ABSTRACT
Although the rise of the Internet generated a lot of talk about new forms of direct and deliberative democracy, not many examples can be found around the world that prove that these new models are storming the roads of democracy. On the contrary, in this chapter, on the basis of Dutch experiences with government homepages on the Internet, I will argue that consumer democracy and demoelitist democracy are the models most often promoted through the introduction of ICT in democratic processes. Homepages and similar experiments mainly focus on the broadcasting of information and public service delivery. Those experiments on the Internet that try to go further to enhance citizen’s participation are often conducted from an add-on strategy that emphasises an instrumentalist and incrementalist approach to traditional and existing institutions and processes. Also, these experiments appear to be very rarely successful in addressing the general public. Does this mean that we have to adjust our expectations about the potential for ICT to enhance more participative models of electronic democracy? Not quite yet I would argue. In the dynamics and the success of this global information and communications network, there is something that might be harvested for the benefits of democracy. Not large schemes and blueprints such as were the basis of success of the Internet, but grass-roots movements, economy of exchange and cooperation. A peculiar mix of hackers, techies, innovators, producers and eventually the general public was the driving force of these network’s success.
