Success in eVoting – Success in eDemocracy? The Estonian Paradox

Abstract

Part 2: Critical ReflectionsInternational audienceEstonia has acquired the reputation of a successful e-voting country, and perhaps justifiably so. It was the first country in the world to enable remote online voting in nationwide elections in 2005 and the share of e-voters has been on a rise ever since, now reaching one-third of all voters. Against this backdrop of a seemingly flourishing e-democracy, we set out to ask if the country’s success in e-voting also implies its success in e-democracy in a broader sense. In a qualitative case study, we compare Estonia’s experience in e-voting with the implementation and outcomes of three e-participation projects to demonstrate that considerable discrepancies exist between the take-up and perceived success of e-voting vis-à-vis other e-democracy instruments. In light of these findings the paper further discusses the factors that are likely to account for these differences and highlights the need to look beyond the success of online voting for a holistic evaluation of the state of e-democracy in a given country

Open Data as Enabler of Public Service Co-creation: Exploring the Drivers and Barriers

“…As one of the key factors, existing research underlines the importance of collaboration willingness and mutual trust between government and citizens [29,30]. The importance of attitudes, trust and (clashing) interests as a factor affecting participation and collaboration has not only been discussed in relation to service co-creation but citizen participation in general (see, for example, [31] and [32]). At the same time, studies have also found that if citizens are given the opportunity to participate and reassurance that their input is taken seriously, people will want to get involved [33].…”

Experience with Digital Tools in Different Types of e-Participation

“…Heiberg et al 2012;Kitsing 2014;Sál 2015;Springall et al 2014;Vassil and Weber 2011;Vinkel 2012, Hall 2012Kersting and Baldersheim 2004). Interestingly, this does not imply success in e-democracy in a broader sense (Toots et al 2011).…”

E-Estonia: The e-government cases of Estonia, Singapore, and Curaҫao

“…This optimistic view of e-democracy is not shared by all (Toots, Kalvet, and Krimmer, 2016). Singapore tells a different story about democracy and e-government.…”