e-democracy

I don't think most people want to be involved in politics. I think they want the tools that make them think they are involved: a newspaper that carries robust editorials, to which they can say 'YES, THAT'S WHAT I THINK' (to themselves), a debate section on a website where they can write about the corner of life they know about; they also need politicians they can stick pins in when things aren't going right, but actually being involved in politics, by standing or voting is too committal. Understandable. openDemocracy.net, has drawn our attention to the increasing number of mass protests that are taking place, many of which, as Solana Larsen pointed out in her remarks on the BBC website depend on the internet for their momentum http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2496363.stm. However, I don't see the net's potential for circulating information and instructions as the meaning of 'e-democracy'. Also, even though the demos themselves are without doubt a real aspect of democracy, participants in the demos can still choose to keep outside the mainstream democratic process of electing politicians and leaders, they can also protest in places where they themselves have no ability to play a part in the democratic process. The result is that politicians remain free to decide the extent to which they feel obliged to respond, and the protesters remain angry with democracy. The same is true, in a quieter way, of a politician's response to the sentiments expressed in an internet chatroom. I think that e-democracy will change the nature of politics if and when e-voting is introduced. People who have not previously wanted to influence the democratic order in the conventional way of voting at an election, may be more inclined to take their pick of parties and politicians. This presents two immediate questions: Will politicians feel as accountable to an e-voter, as they would to the person they meet outside the polling booth (or the person they persuade to enter into it in the first place)? And will e.voters feel a responsibility to hold the politician or party they voted for to account after the election and vote for a second time as a measure of their satisfaction or otherwise? Sophie Jeffreys Theme editor of Ecology and Place also a District Councillor and she is thinking aloud, not representing the 'line' that either position might require her to take.