3 Chapter 3
The previous chapter outlined the promises of OGD and the various definitions
surrounding this. This chapter discusses the various aspects of democracy and specifically the
pillars on which it is based: transparency, the public sphere, participation and accountability.
Following this, the concept of society moving towards a phase of post-democracy has been
explored, where the role or access citizens have in developing and understanding
government’s decision making is slowing being eroded. In what ways, according to this
theory, is democracy subsequently failing on several levels will also be discussed. Finally,
how access to the Internet can improve the current position in the light of post-democracy
and what challenges are standing in the way shall be further investigated.
3.1 Democracy: Definition and traditional pillars
Providing a full definition of democracy is a complex task as many scholars offer
different points of view of this political system. There are various theories, concepts and
models of democracy and it would be difficult to provide a description that will satisfy
everyone. In literal meaning, the word democracy comes from ancient Greek word
dēmokratiā, which combines dēmos - the “people”, with kratos - “rule”, “power” or
“strength”. These two words combined means “rule by the people” and this is the very basic
explanation of this type of political system. By this definition, there must be a process by
which the people exercise this power for democracy to be in place. Next, in order for a
contestation to take place, which is based on sound reasoning and rational decisions, the
people must first be properly aware of all factual and relevant information relating to the
issues under contention. According to Robert Dahl, democracy requires free flow of
information, transparency and the existence of a well-functioning public sphere, therefore
freedom of speech, gatherings, and press, among other necessities, is necessary.
Following on from Dahl’s concept, Balkin recognized three main purposes for
transparency in a democratic society: providing the public with the information, increasing
public participation, and holding organizations accountable. In other words, via transparency
and using their right to participate, the public have a much greater opportunity to hold
governments accountable for their actions. Accountability is the next requirement of
democracy, as stated by Schmitter and Karl: “democracy is a system of governance in which
rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly
through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives“ (103).
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Although only a brief introduction to the components of democracy, I have used these
definitions and concepts as the basis of my further research. As such, the core requirements,
or pillars, of a well-functioning democratic system have been defined as political
participation, a well-functioning public sphere, transparency and accountability. These four
pillars have been discussed in further detail as follows.
3.1.1 Participation
The public participation in discussion and decision-making process is a key element
of the definition of democracy coined by Bobbio and Schattschneider. Bobbio described a
democratic regime as “(…) a set of procedural rules for arriving at collective decisions in a
way which accommodates and facilitates the fullest possible participation of interested
parties” (19). According to Schattschneider this participation is facilitated by the actors in the
democratic order: "democracy is a competitive political system in which competing leaders
and organizations define the alternatives of public policy in such a way that the public can
participate in the decision-making process” (41). It is important to note that involvement in
the decision-making process is determined by the technical capabilities: in a direct
democracy, all citizens can take part in making public decisions, without the need of
selecting intermediary or appointing officials to represent them. Such system is of course
practical only in small communities, where all members can physically gather, to discuss
matters and arrive at decisions by consensus or majority vote. Modern democracy, due to the
large size of communities, offers very limited opportunities for direct involvement and
therefore, the most common form of democracy is representative democracy. This is the form
of this political system, where people designate officials to make political decisions, invent
laws, and design policies for the public, as defined by Pennock:
(…) where ‘the people’ includes all adult citizens not excluded by some generally
agreed upon and reasonable disqualifying factor (…). Rule means that public policies
are determined either directly by vote of the electorate or indirectly by officials freely
elected at reasonably frequent intervals and by a process in which each voter who
chooses to vote counts equally (…) and in which a plurality is determinative (9).
After analysing various types of citizen participation, it is important to stress the importance
of equality of all classes within the society so that the voices from all classes can be heard:
Miszczak 20
Democracy is the form of state within which the distribution of power in the state is
determined exclusively by the social factors of power, but is not shifted in favour of
any one class through the application of material means of coercion" (Otto Bauer, qtd.
in Meyer 65).
As outlined in Chapter 2, improved citizen participation in the policy making process
is a key benefit after the release of OGD - “Change the default setting of government to
Open, Transparent and Participatory”.
3.1.2 Freedom of expression and the existence of Public Sphere
Guaranteed freedom of expression is also often quoted as a crucial feature of
democracy and a philosopher Alexander Meiklejohn was a famous advocate of the
connection between democracy and freedom of speech (Marlin 226–227). In his work titled
“Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government”, Meiklejohn argues that for a democratic
community, which is self-governed by the people, a fully informed electorate is necessary.
As such, a free movement of information and ideas is necessary for this to work.
The area that enables such free flow of information where individuals can express
their opinions, identify societal problems and form public opinion is called “public sphere”.
This term, coined by a cultural theorist Jürgen Habermas, is defined as “realm of our social
life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed (where) access is
guaranteed to all citizens“ (Habermas, Lennox, and Lennox 49). It is "a discursive space in
which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where
possible, to reach a common judgment" (Hauser 86). The public sphere can as well be seen as
"a theatre in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium
of talk" (Fraser 57). In summary, the existence of public sphere is an important factor in the
success of freedom of expression as it provides a platform where ideas are exchanged.
According to Thomas Emerson, freedom of speech also acts as a method of coming to an
agreement: "the principle of open discussion is a method of achieving a more adaptable and
at the same time more stable community, of maintaining the precarious balance between
healthy cleavage and necessary consensus” (Marlin 228–229). Freedom of expression is
connected to the promise listed in Chapter 2 “Create new models of journalism to separate
signal from noise to provide meaningful insights”.
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3.1.3 Transparency
According to Meiklejohn, the actors in power must not withhold the information and
manipulate the electorate as this is against the ideal of democracy. Also in the view of Robert
Dahl, in order for voters to be able to make fully educated decisions, they require freedoms
such as freedom of speech, gatherings, and press (Dahl 173). Both Meiklejohn’s and Dahl’s
conceptions of democracy require free flow of information, in other words - transparency. It
is commonly known in the public domain that access to public information is a key to
upholding a democratic ideal. The idea behind a democratic and transparent society is that
every member of the community “(…) has an equal level of physical, intellectual and social
access to information and can equally re-use public information and thus take part in public
discussion” (Haloen 85). Vishwanath and Kaufmann see transparency as “increased flow of
timely and reliable economic, social and political information, which is accessible to all
relevant stakeholders” (3). Stasavage offers a more demanding approach to transparency
where he claims that transparency occurs when government discloses not only the policy
decision but also the information that led to making such decision (3). This is based on the
fact that in many cases the administration is the only source and collector of the relevant data
and discloses this information at their discretion. Finally, Bellver and Kaufman made the
observation that is crucial in understanding transparency and it’s implications. They have
noted the close link between transparency and accountability: “(...) transparency is a tool to
facilitate the evaluation of public institutions, the information provided needs to account for
their performance” (4). In other words, transparency is a bridge for achieving another crucial
element of democratic order. Improved transparency is again linked to a promise noted in
Chapter 2 “Change the default setting of government to Open, Transparent and
Participatory”.
3.1.4 Accountability
The term accountability means that the general public is able not only to select the
representatives and rulers, but also hold them accountable for their actions, as described