Internet Technologies in Party Decision-Making Processes in Germany

The third speaker in this session at Web Science 2016 is Gefion Thuermer, whose interest is in decision-making processes within political parties. Such processes must be equal and inclusive, which may be a problem the more Internet-based communication tools play a role.

Attitudes towards such exclusion differ widely across parties. Greens politicians in Germany have traditionally been very concerned about avoiding exclusionary processes, while Pirate Party politicians assume that everybody is online and claim never to have met an 'Offline Pirate'. This means that the Green Party has traditionally developed its own processes and used Internet technologies only for administrative functions, while the Pirates have designed their party processes around online tools, and operate offline only during party assemblies and votes.

Both parties consider equality in Internet use, then, but their decisions turn out differently: the Greens tend not to use the Net much, in order not to exclude anyone; the Pirates tend to use it centrally, for the very same reason. Both approaches can lead to exclusion, however, and there is a need to further explore the implications of these approaches.