Despite the fact that Switzerland is an economically advanced country with a high broadband and mobile phone penetration rate, research on the effects of ICTs in a direct democratic political system is lacking.
Over the last decade European democracies have conducted numerous trials with a wide range of ICT enabled forms of political experimentation.
These initiatives have been conducted across various levels of political authority, from the local and regional right through to the supranational. Intriguingly, to the extent that ICT’s have been used in such a way they have replicated traditional mechanisms of direct democracy.
Indeed, in some instances, the very mechanisms of direct democracy have themselves been the subject of ICT innovation as is the case with e-enabled referendums that were pioneered in Switzerland.
This process has to bring us to some general but important questions:
What are the implications of such novel forms of e-democratic experimentation for the political process?
Specifically, what is the transformative potential, if any, of these more informal and ICT-enabled forms of direct democracy? Can such forms of ICT-enabled experimentation lead to democratic renewal or innovation and how widespread is their use?
Furthermore, to what extent do they interact with older forms of direct democracy and with what effects?
In Switzerland, systematic research on effects and the content of electronic communication is largely missing. It is definitely a timely exercise to bring academic as well as practical expertise together in an SATW ICT-COM sponsored workshop in order to kick off a networking process among interested organizations and individuals.