Concept
Collaborative e-democracy refers to a hybrid democratic model combining elements of direct democracy, representative democracy, and e-democracy (or the incorporation of ICTs into democratic processes). This concept, first introduced at international academic conferences in 2009, offers a pathway for citizens to directly or indirectly engage in policymaking. Steven Brams and Peter Fishburn describe it as an "innovative way to engage citizens in the democratic process," that potentially makes government "more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs of the people." Collaborative e-democracy is a political system that enables governmental stakeholders (such as politicians, parties, ministers, MPs) and non-governmental stakeholders (including NGOs, political lobbies, local communities, and individual citizens) to collaborate in the development of public laws and policies. This collaborative policymaking process occurs through a government-sanctioned social networking site, with all citizens as members, thus facilitating collaborative e-policy-making. Michael Gallagher suggests that it can be a "powerful tool that can be used to improve the quality of decision-making." Andrew Reynolds even believes that "collaborative e-democracy is the future of democracy." In this system, directly elected government officials, or ‘proxy representatives’, would undertake most law and policy-making processes, embodying aspects of representative democracy. However, citizens retain final voting power on each issue, a feature of direct democracy. Furthermore, every citizen is empowered to propose their own policies and, where relevant, initiate new policy processes (initiative). Collaboratively formulated policies, considering the views of a larger proportion of the citizenry, may result in more just, sustainable, and therefore, implementable outcomes. As Steven Brams and Peter Fishburn suggest, "collaborative e-democracy can help to ensure that all voices are heard, and that decisions are made in the best interests of the community.
