Online petition systems are prominent tools for digital participation at both national and sub-national levels. Alongside e-consultation applications, they function as co-creation mechanisms, enabling constituents to voice opinions and make policy suggestions. Unlike e-consultations, online petitions are initiated from the bottom up. Residents can highlight necessary infrastructure improvements, propose solutions overlooked by bureaucrats, or address unacknowledged issues. Citizens using crowd-sourcing solutions are viewed as contributors to a smart information processing system aimed at enhancing the quality of life.
These online petition systems vary significantly in their degree of institutionalization and effectiveness. Some serve merely as agenda-setting tools, while others compel public administrations to respond, explain, or even lead to parliamentary motions treated on par with those proposed by elected officials. At the most basic level, public authorities may accept input through simple digital technologies like emails, which lack the capability for broader public endorsement. More advanced, privately run systems allow for mass digital endorsements but often lack institutional connections to political bodies. Despite this, they play a significant role, especially where formal national online petition systems are absent or unlikely to be established soon.
Institutionally integrated systems typically require a threshold of digital endorsements within a specific timeframe to elicit a response. Some platforms also offer options for comments in discussion forums or mechanisms for co-creating petition texts. While online petition systems hold great promise for enhancing transparency, accountability, and civic participation, they also face significant challenges. Ensuring inclusivity and preventing misuse such as fraudulent endorsements, spam petitions, or manipulation by interest groups, remain critical to maintain the integrity and trustworthiness of these platforms.
In this panel, we invite papers that explore online petition systems from normative, conceptual, or empirical perspectives. We particularly welcome contributions that investigate specific examples of successful or unsuccessful petition systems, discuss the challenges they face, and highlight opportunities for improvement towards more effective and inclusive democratic processes.