Crowdsourcing as an instrument of participatory democracy

Abstract

The article considers the issues of crowdsourcing as a tool of participatory democracy. Emphasis is placed on the recognition ofa separate type of democracy – participatory democracy, which is a promising area of research, whose supporters seek to build a modelof civic participation in the management process, adequate to the conditions of modern society. Crowdsourcing is a key tool of parti -cipatory democracy. The need to use crowdsourcing in public administration is recognized worldwide, which is associated with thedevelopment of modern information and communication technologies, social networks and various online dialogue platforms. InUkraine, the use of this tool is only gaining momentum.The history of the origin of the technology of using collective intelligence and the resources of the crowd and scientific developmentsabout it is studied. Crowdsourcing has a long history, but it is the digital space, in particular the Internet, that has made it availablefor use in many areas of public life. In the theory and practice of crowdsourcing there is already a division into types depending on the scope. As an instrument of participatory democracy, it acts as a political crowdsourcing. This species is not as developed as others, buthas examples of application. At the present stage in science there is no fixed definition of the term. Domestic scholars mostly analyzethe existing terminology proposed by foreign researchers and practitioners. Based on the analysis of existing definitions, experience inthe use of crowdsourcing technologies in the policy of foreign countries and Ukraine, the article identifies specific features and princip -les of crowdsourcing as a tool of participatory democracy, and provides an author’s definition of “political crowdsourcing”.Particular attention is paid to clarifying the negative and positive aspects of the use of political crowdsourcing, during which itwas found that the latter is more.The article concludes that the use of crowdsourcing as a tool of participatory democracy in Ukraine with the prospect of conso -lidation at the legislative level.