Democracy Forum 2001 Press Room

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International IDEA
Democracy Forum 2001
Democracy and the Information Revolution:
Values, Opportunities and Threats

Stockholm 27 - 29 June 2001

Press Guide & Background

The last decade has been marked by two extraordinary developments whose im-portance and implications are still being digested. Politically there has been a major expansion of democracy around the world, both as a system of government and a value system commanding the support of ordinary people. Simultaneously, spurred by major new developments in information and communication technology - the 'IT revolution' symbolized by the spread of the Internet and personal computers - the ways in which people and societies can and do relate to each other are being rapidly transformed.

What are the implications of the IT revolution for democracy and its core values? Will it, as some fear, heighten existing divisions of power and access within and between countries; or will it, as others predict, serve as a powerful tool for reducing those inequalities? And what are the opportunities, values and threats of rapid information flow and access for democratic governance? These and other key political, social and economic issues raised by the IT revolution are to be examined in detail at the International IDEA Democracy Forum 2001.

In a series of in-depth workshops, crosscutting issues such as accountability, access, participation and the establishment of regulatory information and communication technology (ICT) frameworks will be highlighted, using concrete examples taken from the spheres of governance, election management and civil society.

Specific themes the Forum workshops will be addressing are:

• Workshop 1. How Governments and Parliaments are Using ICTs
  
• Workshop 2. Political Expression in the ICT Age: The Role of Political Parties
  
• Workshop 3. Introducing Technology to Elections: A Sustainable Approach
  
• Workshop 4. Local Democracy Online: Can the Internet Build Social Capital?
  
• Workshop 5. Opening Up Authoritarian States: Opportunities For Democracy Building

By combining a focus on key practical issues with exposure to the latest cutting edge research in the ICT field, the International IDEA Democracy Forum 2001 will provide a unique opportunity for all concerned with the societal implications of the IT revolution - from academics, ICT specialists and business leaders to election managers, development experts and politicians - to come together to debate and develop creative future policy options.

Pre-meeting discussions conducted in International IDEA's Online Discussion Forum include debates on such diverse issues as the merits of ICT as tools for democracy-building, Internet privacy, censorship and policing, and the role of the Internet in China. The discussions can be accessed at: archive.idea.int/2001_forum/discussions.htm

Workshop 1

How Governments and Parliaments are Using
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Popular opinion says that ICT can have a direct and major impact on politics. Used appropriately ICTs can deepen citizen participation, dialogue and knowledge of what governments do at different levels of decision-making. Governments can also make better and informed policies by using the enormous opportunities provided by ICTs direct for consultation with their citizens

There are, however, other aspects of ICTs that may present new challenges to the work of governments.

• Some sections of society with good access to ICT, such as large organizations and the private sector, may generally be better informed than policy-makers. The resulting 'information gap' may lead to governments trying to restrict Internet access, as has already been the case in some developing countries.
  
• In order simultaneously to protect democratic core values - for example the right to privacy - and keep new technological possibilities open, a flexible and legislative framework for the implementation of sophisticated ICTs is needed.
  
• At the same time, governments are challenged to regulate against both general abuse and private exploitation by some of the profit-driven ICT producers and service providers.
  
• There is also a need for governments to invest not only in ICTs and provide mass access, but also to in human capital development. Such investments may prove to be crucial prerequisites for the full exploitation of the opportunities opened up by ICTs.

This workshop will assess the type of information being presented by governments and parliaments through the use of ICTs, and how it promotes the core democratic values of accountability and transparency. It will also examine regulatory and legislative issues arising from the spread of and access to ICTs among different sections of society, as well as identifying capacity building needs in ICTs and democracy. This will be done from a variety of perspectives such as:

• Political communication: How are ICTs helping parliaments, local governments and government ministries to communicate effectively amongst themselves, with citizens, and with the international community?
  
• Democratic governance: What measures have governments already taken to utilize ICTs as a vehicle not only for promoting economic growth but also for deepening democracy?
• Public service delivery: How much information and of what type and quality is placed on government sites for public use?

Workshop participants

Carlos Braga, Director of the World Bank's Development Gateway, Washington DC, who will be talking about the pioneering Gateway initiative at the workshop. For more information visit www.developmentgateway.org

Joanne Caddy, Administrator, Public Management Service, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who will be talking about how governments around the world are using ICTs to communicate with the public.

Johs Johansen, Director of Public Communications and Information Technology in the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) will be talking about Denmark's experience with the use of ICTs in the public arena.
Eduardo Tadao Takahashi, Chair of Brazil's Federal Task Force for National Information Society/Internet Society, and Brazilian Representative in the G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force).

The participants will be available for interview during the Democracy Forum. Contact Monika Ericson, Assistant Press and Information Officer for further information.

Workshop 2

Political Expression in the ICT Age:
The Role of Political Parties

Technological developments have the potential to change the face of citizen involvement in the political realm. While support for traditional party politics continues to decline in many countries, the Internet has the potential to revolutionise political activity by opening up the possibility of direct two-way interaction between citizens and parties. At the same time, by offering new forms of communication and public participation, today's technology may serve to challenge traditional forms of political representation and citizen involvement.

This workshop will explore the many new and varied approaches to increasing and encouraging political participation by political parties through the use of ICT. In some countries - particularly the United States and in Western Europe - voter turnout and party membership are on the decline. This seeming disinterest in traditional party politics is particularly pronounced among certain social groups - young people for example, or marginalized sections of society.

The Internet, however, is one avenue through which these groupings may be encouraged to participate in new and novel ways. In particular, political parties can use online communication to foster increased interest in political life and encourage the participation of all citizens. Traditional party campaigning can be supplemented by a range of technologically-derived developments including use of interactive party websites, newsletters, discussion forums, online polling and listserves. In particular, these can be targeted to reach specific constituencies or focus groups, for example young people, who are increasingly using the Internet as their primary source of information. And during election campaigning itself, the Internet also offers new and alternate ways for candidates to appeal to voters.

In some parts of the world today it is technically possible to consult a broad cross-section of the citizens to solicit their views and opinions on a range of issues. The opportunities that ICTs provide could, however, also threaten the old political party structures as citizens find new forums to organize and exchange views. In this way, direct democracy may become more relevant to a wide target audience.

Key questions to be examined in this workshop include:

• What is the potential and effect of ICT as an electioneering tool?
  
• How successful have political parties been in using ICT and the Internet to bridge the gap between citizens and political parties?
  
• How popular are these initiatives among citizens, the target audience?
  
• What are the challenges for new democracies?
  
• What are the ICT tools and options available to political parties?
  
• Is direct democracy gaining popularity as an alternative to the traditional party system?

Workshop participants

Lars Ilshammar, a member of the official Swedish IT commission and lecturer at Örebro University. His experience on the Swedish political party scene as well as in academia is widely acknowledged.

Heather Ford, Digital Information Manager at the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, who will be talking about political parties and current ICT developments in Southern Africa at the workshop, including such issues as the impact of ICT initiatives in conditions of widespread illiteracy.

Kate McCarthy, E-Campaign Manager for the UK Labour Party, responsible for the 'RU UP4 IT' e-initiative targeted at young people in Britain in the campaign run-up to the May 2001 UK General Election. Kate will be talking about new e-campaign techniques at the workshop.

Paul Themba Nyathi, an MP for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe's main opposition party. Paul, who managed the MDC campaign during last year's elections in Zimbabwe, will be talking about how his party are using alternative forms of communication, including the Internet, to circumvent state restrictions and get their message across to the Zimbabwean public.

The participants will be available for interview during the Democracy Forum. Contact Monika Ericson, Assistant Press and Information Officer for further information

Workshop 3

Introducing Technology to Elections:
A Sustainable Approach

This workshop will look at the ways in which new - and old - technologies are being applied to the conduct of elections, and critical issues of sustainability, accuracy and cost that arise in relation to the international community's efforts to support the improvement of electoral processes around the world.

Some examples of questions the workshop will be addressing:

• How sustainable is it that international donors are still so 'this election' focused, providing technology as a panacea for electoral problems - technology that is often obsolete or irrelevant or unusable come the time for subsequent elections?
  
• Why introduce technology into elections? What factors are behind countries looking to try new ways of voting?
  
• While voting is perhaps the most 'mediatic' of the ways in which technology is introduced in elections, in fact, electronic voting, internet voting and so forth are only used to a small degree, and are a minor part of the overall elections and technology picture. But do new technologies have a larger potential role to play in the conduct of elections, and if so, what could - or should - that role be?
  
• Registration is continuously the biggest headache for election administrators, especially in countries that do not normally use computers. So many things can go wrong, not least when it comes to technology. What are the main lessons of experience with registration to date, and how can they be more effectively disseminated to ensure that they impact on the way in which elections are organized in future?

Workshop participants

Ray Kennedy, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer in East Timor will be talking about the challenges of organizing forthcoming elections in the region.

Phil Green, Election Commissioner, Australian Capital Territory, and lead writer of the 'Elections and Technology' section of the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project. (See www.aceproject.org) will be talking about the main findings hitherto of the ACE Project concerning the use of ICTs in conducting elections around the world.

Jeff Fischer, Former Chief Electoral Officer, Kosovo, will be reflecting on the experience - and lessons - of organizing local elections held under UN-supervision in Kosovo last year.

Subash Pani, Deputy Election Commissioner, India, will be talking about his country's experience with using new technologies in domestic elections as well as broader contemporary issues in the field of elections and technology.

The participants will be available for interview during the Democracy Forum. Contact Monika Ericson, Assistant Press and Information Officer for further information.

Electoral information is increasingly available on the web for electoral commissions and others to gather information and compare approaches. See www.aceproject.org, click on Elections and Technology.

Workshop 4

Local Democracy Online:
Can The Internet Build Social Capital?

If the foundation of sustainable local democracy is found in community trust or social capital, which is built through civic engagement and active participation, can the Internet and other information technologies enhance the development of communities? Can the information sharing and communication powers of the Internet reinvigorate the practice of direct democracy?

In local communities around the world, innovators everywhere are discovering new ways to link their citizens together using the Internet. The city and municipal level is in many ways the best place to begin in making a more direct democracy possible through the communication, information sharing, and interactive nature of the Internet. Locally, people see a more direct linkage between their participation and practical policy results.

This workshop will highlight the most innovative experiments from around the world of how information and communication technology, in particular the Internet, is being used to enhance democracy at the local level. Participants will see the latest in innovative developments in online local democracy at work from several innovative municipalities from around the world, presented by those directly involved in designing new opportunities for enhanced democracy through 'virtual governance'. Through an interactive process of discussion and presentation of online discussion sites in real time, participants will evaluate the challenges, advantages, and lessons learned in using information technology to enhance local democracy.

A resource informing the workshop discussions will be the recently published International IDEA study entitled Democracy at the Local Level: Handbook on Participation, Representation, Conflict Management, and Governance. (Visit http://archive.idea.int/publications/democracy_at_local_level/index.htm for more information.)

Key questions that will be addressed include:

• The Internet's impact on local democracy. New communication and information technologies are fundamentally changing the relationships between citizens and local governments, and the impact of these changes on community democracy. Are these changes for the better?
  
• Lessons learned. Already, many municipalities have tried to enhance citizen involvement through the Internet. Is going online the latest, and perhaps most profound, innovation in the life of democratic participation?
  
• Innovations. Creativity defines the information revolution. What are the most innovative ways in which the revolutionary changes of the online world have served to benefit the creation of community, local trust and vigorous democracy?
  
• Practical applications. Practical applications of new information technology to re-invigorate direct democracy at the local level to date must still be considered experimental. What conclusions can be drawn from the experience so far in such areas as online voting? And what recommendations can be developed for the next steps forward in enhancing local democracy online?

Workshop participants

Among workshop speakers will be two - Steven Clift and Katja Lepola - who are among the "25 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics" as recently voted by Politics Online and Harvard University.

Alexander Trechsel, The Center for Direct Democracy (C2D), University of Geneva (www.c2d.unige.ch). Will we all vote online one day? The possibility of voting via the Internet has generated tremendous interest and controversy. In early 2002, the canton of Geneva will carry out a referendum for which citizens will be able to vote online. This will be the first binding popular vote world wide, where the electorate as a whole will be able to cast its vote via the Internet.

Alexander Trechsel and C2D are conducting academic analyses prior and following the vote. In the workshop Trechsel and Raphael Kies of the European University will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of Internet voting, and its implications for promoting participation and voter turnout. They will discuss how the Internet can be used not just to conduct an election, but to improve the quality of the vote - through interactive, discussion-promoting techniques.

Steven Clift (www.e-democracy.org). An online strategist focused on the use of the Internet in democracy, governance, and community. He created Minnesota E-Democracy, the world's first election-oriented website in 1994 and hosts ongoing citizen discussion on state and community affairs. He shares information and news to over 1600 subscribers via his 'Democracies Online Newswire' service, and he recently launched the Parliaments Online Forum which networks online leaders from parliaments and legislators around the world.

Susana Finquelievich, University of Buenos Aires (www.globalcn2001.org). Buenos Aires, Argentina, has taken a lead in developing a community internet network. Susana Finquelievich, a researcher at the University of Buenos Aires will share lessons on the promises and problems of citizen networking. Her work culminates in a major global gathering of citizen networks activists in Buenos Aires in December 2001.

Tim Sisk. Scholar and democracy specialist Sisk will present the recently released International IDEA Handbook on Democracy at the Local Level, on which he was the lead writier. Sisk and 14 contributors from around the world have produced a significant set of findings and recommendations on re-invigorating local democracy in today's world. Local democracy is becoming increasingly important as people, especially in the developing world, flock to cities at an unprecedented rate. Among the topics Sisk will address are local democracy as conflict resolution, managing violence in multi-ethnic cities, innovative forms of citizen participation, and the promises and perils of using information technologies for local democracy building.

The participants will be available for interview during the Democracy Forum. Contact Monika Ericson, Assistant Press and Information Officer for further information.

Workshop 5

Opening up Authoritarian States:
Opportunities for Democracy Building

There has been a considerable amount of hype in the past decade concerning the far-reaching consequences of communication technologies, specifically the Internet, for the promotion of democratic values in authoritarian states. According to the by now standard line, current communication technologies are the harbinger of doom for dictatorships and authoritarian states, being heralded as the champion of democracy movements and formidable tools for civil society organizations to improve their efficiency and public awareness.

Countries such as China, Burma/Myanmar, or Serbia (during the Milosevic period), among others, have actively worked to limit the access to the Internet by compelling subscribers to use state-controlled Internet Service Providers (ISPs), censoring websites, taking direct action against individual Internet users and a variety of other methods designed to achieve similar ends. The efforts of these and other states to control Internet access highlights the growing importance of ICTs, and the threat they are seen to pose to all governments that seek to deny their people access to information.

It is certainly true that ICTs such as the Internet, intranets and mobile telephones have provided a platform for co-ordination to grassroots movements, as well as allowing them to spread their message with a lower entry cost. However, have they truly affected the operations of authoritarian states, and if so, how? In what ways can ICTs be further mobilized to advance democracy movements in authoritarian states? This workshop will look at the many normative and practical questions surrounding the union of communication technologies and democracy building.

More specifically, the workshop will address the following questions:

• What are the environment, obstacles and challenges of democracy builders in authoritarian states?
  
• What are the various ICTs used by democracy builders, and what is their real impact on authoritarian states?
  
• How can business and government-led initiatives in authoritarian states co-operate and aid in democracy building?

In addition, the workshop will:

• Provide specific recommendations of how ICTs can be used to provide opportunities for democracy building in authoritarian states.
  
• Draft a mandate to encourage ICT proliferation in all states.

Workshop participants

Premesh Chandran, co-founder and chief executive of Malaysiakini.com, the controversial, independent news website in Malaysia - the country's most visited online news source - will be talking about the Malaysian government's continuing efforts to control Internet access and electronic media in the country.

Alex Liu, an e-business entrepreneur and former Tiananmen Square activist, will be talking about state use and abuse of the Internet in China today.

Srdjan Boguslavljevic, Chief Executive Officer of the Strategic Marketing & Research Institute (SMRI), Belgrade will be talking about Yugoslavia's experience with using ICTs, from the opposition's - ultimately successful - authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milosevic to providing an alternative news source during the war in Kosovo.

Gordana Igric, Balkans Editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), London, will be talking about how democracy activists throughout the Balkans region have been using the new opportunities opened up by the Internet to promote political openings.

In addition, a number of democracy activists from Burma/Myanmar and the Balkans will participate as panelists in the workshop in order to share their own experience of official attempts to limit, control and censor political Internet acitivity.

The participants will be available for interview during the Democracy Forum. Contact Monika Ericson, Assistant Press and Information Officer for further information.

For further information contact,

Mark Salter
Senior Information Officer
Information Division, International IDEA
Tel: (46 8) 698 3750
E-mail: m.salter@idea.int

Monika Ericson
Assistant Press and Information Officer
Information Division, International IDEA
Tel: (46 8) 698 3744
E-mail: m.ericson@idea.int