Internet and citizen participation: State of the art, factors and determinants at local level in Catalonia

Information and communication technologies (ICT from here on) have been incorporated into politics and democratic innovation experiences, such as citizen participation in public decision-making. However, there are important differences in the drive for and development of electronic participatory experiences, and data has not been collected in a systematic way. Which kinds of experiences are being promoted? What fosters the promotion of e-Participatory experiences? Which factors explain their impulse? This chapter aims to gather and analyse participatory experiences promoted and the Internet use for participatory purposes. So, it studies the nature of the promoted experiences and analyses the main explanatory factors of their impulse, looking for differences and similarities regarding Internet use. It focuses the analysis in Catalonia, one of the European regions with more participatory experiences. In general terms, analyses show that participatory experiences have increased hugely in the last years and most of them use the Internet for participatory purposes. Analyses show also that political party of the mayor or electoral abstention rate would be explanatory for the promotion of e-Participatory experiences, as well as the participative context of the municipality or the population size. © 2012, IGI Global.