Framework for analysis of the management and organization of e-participation initiatives

Abstract

This chapter focuses on research design and an analytical model developed for exploring e-participation initiatives. When selecting cases, the focus was on those e-participation platforms which could be explicitly linked to the policy-making process, regardless of whether they were tied to national or local policy-making. The analytical model used in the development of case studies assumes that citizen involvement is embedded in existing institutional arrangements and is constrained by historical, cultural, legal, political, administrative, organizational and individual factors. The analytical framework is composed of five aspects of e-participation initiatives: first, a thick description of the e-participation initiative; second, the national context surrounding the platform; third, organizational factors; fourth, individual factors; and last, the evaluation of the e-participation platform. Such a coherent framework could be useful for further research on e-participation as well as for government practitioners who are in the process of establishing or revising existing e-participation initiatives.