Organizing e-Participation: Challenges Stemming from the Multiplicity of Actors

This study focuses on various actors and their collaboration in mediating e-participation between citizens and decision-makers. The paper addresses the following research questions: How are different organizations and their units involved in the supply of e-participation initiatives? How does the multiplicity of actors affect cross-boundary collaboration, ownership and accountability relations in the implementation of e-participation initiatives? The empirical analysis is based on comparative case studies on e-participation platforms in seven European countries. The case studies indicate that cross-organizational issues – ownership and accountability, in particular – have often been insufficiently addressed during the development of e-participation initiatives. Ambiguous ownership and diffused accountability are particularly challenging in the cases of multilevel governance and in ‘bottom-up’ e-participation initiatives. The ‘distance’ between the unit responsible for the administration of an e-participation initiative and the decision-makers (end-users of the participatory process) appears to be a critical factor for the functioning of the platforms.