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Decision process support for participatory democracy
Author(s) -
Danielson Mats,
Ekenberg Love,
Ekengren Anders,
Hökby Torsten,
Lidén Jan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of multi‐criteria decision analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1099-1360
pISSN - 1057-9214
DOI - 10.1002/mcda.406
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , process (computing) , democracy , citizen journalism , set (abstract data type) , decision process , process management , computer science , politics , operations research , decision support system , decision making , participatory budgeting , management science , engineering , political science , operations management , data mining , computer security , world wide web , law , purchasing , programming language , operating system
This paper presents a project and case study integrating decision methods into democratic processes. The case discussed is a set of three complicated decisions in a municipality in Sweden. The decisions had been postponed on several occasions prior to bringing in the method described in the paper. The method employed consists of two main parts. The interaction part contains the communication channels directed to the stakeholders. The decision‐process part consists of a three‐layered working process model. As a part of the method, the project was highly visible on the web. Citizens were encouraged to submit material to the project. All intermediate results of the process were continuously published, enhancing transparency. For each decision, the analysis consisted of comparing all alternatives, taking the respective criteria into account as weighted or ranked by the participants. A method for recording compromises analytically was also used. The purpose was not to replace the political process but to support it in a structured way. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.