Participation in German Law

In the context of a comprehensive project concerning online participation in cooperation with the Hans-Bredow-Institute, the sub-project „e-petitions“ focuses on the e-petitions platform of the German parliament, the Bundestag.

The object of investigation is the e­-petition platform of the German Bundestag. On this platform petitions from citizens can be established and then co­-signed by other citizens wishing to support the matter. If, in this way, a petition reaches a quorum of 50 000 signatures within a certain period, the petitions committee has to consider its contents. Up until August 2012, co­-signing an e­-petition on this site was only possible under a person’s real name. Since then, an e­-petition can also be signed under a pseudonym. Alongside the investigation of general patterns in submitters’ behaviour, the study intends to provide particular insight into the issue of whether allowing anonymous submissions has led to an increase in them and what users of the platform think of this possibility.