{"id":847,"date":"2015-09-16T09:39:29","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T07:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/?p=847"},"modified":"2018-01-12T15:32:48","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T14:32:48","slug":"to-international-day-of-democracy-the-internet-fosters-participation-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/to-international-day-of-democracy-the-internet-fosters-participation-and-inclusion","title":{"rendered":"To International Day of Democracy: the internet fosters participation and inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A day for democracy! The United Nations created the International Day of Democracy in 2007. Each year on 15<sup>th<\/sup> September we look at the state of democracy around the world.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Democracy Day theme this year is \u201cSpace for Civil Society\u201d, because if the relationship between state and citizens is a bad one, cracks are liable to develop in the democratic idea. Which is why society as a whole benefits from citizens being involved in the political process. Here are a number of ways in which creating space for civil society can promote healthy democracy:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The remedy for ailing democracies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Participation fosters and upholds better relations.<\/li>\n<li>Citizens feel that they are being taken seriously and are valued; politicians receive more support as they go about taking controversial decisions.<\/li>\n<li>Lessons can be learned and knowledge acquired through the process of civil participation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Study: much interest in online participation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The number of ways in which people can participate in the political process has increased markedly in recent years. There are now many forms of online involvement; they include petitions, votes, articles and direct contact with politicians via social media.<\/p>\n<p>According to a 2014 study conducted by the Alexander von Humboldt Institut f\u00fcr Internet und Gesellschaft, political engagement is not limited to tweets; online participation is also very popular. The study found that 94 percent of those questioned were already familiar with at least one form of online participation and 45 percent had been actively involved in a participatory event at least once. 18 to 34-year-olds were found to be the most active age bracket.<\/p>\n<p>We see, then, that the most active age groups in internet involvement is also the cohort least likely to take part in conventional elections. These findings are borne out in other surveys, which suggest that the introduction of online polls would raise turnout levels among young voters.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inclusion: the internet does more to integrate disabled individuals into the political process<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People with disabilities are the big winners in the development of online participation opportunities. For instance, it is very hard, even impossible, for people coping with mobility challenges to make the journey to a polling station or even find a wheelchair-friendly station in the first place, according to research conducted by the <a href=\"http:\/\/fra.europa.eu\/en\/publications-and-resources\/data-and-maps\/comparative-data\/political-participation\/polling-stations\">European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)<\/a>.\u00a0Voting online, on the other hand, is even possible from a hospital bed using a tablet PC or smartphone.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Civil society is the oxygen of democracy. Civil society acts as a catalyst for social progress and economic growth.\u00a0It plays a critical role in keeping Government accountable, and helps represent the diverse interests of the population, including its most vulnerable groups.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So disabled individuals, too, as well as people who are travelling on election day or are confined to a hospital bed, can now use the online voting system to take part in elections. Digital online democracy has hence brought about the involvement of all citizens, regardless of where they happen to be on the day of an election. Because with online voting the voter does not have to go to a polling station; the polling station comes to the voter.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A day for democracy! The United Nations created the International Day of Democracy in 2007. Each year on 15th September we look at the state of democracy around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","ub_ctt_via":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[37],"tags":[75,250,248,79,252],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/31533000_l1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Marlene L\u00f6sken","author_link":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/author\/m-loesken"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>To International Day of Democracy: the internet fosters participation and inclusion - POLYAS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/to-international-day-of-democracy-the-internet-fosters-participation-and-inclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To International Day of Democracy: the internet fosters participation and inclusion - POLYAS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A day for democracy! The United Nations created the International Day of Democracy in 2007. 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As a buzzword it's being thrown around in politics and on social media alike and has more than a few people rubbing their hands in anticipation. In the first part of our new series on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digital Democracy&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4983,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/digital-participation-advantages-disadvantages","url_meta":{"origin":847,"position":1},"title":"Digital Participation &#8211; the Advantages and Disadvantages","date":"10\/05\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In the previous installments of this series, we have covered some of the different forms of digital participation. Today we will be assessing the overall benefits and drawbacks of participating in a digital world.\u00a0 The Advantages of Digital Participation The main goal of online democracy is the strengthened integration of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digital Democracy&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Digital Participation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Digital-Participation.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":213,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/contributing-to-inclusion-online-voting-dismantles-barriers","url_meta":{"origin":847,"position":2},"title":"Contributing to inclusion: Online voting dismantles barriers","date":"21\/04\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The trip to the polling place can become a great challenge for people with physical disabilities. Voting online, however, makes it easier for disabled, sick or elderly individuals to partake in elections. In some cases voting online is the only way these people can exercise their right to vote. Only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digital Democracy&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/polyas_barrierefrei.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":688,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/youth-day-young-people-democracy-and-elections","url_meta":{"origin":847,"position":3},"title":"Youth Day: Young people, democracy and elections","date":"12\/08\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, the 12th of August, is \"International Youth Day\". This growing generation has been given many names - from \"Generation Y\" and \"Digital Natives\" to \"Generation Maybe\". Naturally all of these labels are mere approximations in the attempt to figure out a generation raised under entirely different political and media\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digital Democracy&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/jugend-politik.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4299,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/e-democracy","url_meta":{"origin":847,"position":4},"title":"E-Democracy: Not What you Think it is","date":"16\/02\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Simply put, e-democracy is the use of information technology and communication technology in democratic sectors within political processes. However, there is much more to it than that. Read on to learn more. E-democracy (also known as eDemocracy) can be divided up into two halves: short-term and long-term. 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