It has enabled the emergence of new ways to communicate, to share information and knowledge, and for people to widen their sense of participation, identity and belonging.
"It gives people a sense of participation and what is going on and to be able to shape some of the decision that will be made, " he said.
But even the relatively toothless Welsh Assembly will have the power to scrutinise and alter the administration of Wales, and so give its people a greater sense of participation in their own government.
Public confidence would also be boosted by giving consumers a clearer sense of participation in the regulatory process, so that they do not feel that such products are being foisted on them by authorities who are cosier with the industry than with shoppers.
In western Ukraine, the spectral legacy of Austro-Hungarian rule, with its stronger sense of civic participation and private ownership, can still be felt.
It is perhaps not surprising that Americans so virulently hate taxes: as their sense of political participation has withered, they feel that their forefathers' complaint against taxation without representation is relevant once more.
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You're starting to see a sense of empowerment and civic participation that I think is going to be powerful and good for the country.
The OECD found the country has a strong sense of community but "only moderate levels" of civic participation.
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In its report, the OECD said Australians felt "a strong sense of community and high levels of civic participation, " with 94% of people feeling like they knew someone to rely on should they need help.
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In an age when pride is on the wane yet the sense is strengthening that money has fatal flaws as an engine of equality, that experience simply cuts people off from political participation and sets them adrift, inward into their private lives, whether in a lonely or gregarious way (or, by turns, both).
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