Public participation in parliament : perspectives on social media technology (SMT)

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY : Public participation is encouraged in democracies to heighten decision-making, transparency, accountability and good governance. Globally, the trend to increase and enhance public participation is growing rapidly. So much so that almost all democracies have now embraced it as an agenda for good governance. The introduction of new media led parliaments to experiment with these tools to make the public aware and for them to understand the role of parliament in the governance of the country and to enhance citizen participation in the law-making process through consultations, public hearings, committee work and elections.The Parliament of South Africa is mandated by the Constitution (1996) to facilitate public participation in all their processes. To execute their mandate, Parliament introduced a few strategies to facilitate public participation in their processes. Previous research indicates that public participation is still ineffective in Parliament. Thus, in an effort to enhance it, Parliament developed a model that is aimed at standardising all public participation activities in the institution. This study attempts to asses if the use of Social Media Technologies (SMTs) in parliament processes can enhance public participation. The focus of the study is on the theories of public participation and on the developing theories of SMTs for good governance. To collect data, two research techniques were applied during this study; namely, document analysis and structured interviews with experts in Parliament in both the fields of public participation and SMTs.This study found that Parliament has established a good foothold in the SMT landscape. However, there are challenges that hinder the institution in fully leveraging on this foothold to enhance public participation. It concludes that public participation is still ineffective in Parliament; however, this can change once Parliament overcomes challenges in the use of SMTs and takes advantage of already established SMTs to enhance public participation. These SMTs can enhance public participation if implemented properly. Based on the findings, a number of recommendations are presented.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University