Practices on Digital eParticipation Platforms to Influence Public Policy: Cases from Brazil.

This paper explores how the use of eParticipation platforms influences the drafting of a public policy. We retrospectively investigate the eParticipation process in the drafting of three public mobility policies in major Brazilian cities. Based on studies of comparative and retrospective cases, we design a procedural model that describes eParticipation practices and the influencing mechanisms used over time. We show how the actors involved, the tools chosen, the design of the digital platform, the interaction on the platform, the actions of mediation and the mechanisms used by civil society and government influence the formulation of public policy. We use the perspective of power as a lens for our investigation. Our study contributes to the literature on eParticipation by explaining the practices and changes that have different results on public policy. It also broadens the discussion regarding the complementarity between possession and practice views of power. We highlight that to understand relationships on eParticipation platforms that influence public decisions, it is important to look at aspects of formal authority and critical resources control. However, it is also necessary to recognize the interactions and also the mechanisms that are put into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]