Cracking the Political Code: The Case of E-participation in Colombia

Abstract

Theory says that, in normal circumstances, politicians do not have many incentives to make the policy process more democratic, and that these political dynamics may be embedded into the enactment of technology. This work will try to determine if this holds true in the case of Urna de Cristal, a Colombian e-participation scheme. The nation-wide projects implemented by this programme in 2017 are analysed using three sets of political criteria—inclusion, participation, and deliberation—drawn from an evaluation framework of centralized cross-platform approaches to social media exploitation by government agencies (Ferro et al. 2013). The evidence suggests that the enactment of Urna de Cristal’s projects reflected the Colombian government’s intention of preventing the policy process from becoming more participatory and deliberative. Some data suggests the government tried to render this process more inclusive. Further research on e-participation should consider the political complexity of technology enactment in the public sector.