Improving Citizen Participation via E-Government: The Why and How

Over the past two decades, researchers have emphasized citizen participation in public administration decision making as a means of collaborating with the public to promote democratic values such as responsiveness and accountability (Franklin and Ebdon 2004; Fung 2006; Irvin and Stansbury 2004; King, Feltey, and Susel 1998; Nelson and Wright 1995; Weeks 2000; Kim and Lee 2012). Irvin and Stansbury (2004) summarized the advantages of citizen participation in government decision making whereby citizens would learn more about the government, gain skills for activist citizenship, and achieve some control over the policy process. They believed that government could also benefit by learning from and informing citizens, building trust and strategic alliances, gaining legitimacy of decisions, avoiding litigation costs, and making better policy and implementation decisions.