Jusletter IT

Paradoxically, participants are what is frequently missing on online participation platforms – or their participation remains without consequences. The politic discussion takes place on the online platforms of the big media conglomerates or in private social media. The online election assistance «smartvote» is the only exception to this rule worth mentioning in Switzerland. This is due to the fact, that incentive systems are missing and those platforms are based on false premises about the actual political process. The often decisively important intermediary sector as a negotiator between state and society is being forgotten in the romantic glamorization of direct participation. (ah)