Legal Issues Of Public Participation In The E-government Research

Public participation has become an important legal issue contemporarily in electronic government. Electronic government offers an excellent platform for public participation. At the same time, public participation boosts the development of electronic government. But many problems remain: the disorder of public participation in electronic government due to lack of regulating by law; some problems in the development of electronic government hindering the effective participation of the public. It is necessary to use legal means and moral methods to address these problems in order to push for the healthy and orderly development of public participation in electronic government.This article is made up of introduction, text, conclusion. The text is comprised of five chapters, namely, the basic definition of public participation, electronic government and its impact on public participation, problems facing public participation, regulating public participation by law, public participation regulated by moral and ethic approaches.In the part of introduction, this article briefs the burgeoning development of electronic government and the increasingly important role played by direct participatory democracy in the process of China's rule of law under the circumstances of informationization and globalization. It also concerns some problems existing in public participation.Chapter One deals with the basic definition and analysis on public participation. Public participation means the participation in administrative law enforcement, public management and public service activities by any person and social organization exclusive of administrative subject. In this article, the concept of public participation is in a narrow sense not inclusive of the participation such as parliamentary legislation. This chapter also examines the constitutional basis of public participation, namely, popular sovereignty and restriction on administrative power. The second part of this chapter elaborates on the participatory methods of the public, mainly including workshop, public hearing, heated debate by the public. The author then makes some examples to support his views.Chapter Two talks about the definition, characteristics, status quo of electronic government and impact of electronic government on public participation. Beginning in 1990s, electronic government developed very fast in the past years. Many developed countries have launched on-line government services around the clock via internet. It helps the development of public participation by promoting freedom of speech, social equality and political transparency and changing the public's conventional thinking. Accordingly, with more and more people participating in electronic government, it also contributes to the development of electronic government. The public can hold on-line communication, opinion poll and electronic town meetings through internet, making public participation more conveniently and instantly.Chapter Three mainly concerns the problems existing in the process of the development of public participation in electronic government. Internet is a good forum for public participation, but any democratic political system has a limited capacity to withstand public participation. The disorderly public participation in which the public attempt to participate in administrative affairs illegally seriously disrupts the healthy development of public participation. In the meantime, discourse hegemony in the internet also hampers public participation. The above-mentioned two parts are common to every country, so the last part of this chapter expounds on China's special problems in electronic government that affect public participation.Chapter Four probes into how to regulate public participation by law and serves as solution to the problems put forth in Chapter Three. In the first part of this chapter, the author illuminates the importance of government information opening for public participation in electronic government and how China should do in this regard to facilitate public participation. In the second part, the author elucidates the regulating of public participation by making electronic government laws in the light of experiences abroad. The author also talks about other relevant laws that are indispensable to the healthy development of public participation.Chapter Five is the last chapter of this article, centering on how to rectify the disorder of public participation through moral and ethic methods. Law is absolutely not an cure-all solution to the problems. Without the self-discipline of the public, healthy development of public participation can not be realized. It is necessary to introduce other non-legal regulations to guarantee the healthy development of public participation.In the Conclusion, the author envisions the bright future of public participation in electronic government, believing that public participation will thrive in the years to come.