The socialization of civic participation norms in government?: Assessing the effect of the Open Government Partnership on countries' e-participation

Abstract

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a prominent international initiative promoting open and responsive government. This includes efforts to socialize norms for civic participation in government institutions. Noting the close alignment of discourses on open government and e-participation, this analysis considers whether comparative data on countries' e-participation performance provides evidence of socialization by OGP. Comparative analysis suggests that OGP membership is correlated with higher e-participation scores, that this is not solely attributable to national political factors, but that alignment of national traditions and structures with civic participation norms has a positive moderating effect on OGP's relationship to e-participation. OGP's effect on collaborative e-decision-making is consistently more pronounced than OGP's effect on e-participation generally. This supports the assertion that OGP membership socializes participation norms in government institutions, and that this socialization effect is more pronounced in more democratic countries and in regard to more advanced participation norms. • OGP membership has a modest but statistically significant causal effect on countries' e-participation • That effect is not solely attributable to national political factors • OGP's effect is most powerful in regards to collaborative e-decision-making • Domestic factors are responsible for a non-trivial portion of OGP’s effect on e-participation, particularly e-decision-making • Alignment of national context with civic participation norms moderates OGP’s contribution to e-participation.