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| E-Democracy 2017: An Essay Writing Contest Launched by Bulgaria Development Gateway |
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The Bulgaria Development Gateway, under the auspices of the Minister of Public
Administration, Mr. Dimitar Kalchev, and together with the Coordination Center
on ICT,
the Information Centre of the Council of Europe in Sofia and Dnevnik Daily jointly organized an online essay writing contest dedicated to the topic of “E-Democracy
2017: Challenges to Political Parties and Civil Society”. The contest was the second one which Bulgaria Development Gateway organized
after “A Million For Development” competition which attracted more than 60 participants in 2003.
 The penetration of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the
business world, in households and everyday life have already significantly
transformed the functioning of the market economy, giving rise to new
organizational forms and business models. To many it is simply inconceivable to
imagine everyday life without access to Internet, mobile communications or
other electronic devices. Governments around the world successfully provide
electronic services to citizens and business enterprises.
Despite
these changes, one particular area remains seemingly unaffected by the impact
of new technologies – democracy itself, or the mechanisms of democratic
governance and citizens’ participation in policy- and decision-making.
Most
analysts forecast the situation will change in the next 10-15 years. There are
multiple paths to this change – from simple optimization of the election
process and greater transparency and citizens’ involvement to a more radical
change in the mechanisms of democratic governance. The processes of democratic
reform bring about significant benefits but can pose a few threats and challenges as well.
The
ability to cope with these challenges is closely related to the ability to
foresee the changes and create feasible scenarios of the future. Therefore, the
essay contest looked toward the year 2017 – a year in which Bulgaria could foreseeable take
over the presidency of the European Union.
During 2004 the Council of Europe focused the international community’s attention on the issues of e-democracy
in its recommendations Rec (2004)11 and 15. The Council’s Green Paper on the future of democracy in
Europe (2004) discusses various opportunities for improving democratic governance.
The
Bulgaria Development Gateway and its partners launched this essay writing
contest in order to invigorate the public debate and foresight thinking for shaping
the future of e-democracy and e-governance in Bulgaria. The contest called for
fresh ideas, hypotheses and arguments about what democracy in Bulgaria could, and should look
like by the year 2017, taking into account the projected growth in ICT
penetration and usage. Participants in the contest were asked to reflect on how these
developments could affect traditional political parties and what strategies they needed
to design in order to adequately respond to the needs of citizens in Bulgaria
and the EU over the next decade.
The essays that were submitted by the deadline, 10th May 2005, presented many interesting scenarios of the future of e-democracy in Bulgaria, discussed the main challenges facing
political parties and civil society, and offered possible policy alternatives to
development. Most of the presenetd essays demonstrated original approaches and
visionary thinking.
The essay writing contest was targeted at the young people of Bulgaria, although
there were no age limits to participation. All essays that were uploaded to the Bulgaria Development
Gateway portal were evaluated by a panel of jurors comprised of the following representatives of key public
agencies, international organizations, journalists and academics:
- Dr. Emil Tzenkov, Director, Council of Europe Information Centre - Sofia
- Ass. Prof. Antoni Todorov, New Bulgarian University
- Mr. Roumen Trifonov, Advisor to the Minister of Public Administration
- Mr. Georgi Varchev, Coordination Centre on ICT, Council of Ministers
- Mr. Krassimir Benevski, IT Coordinator, UNDP-Bulgaria
- Mr. Georgi Kourtev, Communications Associate, World Bank Regional Office, Zagreb
- Mr. Georgi Apostolov, Content Manager, Bulgaria Development Gateway
- Ms. Daniela Stefanov, Dnevnik Daily
The jury awarded three grand prizes in the competition as follows:
The first prize went to Mr. Georgi Prodanov, a PhD student at the Sofia University Department of Political Sciences.
The runner-up was Ms. Teodora Radoeva, a student in European studies also at Sofia University.
The third prize was awarded to Mr. Lyubomir Vassilev, a 31-year-old lawyer with interests in political analyses and literary writing.
The authors of 14 competing essays were invited to take part in a round
table discussion which ARC Fund organized on May 20, 2005. The event brought together over 30 participants - leading experts in political science, information technologies and
international relations.
Further details about the e-Democracy 2017 contest are available at this website (only in Bulgarian)
Official Partners:
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