We asked, you said, we did: Assessing the drivers and effectiveness of an e-participation practice in Scotland

Abstract

This chapter examines an e-participation practice that promotes external stakeholder and citizen involvement in the decision-making process and policy design in the United Kingdom (UK). The initiative called We asked, you said, we did has been adopted by the Scottish Government and integrated in its website (https:// consult .gov .scot/ ). The government decides on the topic of the e-consultation (We asked) and, through the medium of e-consultations, collects stakeholder/citizen opinions and suggestions on the issue (You said). Finally, it keeps the public informed on the actions policy makers have taken as a result of the e-consultation (We did).An analysis of this e-participation practice is important for a variety of reasons. The Scottish Government has a long record of being committed to engaging stakeholders, citizens and communities in the policy-making process. This is evidenced by the work of the Christie Commission (Scottish Government, 2011) and, generally, the so-called Scottish Approach to policy making (Cairney et al., 2016). We asked, you said, we did is an innovative practice that goes beyond the collection of external citizen and stakeholder views (We asked, you said) by providing a transparent overview of the medium-and long-term results of the process, the decisions taken and the policies decided (We did).The analysis of this national-level practice focuses on two main aspects. The first is related to the 'supply side' of e-participation research (Krishnan et al., 2013), with an examination of the impact of the national and organizational context on the adoption of the initiative. The prevailing role of the national context (Aichholzer and Allhutter, 2009;Santaniello and Amoretti, 2013;Moss and Coleman, 2014) and the peculiarity of the Scottish Approach will be revealed.The second aspect is related to the effects of e-participation practices on external collaborations and more generally on the policy design process in which public concerns and aspirations are considered. The role of the Scottish national context will be analysed to determine whether We asked, you said, we did can be considered a successful practice in terms of the inclusion of citizen and stakeholder views.We begin this chapter by reviewing the literature on e-participation practices and outlining the methodology. The national context and Scottish approach to policy making is explained before considering the organizational characteristics behind the initiative and its impact.

Mediji u ulozi savjetovanja s javnošću prilikom donošenja propisa

“…Navedena praksa posljedica je inicijative pod nazivom "We asked, you said, we did", odnosno "Pitali smo, rekli ste, učinili smo". Škotska vlada tijekom svoje povijesti predana je uključivanju dionika, građana i zajednice u procesu kreiranja politike (Bello i Downe, 2022).…”

Organizing e‐participation: Challenges stemming from the multiplicity of actors

“…The Scottish platform represents a mix of hierarchy and network. The use of the centrally provided platform is institutionalized and mandatory, but the overall quality of the e‐participation process depends on each policy team spanning the whole remit of the Scottish Government, thus relying on cooperation, shared goals, and values across policy teams (Bellò & Downe, 2022).…”

The Twenty First Century E- Learning Education Management & Implication for Media Technology Adoption in the Period of Pandemic

“…The twenty first century electronic participation or eparticipation is the term used to describe processes of engaging the government, academic institution administrative protocol, and populace (citizens or students) in a well-defined social arrangement [2], [3]. The procedures could be related to administration, service delivery, decision-making and the cycles of policy formation [4]. Thus, e-participation is directly tied to electronic government, administration, and governance participation in well-coordinated social interaction that has necessitated the twenty first century excessive digitization [5].…”