1. Harnessing the Digital for Democracy
Emerging Lessons from the Voice or Chatter Project
Deepti Bharthur, IT for Change
14 November 2015

2. The Voice or Chatter Project…
Looking at ICT mediated citizen engagement
Centered around the question of citizen voice
Structure versus Agency – understanding the gaps ( Reference)
Signification ( Meanings)
Legitimation ( Norms)
Domination (Power)

3. The Voice or Chatter Project…
How do processes of signification, legitimation and domination in ICT-mediated citizen engagement give rise to new governance regimes?
Under what conditions can ICT mediated citizen engagement support and promote democratic governance?

4. 9 Case Studies Europe Netherlands – Ons Gold E-petition
Spain – Decidem Barcelona
Networked municipalities for deliberative democracy
Asia
India – Sampark Rajasthan
Grievance Redressal
Philippines – Open Data Project

5. 9 Case Studies Africa Kenya – HURRINETS South Africa – SMS Frontline
NGO platform
South Africa – SMS Frontline
Crowdsourcing tool for policy on street hawkers
Latin America
Brazil – Marco Civil versus Copyright Reform
Colombia – Urna de Cristal
Transparency Initiative
Uruguay – OGAP
Open Government Action Plan

6. Emerging Insights: Filtering the Chatter
The variances amongst historical-political context of democracy map with their digital counterparts.
But mature/nascent democracies ultimately find it difficult to deepen democratic processes through e-participation
Local level governance initiatives are vastly more successful in harnessing digital technologies for e-participation
E-Governance has increasingly moved towards individuated clientist- management framework-
Focus on efficiency+ waste reduction+ automation
Rhetoric of openness, transparency and participation is high in all cases – but research across the cases confirms, they don’t amount to much and are highly depoliticized.

7. Emerging Insights: Bringing back the Voice
Access still a crucial variable irrespective of developed/developing nation nuances - accounting for literacy + legacy is necessary.
Network governance arrangements become institutionalized in various ways.
Voicelessness in the digital context gives new meaning to disenfranchisement
If ‘voice’ is not recognized, the costs will be determined by access + political/social factors
The role of Institutional guarantees must be absolute