Civil Society and eParticipation in Germany

The use of eParticipation by civil society actors is rapidly evolving. New socio-technical tools, devices, applications, services, networks enable a revitalization or foster new forms of social and political actions. Currently the civil society movements adopt and shape them to better organize, inform, communicate, and disseminate their (counter-) public and the traditional political system and mass-media system. 1. Civil Society and eParticipation – perspectives on the concepts A widely used definition of the concept ‘civil society’ is illustrative: “Civil society refers to the arena of un-coerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organizations, community groups, women's organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trades unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy group” [1]. An assumption is that the primary characteristics of current democratic societies are fragmentation, diversity, identity and individualism. This leads to the question what keeps the society together. One prominent answer is that “democratic societies must rely on people with community-oriented skills, who trust one another and who take an interest both in one another and in the welfare of the community” [2]. A common background of motives and attitudes of the citizen oriented to the common good is necessary: civic-mindedness which encourages civic actions. These civic actions open up the social space of a civil society. “Mutual interest and trust, together with shared goals and a variety of resources, result in commitment and involvement. People must have a sense that they have something at stake; they must become involved in social life in order to be integrated in society and help society cohere. The key to integration is participation” [2]. This understanding of civil society with participation as the key action – using new or old media – is based on shared values, communication and actions. Following this understanding (e)participation equals (e)communication. The formal and informal participation activities in several European countries in the 1970s and 80s produced several new formats of participation like future