Measuring the Level of e-Participation Development in Public Policies: An Evaluation on the UN e-Participation Index

Various methods have been employed to measure the level of development since the "eparticipation" concept emerged. The United Nations (UN) e-Participation Index (EPI) aims to figure out and to present citizens' capacity and willingness to participate in public policy decision-making and the country's social governance program. However, it analyzes only supply-side data while creating the e-participation index as others. Concordantly, there is a literature discussion that the index reveals only the level of e-participation supply, not the level of development. This study suggests that indicators of all factors affecting e-participation should be reconsidered. Hence, the study aims to test the validity level of EPI regarding eparticipation by analyzing the relationships between the factors affecting e-participation, which the UN did not consider in EPI, and to propose a well-grounded indexing. The study strives to produce a comprehensive analysis on equal and fair participation in Turkiye by combining various indexes frequently applied yet limitedly studied. The findings in this study, which subjected the secondary data to quantitative analysis, reveals that EPI's explanatory level for eparticipation development is insufficient in all areas, notably democratic, legal, and human development.