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Presentation by Diana Wallis, Vice President of the European Parliament

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Open discussion with the audience

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Presentation by Jani Makraduli, Vice President of the Assembly of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

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Presentation by David Price, Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership and Chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives

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Presentation by Mninwa J. Mahlangu, Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces of South Africa

The Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies hosted the 2009 ICT Working Group meeting on Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November in Rome. The theme for this conference was: "Advanced IT Services for MPs , Citizens and Parliamentary Cooperation".

The 2009 edition of the World e-Parliament Conference  took place from 3 to 5 November 2009 at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.
The Conference is the annual forum of the community of parliaments addressing, from both the policy and technical perspectives, how the use of information and communication technology can help improve representation, transparency, accountability, openness, and effectiveness in the complex parliamentary environment.

The Report of the World e-Parliament Conference 2009 is now available.

The World e-Parliament Conference 2008 took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on 25 and 26 November 2008. The World e-Parliament Conference 2008 represented a unique opportunity for leaders and members of parliaments, parliamentary officials and experts to exchange views at a global level on new technologies and innovation as tools to strengthen the representative, legislative and oversight functions of regional and national assemblies.

The phenomenon of electronic government (e-government), and electronic democracy (e-democracy) more specifically, is a relatively new subject of study. However, with the globalization of Internet use, the deployment of technology to improve democracy has rapidly gained worldwide attention. While scholarly analysis of recent and potential developments in this area covers a diverse range of subjects, we have organized the case studies presented here around three specific examples within the Swiss context that, in turn, map roughly onto three distinct stages of the democratic process.

The presidential campaign of Barack Obama during the 2008 elections sparked new discussion about the public engagement issue in the political processes. The campaign used Web 2.0 tools intensively to reach the general public, seek support and collect feedback from voters. In this paper, the major website of this project, "Organizing for America" (OFA), is analysed from the perspective of eParticipation, which is a concept that includes all the processes of public involvement via information and communication technologies.

This report ICTs for Democracy examines the potential of information and communication technologies for advancing democracy and empowerment with special focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It recommends the integration and strategic use of ICTs in good governance.

There are a number of eDemocracy applications, ranging from transparency sites and information, discussion, deliberation and consultation platforms to decision-making and voting systems, thus encompassing the entire democratic process. As technical devices have matured and feasibility is largely not considered an issue any more, other questions are now considered:

For the fifth consecutive year, the World e-Democracy Forum, organized in Issy-les-Moulineaux, will be rewarding those who have made a commitment to affecting meaningful political change through use of the Internet and new technologies. Trophies will be awarded at a ceremony held during in the French National Assembly on Thursday, October 22nd, in partnership with the American web portal PoliticsOnline, the Politech Institute of Europe and Blog Territorial.

The conference specifically provides a ground for researchers of distinct disciplines to come together and discuss advances of eParticipation research from distinct disciplinary angles. ePart follows the traditions of high-level scientific conferences. It is organized by key experts in the field and will be supported by a multidisciplinary program committee of DEMO-net partners and affiliated members.

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged the resilience and universality of the principles of democracy by declaring 15 September the International Day of Democracy. The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, the national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.