Easier participation, better awareness

Hamburg is going transparent. Since October 2014 the city has been granting citizens access to the minutes of meetings, expert opinions, decisions and contracts at its Transparency Portal – a first for Germany. Many local authorities give their citizens a say 
and involve them in decision-making. Take Cologne, for example. Using an online platform, inhabitants can discuss proposals put forward by the administration and 
offer their own ideas. Between 11,000 and 14,000 Cologne residents take part regularly. This earned the city the 
Public Service Award of the United Nations.

So does the Internet encourage greater political participation? One thing is clear: it provides more information and ways of getting together with other people. German users make use of both. Over 3.8 million people used the German VAA (voting advice application) in the run-up to the 2014 
European elections to gain an overview of the different parties’ policies. One in four Germans have supported an online petition at least once, be it on climate protection, human rights or controversial construction projects. But does that already constitute Internet democracy? Even researchers are divided on the subject. The digital revolution has only just begun, a fact that is perhaps clearer when it comes to the question of participation than in most other areas. ▪