- Title
- Improving e-democracy- a systems engineering approach
- Creator
- Bungsraz, Soobhiraj
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The development of the Internet in the 1990s and the subsequent proliferation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) prompted considerable optimism about new possibilities for addressing some of the perceived problems with contemporary representative democracy. ICTs held out the potential to create a particular form of democracy, namely e-democracy, in which people could be empowered to engage more actively with the processes of governing. In particular, e-democracy heralded the possibility for citizens to become actively engaged in policy-making and decision making such that the ideal democracy (in the sense of a self-governing demos) would finally become a reality. However, e-democracy in practice has fallen somewhat short of expectations. The ideal of a self-governing demos, or as it is termed in the thesis, a democracy that democratises, seems as elusive as ever. Asking why these developments in e-democracy have fallen short of expectations constitutes the central research problematic of the thesis. Therefore, the first part of the thesis looks at some ongoing problems in contemporary representative democracy. It also examines how various attempts at implementing an e-democracy appeared to be an appropriate means of solving them. In reviewing these developments and the debates in the scholarly literature, it emerges that what has been regarded as e-democracy is mostly a variation on the theme of simply digitising currently existing practices. These types of approach contribute to the failure of these ventures into e-democracy because they end up reproducing the very problems that are trying to be solved. That is, such approaches focus on digitising already existing political processes--processes that were never meant to deliver a self-governing demos. A democracy that democratises cannot eventuate. This provides the context for thinking about what might need to be done to enable an ICT driven e-democracy to be successful. At the very least an e-democracy worthy of the name needs a democratic design solution (or more appropriately a people driven design solution) that builds in democratic practices from the start. Hence, what is needed is a means to theorise about how to use the ICTs’ capability to democratise. To that end, the thesis explores a novel approach to such problems of digitisation. It looks beyond the field of political science (though at the same time drawing on the rich literature of political theory and democratic theory) to that of engineering and the systems based approach of Systems Engineering (SE). Originating in the US Air Force SE has been adapted for use in many diverse multidisciplinary contexts. SE is understood in this thesis as a systems-based technique that facilitates the development of effective solutions to meet a specified need or objective. It is a proven methodology that uses systems thinking to design solutions based on an identified need. In this case, the identified need is one of empowering citizens to be able to engage in meaningful self-rule, to be truly self-governing. Or in the context of creating an e-democracy, the task is to demonstrate how the digitisation process might be developed in such a way as to overcome some of the problems that have beset past attempts to create e-democracies. The core research question for the thesis then turned on explaining how a SE approach might address the currently perceived problems with e-democracy. To answer that central question the thesis engaged in what amounts to a thought experiment. It considered how SE could be used to develop and deliver a workable e-democracy. Hence, the thesis provided an exposition of the principles of SE, its key concepts, and their inter-relationships. It then turns to showing how they might be developed and applied successfully to create a workable e-democracy. The thesis demonstrates, in theory at least, that SE has something to offer political scientists interested in exploring the potential of ICTs for creating an e-democracy; but not just an e-democracy as previously understood. The analysis pursued in the thesis offers an approach that moves beyond past ways of thinking about e-democracy. This approach develops an innovative theoretical agenda that makes suggestions about its feasibility for creating an e-democracy that is capable of empowering its citizens to be truly self-governing. In so doing, the thesis makes a major contribution to the theory and practice of e-democracy.
- Subject
- e-democracy; Systems Engineering; democracy design; improve; political system; technology
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1402465
- Identifier
- uon:35030
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Soobhiraj Bungsraz
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 109 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |