Citizen Participation in the Digital Era: A Comparative Perspective between Thailand and South Korea
Main Article Content
Abstract
Citizen participation is a vital component of public administration in the 21st century. This study compares Thailand and South Korea to examine how digital governance frameworks influence civic engagement, focusing on policy design, administrative structures, and political culture. The findings reveal that South Korea has effective- ly utilized digital platforms, such as e-participation systems and Open Government Data, to strengthen transparency and enable citizens to engage substantively in au- diting, administrative appeals, and policymaking. In contrast, although Thailand has developed platforms such as the 1111 Complaint System and Damrongtham Online Center, citizen participation remains limited because of structural, legal, and trust barriers. This contrast illustrates that South Korea has reached an advanced stage of digital governance, whereas Thailand is still in its formative phase. Therefore, this study proposes policy recommendations for Thailand, including sustained investment in digital infrastructure, development of integrated platforms, and enhancement of transparency to foster public trust. These measures would expand opportunities for citizen engagement and serve as a pathway to advance public administration toward greater democracy and sustainability.
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WONGSA, Pornnatcha; LOWATCHARIN, Grichawat.
Citizen Participation in the Digital Era: A Comparative Perspective between Thailand and South Korea.
Policy & Governance Review, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 1, p. 68-84, jan. 2026.
ISSN 2580-4820.
Available at: <https://journal.iapa.or.id/pgr/article/view/1357>. Date accessed: 17 jan. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.30589/pgr.v10i1.1357.
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), 216–224. https://doi. org/10.1080/01944366908977225
Bae, Y., Choi, S. W., Kim, M. J., & Kim, S. (2019). Leveraging ICT platforms to foster citizen engagement for enhanced public accountability: The Korean experience. World Bank. https:// openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/ publication/e5e2fc72-8fad-5db1-906e- 97f7e71dbf21
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Bannister, F., & Connolly, R. (2020). The future ain’t what it used to be: Forecasting the impact of ICT on the public sphere. Government Information Quarterly, 37(1), 101410. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.101410
Bano, R., Sayed, S., Sajid, M. A., & Ali, S. (2025). Assessing the impact of digital governance on citizen participation and public service delivery: A comparative study of developing and developed countries. Review Journal of Social Psychology & Social Works, 3(1), 99–109. https://doi. org/10.71145/rjsp.v3i1.80
Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Hansen, D. (2012). The impact of policies on government social media usage: Issues, challenges, and recommendations. Government Information Quarterly, 29(1), 30– 40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2011.04.004
Cheong, I., & Cho, J. (2024). Digital government in the Republic of Korea: Evaluation and challenges. In L. Chen & F. Kimura (Eds.), Empowering online public service in Asia: The digital frontier (pp. 177–197). ERIA.
Dawes, S. S. (2008). The evolution and continuing challenges of e-governance. Public Administration Review, 68(s1), S86–S102. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2008.00981.x
Digital Government Development Agency (Public Organization). (2023). Thailand Digital Government Development Report. Digital Government Development Agency (Public Organization).
Dunleavy, P., Margetts, H., Bastow, S., & Tinkler, J. (2006). Digital-era governance: IT corporations, the state, and e-government. Oxford University Press.
European Commission. (2020). eGovernment benchmark 2020: E-Government that works for the people. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa. eu/en/library/egovernment-benchmark-2020- egovernment-works-people
Gardenier, A. M., van Est, R., & Royakkers, L. M. M. (2024). Technological citizenship in times of digitization: An integrative framework. Digital Society, 3, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44206- 024-00106-1
Hood, C. (1991). Public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69(1), 3–19. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00779.x
Lai, R., & Beh, L.-S. (2025). The impact of political efficacy on citizens’ e-participation in digital government. Administrative Sciences, 15(1), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15010017
OECD. (2020). The OECD Digital Government Policy Framework: Six Dimensions of a Digital Government (OECD Public Governance Policy Papers No. 2). OECD Publishing. https://doi. org/10.1787/f64fed2a-en
OECD. (2024). 2023 OECD Digital Government Index: Results and key findings (OECD Public Governance Policy Papers No. 44). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/1a89ed5e-en
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Osborne, S. P. (2006). The new public governance Public Management Review, 8(3), 377–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030600853022
Peixoto, T., & Steinberg, T. (2019). Citizen engagement: Emerging digital technologies create new risks and values. World Bank. https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/entities/publication/c00c9eb6- 4ae2-50c0-8828-a2f2a87b45c3
Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG). (2020). Seoul smart city booklet. https://seoulsolution.kr/ en/content/smart-city-booklet
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2024). The Republic of Korea’s anti-corruption and good governance through digitalization. UNDP.
United Nations. (2022). United Nations E-Government Survey 2022: The future of digital government. United Nations publication.
van Deursen, A. J. A. M., & van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2015). Toward a multifaceted model of Internet access for understanding digital divides: An empirical investigation. The Information Society, 31(5), 379–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972 243.2015.1069770
Wang, S., Liu, Y., & Zhu, J. (2023). A study on the optimization of the rule of law path for digital government. Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 20. https://doi.org/10.54097/ ehss.v20i.11437
Yadav, B. (2024). Citizen participation in government decision-making processes. Research Review International Journal of Multidisciplinary, 9(4), 221–229. https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2024. v09.n04.033
Zhang, L. (2024). Digital transformation in public governance: A narrative review of information systems for strategic communication. Sinergi International Journal, 12(3), 110-125. https:// doi.org/10.51887/sij.v12i3.102