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youth and thus curb their withdrawal from politics. Lastly, early commentators
also welcomed the massive use of technology as an encouragement for the rise in a
range of web-based media outlets, thanks to which information has become widely
accessible to the world population.
The data presented in Sections 4.1 through 4.5 (and with specific regard to the
Italian case in Sections 4.6 through 4.8) of this chapter suggest that the advent of
the large-scale Internet did not fix the democratic deficit of contemporary politics
and public administration. To begin with, the rise in access to the Internet has
influenced neither the voting rates nor party membership. Similarly, disengaged
youth did not become interested in politics because it moved online (Barnard,
2009). In addition, the extent to which opportunities for online citizen engage-
ment are enjoyed equally by different segments of the population has been ques-
tioned. Those who engage online, it has been noted, are often the same as those who
engage offline (Di Gennaro & Dutton, 2006). The Internet, in other words, seems
to attract less those citizens who Lance Bennett (2008) would describe as “actual-
izing citizens”—people who are distrustful of traditional forms of authority and are
inclined to adopt more privatized responses to changing social circumstances—and
more of the “dutiful citizens”—to whom involvement in civic life is an obligation
to be fulfilled through conventional activities, such as voting. According to this
interpretation, the Internet might paradoxically broaden the gap between those
who are politically active (and would therefore benefit from new opportunities to
participate in their democracies via the web) and those who are not.
The basic purpose of this section of this chapter is to summarize such dilemmas
with specific reference to the Italian scenario. More specifically, from the analy-
sis conducted in this chapter, three motives of reflection arise: (1) The first settles
on the search for the maximization of profits and the minimization of costs from
Italian public institutions engaged in experiments of e-participation. How can a
public institution avoid incurring excessive costs while increasing its transparency
and accessibility through online participation? (2) The second motive of reflection
considers citizens' reaction to web participation. Arguably, the more the citizens are
given the opportunity to engage in policy-making, the less they will be prone to
accept delays or blackouts in communication from the institution. (3) Finally, the
third motive of reflection links with the future of e-participation in Italy: Is this one
of expansion or regression?
4.10 Maximization of Profits and Citizens' expectations
As in the cases of many other European and extra-European democracies, also in
Italy, the use of web-related tools has demonstrated its high potential to address
large communities. Nearly unrestricted access, ample space of expression, and
the possibility of participating anonymously represented strong incentives to
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