Democratic "Management of Knowledge"? A Study on Knowledge Management and the European Parliament

Abstract: In this thesis, the idea of Knowledge Management (KM) and the planning of the introduction of what is called a “KM approach” in the European Parliament (EP) is studied. The first purpose is to analyze how existing KM thoughts can be supplemented by insights from a subset of democratic theory (e-democracy), by placing focus on the elected representative and his or her information needs. Five “democratic criteria” are derived and analyzed related to literature on KM. Out of two “strands” of KM identified, the “IT-Track” and the “People-Track”, it is shown that the former can be broadened with these insights, and this is carried out. This theoretical framework thereafter forms the basis of a study on the planning of introducing KM in the EP. The purpose is to analyze the KM approach taken in the EP so far and to investigate what additional insights that can be gained of the planning of the KM introduction, by adding the democratic criteria to the analysis. A complementary study on the implementation of KM in the Parliament of Finland is also carried out. This study of the EP shows that one of the “democratic criteria” was prominent in the KM approach taken so far.