation (e.g. electoral
participation, referenda, formal consultation, citizen's initiatives,
conventions as a form of preparing policy) in policy making. Issues of
access to politics, expertise -including the role of think tanks, economic
resources and justice. and relations between citizens and elites will be
addressed, particularly in the context of multilevel governance".
Do you know anyone who already set up a project (focusing on e-participation)
and is looking for a partnership? Thanks.
Best regards,
Daria Santucci
PhD student
University of Torino
-------------------
I add the following, for those who may be interested.
(from www.gov2u.com)
"Readers' Voice
By Daria Santucci
PhD candidate, University of Torino
E-petitioning in Europe.
Thanks to ICT, European citizens now have several instruments to interact with
the institutions, to make their voice heard and, hopefully, to take part in the
policy making process. Some institutions - at a local, national and European
level - decided to invest in the development of e-governance and are actively
promoting e-participation tools. One of these tools is the e-petitioner,
allowing the submission of petitions online.
The Scottish Parliament was the first in Europe to try e-petitioning: after a
trial period in 2004, the e-petitioner planned by the ITC of the Napier
University was officially launched (epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk). After
this, in 2005 two British local authorities, the Royal Borough of Kingston and
Bristol City Council piloted a new e-petitioning system
(epetitions.kingston.gov.uk and www.bristol.gov.uk/item/epetition.html). One
year later, 10 Downing Street decided to implement its own tool to submit
online petitions. The new e-petitioner (petitions.pm.gov.uk) was launched
November 2006: three months later, a petition opposing road pricing registered
1.8 million online signatures.
Today in Europe, there are various authorities offering tools to submit
e-petitions, such as the German Bundestag's e-petitioner
(e-petitionen.bundestag.de), the Romanian Parliament's one
(www.cdep.ro/relatii_publice/site2.petitie) and the e-petitioning system
implemented by 14 Norwegian municipalities involved in a national plan aimed at
increasing citizens' influence between the elections
(einitiativ.hive.no/Lorenskog).
The European institutions also offer to citizens the opportunity to send online
petitions. This initiative fits with all the recent activities to promote
e-participation and bidirectional communication with citizens using ICT. Today,
Europeans willing to submit a petition to Brussels can fill an electronic form
on the European Parliament e-petitioner (europarl.eu), a "system aimed at
improving the transparency and the timing related to the management of
petitions" (Iturgaiz draft report on the deliberations of the Committee on
Petitions during the parliamentary year 2006, 2.10.2007)".