Table of Contents

CrowdLaw: Online Public Participation in Lawmaking

By Gabriella Capone & Beth Noveck

1. Preface
2. Introduction | This section introduces CrowdLaw as a form of public engagement in lawmaking and provides a glimpse into how engagement efforts across the world are bringing the public into various stages of the legislative process. We also outline the goals of the report and provide a roadmap.
3. Ten recommendations for designing better CrowdLaw initiatives | In this section we summarize ten recommendations for the thoughtful design of CrowdLaw initiatives organized around: clarifying the demand for participation, increasing the supply of public participants and information, and experimenting with and improving on initiatives. The recommendations are relevant across all stages of the legislative process.
4. Framework for institutionalizing public engagement in lawmaking | This section offers a draft of provisions of a public engagement statute with an explanation and rationale for each. We also compare these provisions to what was contained in the Podemos 2016 original draft.
5. The political context in Spain and elsewhere | This section introduces Podemos and why this effort to institutionalize public engagement is taking place in Spain now, including a brief account of motivating regional and global events.
6. Why public engagement? Normative goals | This section explains the varied value propositions for public engagement and connects them to their origins in various strands of political theory.
7. 25 global citizen engagement case studies | This section summarizes findings from analyzing 25 examples of public engagement in lawmaking using an original taxonomy. An expanded taxonomy is discussed in the final section (Research Agenda).
8. Expanded recommendations | Here we expand upon earlier recommendations by providing case studies that contributed to each recommendation. We have endeavored to summarize lessons learned and to translate those insights into design principles.
9. An agenda for research and experimentation | Finally, we highlight valuable directions for further research and experimentation in CrowdLaw.
10. Acknowledgements