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Democratic accountability on electronic portals of the municipal deliberative body

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Bibliographic Details
Summary:Democratic accountability is considered one of the most important mechanisms of legitimacy in Democratic States of Law, for guaranteeing forms of control and accountability uninterrupted by those elected by the people. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the information displayed on the electronic portals of local Portuguese deliberative bodies contributes to the exercise of democratic accountability. Using mixed methods, with the first qualitative and second quantitative phase, and with content analysis techniques this study presents an index capable of measuring the level of democratic accountability in the electronic portals of the local Portuguese deliberative bodies, reveals that although there is accountability, there is a significant absence of democratic mechanisms in the implementation of these virtual environments.
Main Authors:Lima, Débora Reis Leal de
Other Authors:Nogueira, Sónia P.; Carvalho, Hilda Alberton de
Subject:Public administration Governance Institucional comunication Digital democracy Governação Comunicação institucional Democracia digitial Administração pública Ciências Sociais::Ciências Políticas
Year:2021
Country:Portugal
Document type:conference paper
Access type:open access
Associated institution:Universidade do Minho
Language:English
Origin:RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Description
Summary:Democratic accountability is considered one of the most important mechanisms of legitimacy in Democratic States of Law, for guaranteeing forms of control and accountability uninterrupted by those elected by the people. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the information displayed on the electronic portals of local Portuguese deliberative bodies contributes to the exercise of democratic accountability. Using mixed methods, with the first qualitative and second quantitative phase, and with content analysis techniques this study presents an index capable of measuring the level of democratic accountability in the electronic portals of the local Portuguese deliberative bodies, reveals that although there is accountability, there is a significant absence of democratic mechanisms in the implementation of these virtual environments.