Project on Law and Democratic Development

International Working Group on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making

The International Working Group on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making (IWG) is engaged in a three-year research effort, "(R)E-Connecting Democracy," focusing on (a) how to evaluate the policy and other social impacts of online citizen consultation initiatives aimed at influencing actual government decision making, and (b) how the optimal design of such initiatives is affected by cultural, social, legal and institutional context. Its sub-groups are considering the impacts of online consultations on government agencies and policy makers, the impacts of online consultations on public participants and civil society organizations, the relationship between the design of consultation and the kinds of impacts identified, and the ways in which legal, political and institutional context shape prospects for success.

Team members are as follows:

Co-Chairs:

• Peter Shane, The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
• Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication, University of Leeds

Additional Team Members:

• Joachim Åström, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CUReS) & DemocrIT, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
• Steven J. Balla, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
• Patrizia Bertini, Researcher at TrustItalia Verisign - EIAO (European Internet Accessibility Observatory)
• Andrew Chadwick, Royal Holloway College, University of London
• Åke Grönlund, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
• Sungsoo Hwang, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Adjunct Faculty, School of Public and Nonprofit Administration, Grand Valley State University
• David Lazer, Harvard University
• Jeffrey Lubbers, Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C.
• Laurence Monnoyer-Smith, University of Technology at Compiègne, France
• Beth Noveck, New York Law School
• Oren Perez, Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
• Vincent Price, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
• Alicia Schatteman, Ph.D. candidate, The State University of New Jersey at Newark, NJ
• Polona Picman Štefancic, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Peter L. Strauss, Betts Professor of Law, Columbia University
• Scott Wright, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England