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Democracy and Citizenship
Increased, interactive flows of information and knowledge, as well as enhanced access to these flows by the population in general, can forge an interesting instrument for the daily exercise of democracy, and shore up citizen participation. This could take several forms:
Civic education and informed citizens
As a first step, greater circulation of information helps improve overall citizen education in public affairs. On-line resources containing a nation’s laws, regulations, norms, and budgets, as well as efficient indexing and navigational tools for such an immense quantity of information, along with navigational assistance services, will help citizens remain better informed. Such instruments would also be of great use to elected and appointed representatives –legislators, public officials, mayors, city councils, etc.– who currently lack instant, reliable forms of access to the information they need.
Citizen participation in democracy and development
These new information resources permit the development of better-quality citizen participation, by facilitating the organization of policy dialogues and debates between citizens and the representatives of the different branches of government, or just among citizens themselves. The technological instruments available for promoting such debates (chat, moderated or unmoderated electronic mailing lists, teleconferences) are relatively simple to implement. Recent experiences such as those promoted by the National Development Commission, as well as numerous participatory planning exercises promoted by local development projects, show that Salvadorans are deeply interested in participating more actively in public debate.
Participation by Salvadorans throughout the world
Electronic technology can provide a great advance in situations of isolation and long distance, since it permits involvement in debates and discussions from afar, particularly in the case of the migrant community, which currently lacks the means to participate in national political life, despite its significant impact on El Salvador’s economic and cultural life. Connectivity also offers a better opportunity to stimulate family remittances and enhance their use for community development projects or other productive purposes, by strengthening electronic ties between migrant communities and their home towns. Finally, connectivity allows for information and knowledge sharing among Salvadorans around the world.
Transforming the relationship between government and citizens
All of this heralds eventual transformations of the relationship between citizens and their elected and appointed representatives, and could possibility lead to new roles, particularly for the latter. In effect, the existence of up-to-date information on different political debates will allow citizens to follow more closely their representatives’ performance, and to question their political or budget decisions.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce all or part of this publication as long as the complete source is cited: Conectándonos al Futuro de El Salvador, "Strategy for Building a Learning Society", San Salvador, 1999, http://www.conectando.org.sv/English/Strategy/
