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Democracy And The Environment On The Internet: Electronic Citizen Participation In Regulatory Rulemaking, Stephen Zavestoski, Stuart W. Shulman, David Schlosberg
Democracy And The Environment On The Internet: Electronic Citizen Participation In Regulatory Rulemaking, Stephen Zavestoski, Stuart W. Shulman, David Schlosberg
eRulemaking Research Group
We hypothesize that recent uses of the Internet as a public-participation mechanism in the United States fail to overcome the adversarial culture that characterizes the American regulatory process. Although the Internet has the potential to facilitate deliberative processes that could result in more widespread public involvement, greater transparency in government processes, and a more satisfied citizenry, we argue that efforts to implement Internet-based public participation have overlaid existing problematic government processes without fully harnessing the transformative power of information technologies. Public comments submitted in two United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule-making processes—the National Organic Program’s organic standard and the …
Whither Deliberation? Mass E-Mail Campaigns And U.S. Regulatory Rulemaking, Stuart W. Shulman
Whither Deliberation? Mass E-Mail Campaigns And U.S. Regulatory Rulemaking, Stuart W. Shulman
eRulemaking Research Group
Mass e-mail campaigns are the organizational tool of choice for environmental activists seeking to inform and mobilize their constituencies. Some democratic theorists and reformers pin their hopes for more responsive and informed government policy on Internet-enhanced dialogue and debate. Electronic advocacy campaigns and action alerts are changing the nature and scope of public deliberation in contentious federal rulemaking. This paper examines the new digital landscape of electronic rulemaking through a case study of the recent mercury rulemaking at the US Environmental Protection Agency. Results are presented from an effort to code a sample of 1,000 e-mails selected at random from …