Introduction

E-Governance as a field of study is relatively new within the historical context of the United States’ deliberative democracy. The advent of the Internet by the early 1990s yielded a plethora of newly emerging technologies that began shifting citizen expectations regarding how government can and should govern. The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) that continued to proliferate since then caused a steady increase in the expectations of citizens regarding the government’s usage of these innovations. Modern innovations made available during the E-Governance Era reinforce many traditional deliberative democracy principles, such as transparency, accountability and flexibility. As such, the focus of this work is to better understand the role that technological innovation plays in facilitating government actions within a deliberative democracy. The technological innovations available within the E-Governance Era can greatly contribute to strengthening the deliberative democracy framework by creating meaningful opportunities for citizens to participate with government. For example, advancements in technology can create an opportunity for citizens to participate in any number of interactive events that are capable of affecting changes to the political system. The value of deliberative democracy is partly based on the development and usage of tools that facilitate meaningful participation allowing for the public to affect verifiable system changes. The power of deliberative activities to shape system change is paramount to ensure that government outcomes and processes are deemed legitimate by the citizens that participate in, and are affected by, outcomes of such interactive events.