Significance of socio-cultural, political and historical factors for the introduction of e-participation in Switzerland

Abstract

The arrival of new technologies in the public sector and the connected re-definition of ways public administrations interact with citizens is currently a burning topic. Despite numerous research projects exploring the introduction of electronic government (e-Government) from the citizens' perspective, insights on the topic from the point of view of public officials and politicians stay vastly unexplored. The objective of the present project is to respond to this gap. By evaluating the influence of factors such as the political tradition, institutional system or organisational culture, we aim to explain the relative underdevelopment of electronic participation (e-Participation) tools in Switzerland. Despite the excellent potential that Swiss authorities have at their disposal in this regard, the level of e-Participation development ranks the country far behind the leaders in the field. The main outcome of the present research will be, in the first place, exposure of principal problematic points connected to the aforementioned factors that impact on the comparative immaturity of e-Participation instruments in Switzerland and, secondly, suggestions of solutions that could open a way towards the further advancement of digital democracy.