Web-Based Participatory Democracy: Findings from Italy - Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration - page 78

in political life. The figures speak for themselves: The turnout in democratic elec-
tions across the world has, on average, declined in elections to national parliaments
between 1980 and 1984 and again between 2007 and 2013. It has been calculated
that, on average, turnout declined by 10 percentage points across both Western and
Eastern democracies (Clarke, 2013). Further, the level of trust in political parties
has dwindled since 1990. From 1990 to 2006, those who reported having a “great
deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in political parties across the world dropped from
49% to 27% (World Values Survey, 2014). In Europe, between 2002 and 2010, the
proportion of Europeans who reported being dissatisfied with politics rose by 12
percentage points, from 31% to 43%. Membership to political parties declined
accordingly, especially in Europe. In the last decade, a steep decline has been expe-
rienced in almost all major European democracies, including United Kingdom
(−70%), Norway (−62%), France (−52%), Germany (−38%), Switzerland (−41%),
Belgium (−30%), and, indeed, Italy (−37%) (Van Biezen, Mair, & Poguntke, 2012).
Trends relating to other avenues for political engagement are equally concern-
ing. The case of trade unions is representative of this phenomenon. Since 1980, the
proportion of salary earners who are trade union members has dropped in all but two
cases across 22 nations surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development. On average, trade union membership in these countries declined by
14 percentage points (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
2014). Between 1990 and the late 2000s, decreases were also reported in matters such
as the willingness of individuals to engage in activities such as signing a petition or
attending a demonstration. Those who reported that they might, or have already,
signed a petition dropped by 20 percentage points, from 76% to just over half, at
56%. Over the same period, those who said they had or might participate in a politi-
cal demonstration dropped from 62% to 51% (World Values Survey, 2014).
In light of these data, a number of problems can be introduced regarding the
use of digital democracy from public institutions (both at the political and admin-
istrative levels). Two concerns are of greater importance. First, is digital democ-
racy concretely addressing the problem of citizens' engagement in political life?
Second, provided that digital participation may increase citizens' awareness, how
do we define its usage as “proper usage?” In other words, how do public adminis-
trations know that experiments in digital participation are turning into successful
outcomes? Is there a reliable way to classify results? As the next section will explain
in further detail, this chapter aims at speculating on these issues, providing a few
preliminary answers, with specific regard to the Italian scenario.
4.2 Political Parties, Public Administrations, and
Digital inclusiveness in italy
The same trends described in Section 4.1 have emerged in Italy. This section is
therefore focused on the Italian case and specifically on the use of digital democracy