Course Description: Electronic Democracy
Professor: Peter M. Shane

Among the more intriguing aspirations supported by the proliferation of the Internet has been the hope that its unprecedented capacity to facilitate human networking and the flow of ideas may somehow be used for the revitalization of democracy. This is true even (or especially) in economically developed countries with long histories of democratic practice. Even as academics have been debating what revitalized democracy would look like and whether new information technology can help achieve it, e-democracy practitioners have been designing web applications intended to engage citizens more effectively in shaping public policies that affect their lives. Especially interesting from the standpoint of so-called "deliberative democracy" theory have been applications to support inclusive citizen deliberations that can give officials charged with making and implementing public policy the benefit of informed public opinion. (One highly publicized example involves on-line deliberations concerning designs for rebuilding the World Trade Center site.)

This course will consider both the present and potential future of electronic democracy. After initial readings on democratic theory and the ways in which new information technology may lend greater vitality to various models of democratic practice, the course will turn its attention to actual e-democracy applications and their design. Carnegie Mellon students will be grouped with law students engaged in a similar course at New York Law School in group projects related to the design, implementation, and business support for various e-democracy applications. An exam will also be required.