Strengthening Democracy through Citizen e-Participation on Local Level in the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

The paper evaluates the types of e-democracy initiatives on local level in the Republic of Macedonia. E-democracy initiatives were classified by the elements of the democratic process, which they work to enhance: transparency, accountability and active participation. For the purpose of our research we analysed websites of the units of local self-government in the Republic of Macedonia in the period of 2017, with special emphasis on e-democracy initiatives in order to provide a framework for classification. The research discovered many outstanding local e-democracy initiatives. However, there is a little evidence that these initiatives have done much to ameliorate the problems on local level that Republic of Macedonia is facing, such as: weak democratic institutions and low level of citizen participation in democratic processes using ICT as intermediary. The paper also provides some recommendations for improving e-democracy initiatives on local level and their performance in general.