Introduction: Strengthening Parliaments through ICTs

Icts And Parliaments

Today, ICTs used by public institutions to provide the citizens with more accessible, efficient and productive services and to modernize their own administrative procedures and processes, are used intensively in this day and age by parliaments as well. ICTs have proved to be a significant supportive and facilitative power for effectively fulfilling their duties and responsibilities granted to parliaments by the constitution. In this respect, in order to carry out the functions of legislation, representation and inspection more effectively, to connect with the public, to implement the concept of public participation and to improve the image of politics in general and parliaments in particular in the mind of the public, parliaments should exploit the advantages offered by ICTs.

In this day and age when the tendencies of civilization and democratization gain strength and basic human rights and liberties come to the forefront, the expectations of citizens from their public institutions have begun to change as well. With regard to social demands and expectations, emphasis has transitioned from quantity to quality. In this respect, citizens are demanding, in addition to the amount of services from the public institutions to meet their needs, public services offered with higher quality, efficiency and accountability. Parliaments are not immune from these demands and expectations.