New Information Technologies in the Service of Global Governance

Karamagioli E¹*

1. Access to democracy, Athens, Greece

Over the last decades civil society organizations (CSOs) have become prime movers of some of the most innovative initiatives to deal with emerging global threats. People’s organizations are transformed over the last years in to key actors in the world’s political and social affairs. Their growing participation and influence is enhancing democracy and reshaping multilateralism.

Over the last decade the democratic deficits in global governance has gained recognition by CSOs around the world. More and more CSOs are making significant efforts in becoming key actors in the world’s political and social affairs by undertaking various innovative initiatives in dealing with global treats

Given the great distance between global institutions and citizens around the world, new Information Technologies can open new opportunities for participatory democracy as they enable social actors to participate in decision-making, to deepen and broaden democratic dialogue among all social actors in global levels

Or their incorporation into democratic processes can be difficult even dangerous.

The paper attempts to address the questions how can new information technologies bridge the gap between citizens and global governance? In what conditions? Which are the treats ? which are the factors of success have been so far identified by international organizations such as OECD ?