Participatory Democracy......WHAT THE?

Call me stupid, but I have never actually heard of this hence why I thought I would look into a bit further.

Participatory democracy is something that is aided by the ease of communication in the 21st Century. This can be said as participatory democracy relies on the 'capability for expression' which can take place via the phone, blogs, txts, emails, tweets, facebook comments, myspace comments, online forums and numerous others. By having so many ways in which 'citizen to citizen' communication can take place we are given a bigger handle over our governance like never before (H-Ref 1).

In regards to technology I think that it is a key factor in participatory democracy. If the aim is to get as much support as possible what better way to do it. As said above technology and more so the Internet has provided so many different ways in which to keep in contact and communicate. It seems that time and space doesn't create limits anymore, with the Internet correspondence is pretty much painless.

In regards to participatory democracy I think that we do need to have more of a say rather than just voting and letting the rest get left to whoever is elected. Through participatory democracy it would be ensured that all who have a voice and more to say than a straight forward vote and agreeance with candidates would aid society in its refinement. For me I understood Participatory Democracy as just that-You participate, you have a say beyond the voting booth which is something that needs to be brought into play more often. I don't think anyone would be 100% happy with the politicians in their state or of their nation. More particpatory democracy would benefit Australia as a nation as we could work with our politicians instead of gritting our teeth and bearing it.

Reference:

H-Ref 1: Georgetown.edu
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/gaynor/partic.htm
Accessed Monday October 5, 2009.