22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 1 Models of Democracy and Slovenian Political Party Web Sites HCC7 – Human Choice and Computers 7 Maribor, Slovenia, 22nd of September 2006 Models of Democracy and Slovenian Political Party Web Sites Simon Delakorda, M.A. Candidate Center for e-democracy Institute of Ecology

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 2 1 Research question Do Slovenian political parties web sites contribute to more interactive and democratic deliberation between politicians and citizens?

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 3 2 Theoretical framework Van Dijk's (1996) typology of political democracy and ICT usage. A. Trechsel's (2004) classification of e- democracy techniques. Different models of democracy favour different e-democracy web applications.

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 4 3 Analytical model

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 5 4 Empirical analysis Slovenian political parties web sphere: -39 political parties registered (2004) -8 parliamentary and 31 non-parliamentary -22 political parties had web sites (all parliamentary) -Web sites of non-registered and self proclaimed political parties were not included.

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 6 5 Results E-democracy tools on Slovenian parliamentary political parties web sites (8): -All web sites had public information access -6 web sites had e-poll -4 web sites had e-forum -No web sites had e-petition -No web sites had e-consultation -No web sites had e-voting / e-referendum.

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 7 6 Interpretation Slovenian political parties are designed according to the elitist-competitive model of representative democracy. Interactive communication is limited to e- mail. Web forums are not incorporated in decision making process (deliberation). E-democracy is still in its infancy.

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 8 7 Conclusion E-democracy in Slovenia is poorly developed (UN e-participation index: 15th place within EU, 46th place globally). Government e-administration strategy – Slovenia will became one of 10 most developed e-democracies in the world. A conceptual shift to participatory- deliberative democracy is needed – Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

22nd of SeptemberSimon Delakorda Center for e-democracy / Institute of Ecology 9 Thank you very much for your attention! Thank you very much for your attention!