Are you listening? Consultation in Policy Development

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to work with Social Democratic party members from around Southern and Eastern Europe (Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia) as part of a conference coordinated by NDI’s Regional Party initiative (RPI) and the ruling party in Montenegro, Demokratska Partija Socijalista. Thematically, the conference focused on ICT and political participation through sessions on transparency and accountability, campaigning, youth leadership and policy development.

The latter, policy development, is central to the conference series, and we discussed ways that smart applications of technology can improve the outcomes of policy development.

As we’ve witnessed in the last few years, the “internet public” reflects the changed nature of human beings as social and civic individuals.  As part of this phenomenon, new connections are increasingly important, and pertinent information gets shared rapidly. One driver of these tools for political use has been the perception that political bodies are self-interested, dysfunctional, and don’t represent citizen interests. We’ve seen citizens rebelling against this order in ongoing Arab Spring uprisings, the Occupy Movement, and newly founded political parties and organizations.

In response, existing parties have embraced technology to improve citizen consultation, adapting to constituent demand, and ultimately developing better policy.  Recent examples of consultative processes include:

1. An inclusive constitutional re-writing process in Iceland which aimed to be representative in regards to gender, age and socio-economic class.  Initial versions were posted online and incorporated citizen feedback.
2. Digg-style voting systems to hold politicians accountable during debates and press conferences.
3. The German Pirate Party’s “Liquid Feedback” system which allows party members to work collaboratively and vote on party policies and platforms.

Of course, any consultative process needs to be aware of several challenges. None of these challenges are a reason not to engage in participatory forms of governance, but they are important pitfalls and challenges to keep in mind while planning the process. For policy development:

• Inclusive processes take time, which must be adequately planned for. Some issues need quick decisions, and do not allow for a broad, deliberate consultation process.
• In addition to being participatory, consultative policymaking can be combative as various stakeholders within the organization compete for dominance. This is a natural tension which must be expected and managed.
• Overly academic or cumbersome consultation processes can lead to fatigue in which stakeholders are less eager to participate because the work is too burdensome and boring, or is not rewarding.
• The outcome of consultation processes can sometimes be unclear when stakeholders have no firm view on a policy, widely disparate views, or insufficient information.

Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, the policy development process was once again at the center of attention as an important position on marriage equality was included in the platform. As evidenced, it is critical that political institutions adapt so that citizens don't become disillusioned, and continue to recognize that their opinions matter.

Image credit: Angelika Warmuth/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images