4 December 2006

A group of experts are planning to discuss the positive impact which e-democracy can have on society.

Funded by the US National Science Foundation and headed by Professor Peter Shane at Ohio State University and Professor Stephen Coleman at the University of Leeds, the committee will also aim to examine the best ways of interacting with the public online.

Dr Andrew Chadwick, head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, and one of the members of the working group, explains: "e-Democracy is a rapidly growing political phenomenon … but the challenge is to create genuinely deliberative public spaces that plug into real decision-making processes."

The academic cites Number 10 Downing Street's recently launched online petition service as an example of the increasing use of the Internet in the Democratic process.

Since the e-petitions service was launched, calls to repeal the Hunting Act 2004 and scrap the new vehicle tracking service have attracted more than 10,000 online voters.

© Adfero Ltd

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