Background This last assignment for the semester combines the course requirement
ID: 1212253 • Letter: B
Question
Background
This last assignment for the semester combines the course requirement for “Comparative Political Analysis” with an actual case study of Cyberdemocracy in action. Countries around the world are implementing e-government—making government information and services available online to reduce costs and be more easily accessible. These efforts are generally going well and making good progress. Interestingly, South Korea is leading the pack and you can read more in the global report if you are interested: United Nations E-Government Survey 2014: E-Government for the Future We Want.
But more to the point in this class, countries are also experimenting with e-democracy or e-participation, which involves efforts to increase citizen engagement and participation in different aspects of the democratic process through the use of Internet technologies. Interestingly, the tiny eastern European country Estonia has been an early adopter of e-democracy initiatives, including Internet voting, dating back to 2005. So that will be the subject of our final forum essay and last assignment of this course.
Assignment
The following are two articles on the Estonian experience (note that the authors use the term ICTs, or Information and Communication Technologies, when they refer to various uses of the Internet):
Citizen centric e-participation: e-Participation Policy in Estonia (pages 17-30)
http://www.praxis.ee/fileadmin/tarmo/Projektid/Valitsemine_ja_kodanike%C3%BChiskond/citizen_centric_e_participation_veebi.pdf
Evaluating the E-Democracy Dream: A Case Study on Estonia (pages 61-64)
http://internetscienceconference.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/internet_science_conference_proceedings.pdf
Your assignment is to read these two articles and write a ~350 word essay that addresses the following TWO topics:
What are the key factors involved in creating successful e-participation/e-democracy (what matters and what works)?
How could the lessons of the Estonian experience be applied to establishing e-democracy in the U.S.— or, do you think the two countries are so different that the Estonian lessons cannot be applied to the U.S.? Provide reasons and examples to support you conclusion.
And cite your sources as always.
Explanation / Answer
ANS:
THE KEY FACTORS OF E-DEMOCRACY:
The idea of having electronic voting in Estonia gained popularity in 2001 with the "e-minded" coalition government. Estonia became the first nation to hold legally binding general elections over the Internet with their pilot project for the municipal elections in 2005. The electronic voting system withstood the test of reality and was declared a success by Estonian election officials. The Estonian parliamentary election in 2007 also used internet voting, another world first.
Despite praise from Estonian election officials, computer security experts that have reviewed the system have voiced sharp criticism, warning that any voting system which transmits voted ballots electronically cannot be secure. This criticism was underscored in May 2014 when a team of International computer security experts released the results of their examination of the system and found they could be able to breach the system, change votes and vote totals, and erase any evidence of their actions if they could install malware on the election servers. The independent security experts called on the Estonian government to halt all online voting, but their concerns were dismissed by the Estonian Internet Voting Committee.
The Estonian internet voting system builds on the Estonian ID card. The card is a regular and mandatory national identity document as well as a smart cardallowing for both secure remote authentication and legally binding digital signatures by using the Estonian state supported public key infrastructure. As of March 2007 over 1.08 million cards have been issued (out of a population of about 1.32 million).
Internet voting is available during an early voting period (sixth day to fourth day prior to Election Day). Voters can change their electronic votes an unlimited number of times, with the final vote being tabulated. It is also possible for anyone who votes using the Internet to vote at a polling station during the early voting period, invalidating their Internet vote. It is not possible to change or annul the electronic vote on the Election Day.
The principle of "one person, one vote" is sustained as the voter can potentially cast more than one ballot but still only a single vote. This was challenged in August 2005 by Arnold Rüütel, the President of Estonia, who saw the new e-voting provisions in the Local Government Council Election Act as a breach of the principle of equality of voting. The President brought a petition against the e-voting provisions to Estonian Supreme Court but lost.
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