Democratic innovations in Serbia: a misplaced trust in technology

Abstract

This article compares the results of three projects from Serbia, which share the assumption that the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) can improve communication between the government and the citizens, and increase, to a limited extent, citizens' participation. Using interviews and document analysis, it investigates the intended objectives and actual results of the projects. The key findings are that none of these projects can be unequivocally seen as a success, although they fail in different ways and to the various degrees. These results will primarily contribute to the underdeveloped body of knowledge about democratic innovations in Eastern Europe, but will also help to identify the factors of success (or failure) of this type of technologically-based democratic innovations.