e-governance and citizen information - Universitat Oberta de ...

E-governance and Citizen Information 38 Theoretical Framework. The Network Administration2.4. Administration and CitizensPolitical science literature has provided empirical proof during the last few decades of the growinglack of interest and trust of citizens towards political parties and institutions (Huse, 2003; Clift,2000; Carnoy, 2001; Hague and Loader, 1999; Castells, 2001; OCDE, 1991). This can be seenin the decrease of traditional political participation, the low credibility of political representativesand the new forms of participation that are not channelled through political parties(Clift, 2001; Hayan, 1997; Inglehart and Clark, 1998).Citizens' indifference towards political institutions has extended to the running of public bureaucracy,so that the growing distance between citizens and the Administration is clearerthan ever. In 2002, a study showed that almost 59.3% of the Catalan population did notagree with the statement “citizens can influence the Government's decisions”. Similarly, approximately69.4% of the population believed that “it is impossible to exert our influence onthe decisions of politicians” (Castells et al., 2003).As we will see later on, this scenario is leading to a crisis in the legitimacy of the operationof states' administrative systems and the political system of representative democracy.2.4.1. Crisis in the Traditional Political Participation MechanismsFirstly, among the indicators of crises in democracies, we can see a constant decrease inthe participation in political elections in Western democracies since the late 1970s. In particular,participation in US presidential elections dropped from 62.8% in 1960 to 48.9% in1996 (Putnam, 2002). Likewise, the average participation in Europe dropped from 84% duringthe 1970s to 75% during the 1990s (Anduiza and Bosch, 2004). According to these authors,this phenomenon is closely linked to the decrease in the affiliation of politicalorganisations in parties and syndicates. This is further demonstrated by new forms of participationthat were not included in traditional representation systems (Inglehart and Clark,1998) and by citizens who are losing interest in political processes (an aspect that, accordingto some authors, is linked to the generalised trivialisation of politics by the media [Blumlerand Gurevitch, 1995]).Finally, empirical evidence shows a constant decrease in the trust in political representatives,parties and government institutions, with a persistent bad reputation given to the politicalclass in general (Putnam, 2002; Gibson et al., 2003).http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic