The German Pirate Party and its Impact on Direct E-Democracy in Germany

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - Germany, grade: 2,3, University of Frankfurt (Main), course: Democracy in Crisis?, language: English, abstract: Despite some opportunities for active participation in German politics, there is often a demand for greater participation opportunities for citizens. Also, electronic democracy (e-democracy) can be seen nowadays as a large concept with more successful participation for German democracy. E-democracy represents the use of Information and Communication Technologies and strategies by democratic actors (governments, elected officials, the media, political organizations, citizens/voters) within the political and governing processes of local communities, nations and on the international stage. Moreover, e-democracy suggests greater and more active participation enabled by the Internet, mobile communications, and other technologies in today¿s direct democracy as well as through more participatory or direct forms of citizen involvement in addressing public challenges. In Germany, the new and unconventional style of Internet politics has enabled the German Pirate Party to take a spot on the national political stage. The Pirate Party operates quite differently from other parties and can be seen as a model that will affect other parties through adoption of direct e-democracy in the future. Apparently, their unconventional, transparent and internet-based style of politics has become the center of several public debates and gained quick popularity. It is for these reasons that this is a worthwhile topic to be examined in this paper: What impact has the digital revolution of the German Pirate Party on direct democracy in Germany and how does it affect the transparency of an administration? To answer this question, the paper is divided into four main chapters, excluding the introduction and conclusion. Chapter one lays out the foundation of the German Pirate Party and provides an insight into its origination. Chapter two examines the German Pirate Party, its structure, political agenda as well as their aims according to the political system of Germany. Chapter three aims at investigating the impact of the Pirates on transparency of administration. Finally, chapter four is dedicated to present an analysis of the changed aspect of direct democracy by the Pirate Party and its digital influence as a new social movement on German direct democracy.