Should e-government design for citizen participation?: stealth democracy and deliberation

Cyberoptimists have heralded an age of citizen engagement enabled by electronic technologies that allow widespread citizen input in government decision making. In contrast, influential political scientists maintain that the preponderance of citizens quite reasonably wish to avoid political participation and that involving citizens could have very negative consequences for governance. In their widely-read book, Stealth Democracy, Hibbing and Theiss-Morse seek to show that much of the American public desires "stealth democracy"--a democracy run like a business by experts with little deliberation or public input. The authors maintain that stealth democracy beliefs are due to reasonable apathy rationales and that a more engaged democracy is simply of no interest to the public. This paper introduces an opposing "parochial citizens thesis" that suggests that stealth democracy beliefs may be driven by socially problematic beliefs and orientations, including reverence for ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: DGO
• Authors: Peter Muhlberger
• Keywords: DGO 2006, DGO 2007, Parochial Citizens Thesis, Stealth Democracy, Stealth Democracy Beliefs