Participatory and Digital Democracy at the Local Level

This edited volume discusses digital democracy at the local level in Europe. Contrasting the political discourse surrounding participatory digital democracy with actual experiences of implementation, the book provides a wholistic view of digital democracy across Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. The book is divided into three parts. Chapters in Part I analyze discourses about participatory democracy in Europe. Chapters in Part II provide case studies of digital democracy practices at the local level in the EU. Chapters in Part III discuss the risks and challenges associated with digital democracy. Written by a panel of international, interdisciplinary experts, this volume will be of interest to researchers, students, and practitioners across public administration, political science, economics, management, and sociology.

Provides a critical analysis of political discourses surrounding digital democracy in Europe Presents case studies of policy implementation across the EU Proposes a bottom-up framework for contextualized best practices

Autorentext
Thierry Côme holds a PhD. and a habilitation in management sciences. He is a professor of public management and a member of the research department LAREQUOI. He has held numerous administrative and scientific responsibilities at the University of Reims-Champagne-Ardenne, where he was vice-president in charge of student associations and international relations, and director of the student orientation service. He is currently director of the University Institute of Technology of Mantes-en-Yvelines, Paris-Saclay University. He has directed fifteen theses, written twenty-one articles in peer-reviewed journals, co-authored three books, co-edited six books, and written over thirty book chapters. He is also deputy mayor in charge of finance for a French city of 10,000 inhabitants.

Gilles Rouet holds a PhD. in history and a habilitation in social sciences. He is a professor of public management, currently responsible of one of the three axes of the research department LAREQUOI, and director of the Institut Supérieur de Management, Institut d'Administration des Entreprises de Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Université Paris-Saclay (France), since 2015. He held a Jean Monnet ad Personam Chair since 2009. Coordinator and evaluator for several European programs from 1993, he was cooperation attaché at the French Embassies in Slovakia and Bulgaria (2004-2014). Member of the editorial board of the journal Hermès, CNRS, reviewer for a dozen scientific journals, he is editor of several series and collections, and has published a dozen books, about fifty collective books and more than two hundred and forty papers, chapters or contributions in a dozen countries.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Actors and Discourses: typology of discourses according to the actors and contexts.- 3. Evolution of the legal framework in Europe for the use of digital participation at the local level : the French case.- 4. European Free Mobility and Italian Participatory Democracy. Knowledge and digital technology as a bridge.- 5. Youth and Democracy: Digital Opportunities for the Future of Participation?- 6. Silenced Voices and Freedom of Speech in the Digital Epoch: a Critical Perspective on the Post-Totalitarian Media Culture.- 7. The relationship between participatory democracy and digitalisation. Is there an East-West division in Europe?- 8. Differences and similarities in local gouvernance in Slovakia and Lithuania.- 9. Online citizen consultations since 2018: Europanova's experience.- 10. (Dis) Empowering Citizens at the Local Level in Bulgaria. Digitalization, Local Democracy and Participatory Practices before and post-COVID-2019.- 11. The conditions of social learning in formal deliberative settings: a study of municipal councils in Brussels.