SWEDEN’S GRASSROOTS parties, paper from Örebro university

[Magnus Gustavsson]

I'm happy to present:

http://metamorphica.net/papers/SwedishG ... arties.zip

EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES OF SWEDEN’S GRASSROOTS
PARTIES FOLLOWING ICT STRATEGIES
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY BASED ON INTERVIEWS

Ovid Pacific Boyd

Abstract – This paper shares the experiences and challenges faced by four
political parties in Sweden interested in increasing citizen participation by taking
advantage of technology. These parties are empirical examples of parties
following a grassroots model of party organization with an ICT strategy. It is
found that all the parties face major structural and participatory challenges in
their attempts to reform democracy. Three of the parties share a common ‘proxy
politician’ approach to citizen participation while Knivsta.Now focuses much
more on offline participation. Knivsta.Now is also the most successful of the four
parties, so differences are carefully analyzed. Finally, based on this exploratory
study theories are proposed and areas for further study suggested.

Örebro University, Sweden, ovid(at)metamorphica.net

This very interesting report comes is one of the first academic aknowledgements we have seen in Sweden, for the modern direct democracy and the parties claiming to follw the principle in one or another way.

An extensive material with conclusions and references.
Please note that the rapport is still subject to revisions why the author ask for temporary downloads until completion.
Ovid Boyd has nothing against spreading of the link above though!

I also want to inform about an invitation for studies the coming semester at the University of Örebro.
Let's hope for many trained academics in this area! :


Master in Electronic Government

Dear Education Professional,

I’m writing to inform you about our world unique Master Program in Electronic Government offered by Örebro University in Sweden.

The program might be of interest to your graduates as it provides rich knowledge in the new field of electronic government. The tuition is paid by the Swedish government, so it is a great opportunity for your students to study abroad.

We have provided a short poster you could post in your institution or share with interested students. We would appreciate if you could forward information about this program to your graduates in informatics, information systems, political science, public administration or other disciplines relating to eGovernment.

The website contains all further information needed to make applications and inquiries: http://electronicgovernment.eu/
We are now accepting applications for 2008.

Kindly,
Anders Avdic Assistant professor/Universitetslektor, PhD
Program Manager International Electronic Government Master Program
Dept of Informatics (ESI)
Örebro University
S-701 82 Örebro

Phone: +46 19 30 31 20
Mobile: +46 70 330 32 04
Fax: +46 19 33 25 46
Skype: andersavdic

Web: http://www.oru.se/esi/informatik/aac
Research Group at the Informatics Dept: http://www.oru.se/esi/forskning
Electronic Government Master Programme:
http://www.electronicgovernment.eu/

[MrPerfect72]

Ok. Just be ware of politruc involment in our educational system and beware of the powerful effect of group pressure in this situation. Be sceptical and openly critical! If it is not allowed or frowned upon then leave and tell us about it!

[Magnus Gustavsson]

Can you be a bit more specific??
It is difficult to understand what you are not satisfied with.