Supply of and demand for e-democracy: A study of the Swedish case

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Lidén, Gustav^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden. Tel.: +46 60 14 89 26; Fax: +46 60 14 87 83; E-mail: gustav.liden@miun.se

Abstract: The field that tries to answer, through comparative research, the question of what factors explain the existence of e-democracy is, despite several recent contributions, quite undeveloped. Due to strong theoretical foundations and extensive quantitative data, this article adds to this field with an overall ambition of not only explaining variation in supply of and demand for e-democracy but also examining how these two dimensions are related. The case in this article is Sweden and the analyses report several unexpected findings. E-democracy provided by Swedish municipalities is positively related to citizens' level of education and population figures but not to the level of technological development. With an analogous logic, citizens in Sweden are more inclined to use e-democratic functions if they have high levels of income and education and, also have experiences of using computers. However, no significant variation exists among different genders or age groups. When these two perspectives are combined no significant relationship emerges, indicating a discrepancy between supply of and demand for e-democracy. Finally, the fact that this inclination for citizens' involvement in e-democracy is solely determined by micro characteristics points to the importance of theoretical development.

Keywords: E-democracy, supply, demand, combinatory approach, comparative politics

DOI: 10.3233/IP-130308

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 217-232, 2013