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ASIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION VOL 25.N O 2 (DECEMBER 2003 ) 159-183
E G overnment: Towards a
Public Administration Approach
Stavros Zouridis and Marcel Thaens
In public administration science and practice, the debate on e-government
concentrates on service delivery, information and technology. This article argues
that we need a broad public administration approach towards e-government that
surpasses this technocratic emphasis. Public administration theory helps us to
escape from the conceptual prison of the information management ideology that
currently dominates e-go vernment. B oth the locus of e-government (the parts of
public ad ministration that are being touched by it) and its focus (its approac h
towards governance) can be used to broaden the concept. If we do not enrich e-
government, many of its possibilities will remain unexploited. Also, if we stick to
the information management approach, e-government will endanger the very
foundations of the legitimacy of public administration.
Introduction
Having discovered the potential of information and com munications
technologies (ICT), both public managers and public administration
scholars dreamt of a radically new government. Stimulated by the IT
industry, e-government became
a
key word in many policy prop osals.
Processes of change and renewal were based on e-government to
improve the organisation, effectiveness and efficiency of public
administration. E-government seems to have further stimulated
processes of administrative reform and new public management
worldwide. Together with schools and universities (e-learning) and
the private sector (e-commerce and e-business), governments also
had to prepare for the new millennium. The advocates of e-governm ent
argued that only governments onlin e would survive.
Although the e-government trend has been widely studied, the
research primarily concentrates on the pace of change. The most
important question seem s to be which government w ins the gold medal
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for being the most e-government in a particular year. Conferences
and books are replete with case studies that tell us how a specific
national or local government has been transformed into an e-
government. While this research is valuable, we need a better
theoretical understanding of e-government. We know what e-
government means from an IT perspective, but what does it mean
from the perspective of public administration the ory? O ne of the most
important public administration trends seems to be h ardly no ticed by
the scientific public administration community.
As such, e-government seems to imply that governance and
governments as we know them become electronic or online. In the
past we had just governmen t and governance, while the future w ill be
characterised by e-government and e-governance. Although the IT
cow bo ys prom ise that these changes will only make governmen t
and governance more effective and efficient, the vast literature on
technological change tells another story. Several decades ago, early
research demonstra ted that informat ion and communicat ions
technology does not only make society more efficient and effective,
but it also fundamentally affects our world views and the social,
organisational and political foundations on which society is built (eg,
Mumford 1934; Ellul 1964; McLuhan 1964; Winner 1977). Therefore,
it is important to search for the transformations that are being caused
by the current trend towards e-government. Predominantly, this is en
empirical issue. We deal with it by looking in two ways at the
worldw ide trend towards e-government. First, we describe this trend
and some leading practices and initiatives. We then analyse these
initiatives by look ing at the objects of e-governm ent. W here are the
e-governm ent initiatives located in public adm inistration? W hich parts
of government become e-government? Then, we analyse how the
current initiatives define governance and public adm inistration. H ow
do these initiatives approach governm ent and governan ce?
The em pirical issue of the transformations cau sed by e-governm ent
as such may be interesting, but it does not tell us how to evaluate
what has been happening. Saying that ICT changes publ ic
administration does not mean anything if we cannot assess the nature
and the impact of these changes. Therefore, we explore how these
changes can be evaluated from a public administration science
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persp ective. We also use the public adm inistration perspective to look
for some clues and leads for the future of e-government.
E Government: Exploring the Phenomenon
E-Government as Global Phenomenon
The transformation of government into e-government turns out to be
a global phenom enon. Many countries have formulated their dreams,
visions and plans for introducing at least some form of electronic
government. Consequently, many governments are also working hard
on realising their visions and plans. A global e-government survey,
carried out by the UN-ASPA in 2002, concludes that change is the
only constant (UN-ASPA 2002: 4). In the process of change, a lot of
barrier s have to be overcom e. Especially, organisational and financial
barriers hinder the development towards e-government (see Forrester
2000:
5;
Giarte Research 2001; Gartner Group 2000). S urveys indicate
that government institutions are the main bottlenecks. Im plementing
e-government is not technically restricted, but institutionally. While
the sky seems to be the limit from a technical perspective, only some
initiatives are actually being implemented.
According to the Gartner Group survey, the transition from
government to e-government is characterised by four stages. First,
there is the presence of government on the Internet. After the presen ce
stage, government will be able to interact with its citizens via the
Internet. The interaction stage will be succeeded by a transaction stag e.
In this stage, the communication between go vernment and its citizens
via the Internet is connected with public service delivery. Finally,
because of electronic service delivery, government will transform its
organisations and institutions. The first three stages focus on improving
the form of government and establishing much of the basic e-
infrastructure. The fourth stage focuses on designing a new form of
government (Gartner Group 2000: 5).
Various international research companies closely monitor the e-
government efforts in many countries. A recent example is a study
carried out as part of a programme that assesses the progress of the e-
Europe initiative launched by the European Com mission to bring the
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benefits of the information society to all Europeans. The particular
benchmark focuses on the availability of the public services on the
Internet (Cap Gemini Ernst & Young 2003).
Accenture produces a well-known and much-used benchmark
study annually. In their third annual survey (Accenture 2002), they
concentrate on how governments in 23 countries are realising their
vision for online government. One of the objectives of the survey
was to find out which countries were making the greatest progress
and what factors explain progress. The benc hmark also highlights the
emerging e-government trends (Accenture 200 2:
6).
The study shows
that there are three innov ative leaders (Canada, Singapo re and the
USA), followed by a big group of vision ary challeng ers (eg,
Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong and France). The
third group is a smaller group of em erging performe rs (New
Zealand, Spain, Belgium and Japan) followed by a group of platform
builders (Brazil, Italy and South Africa, am ong others). The study
concludes that the visionary challengers have made the greatest
progress in 2001. It also concludes that the imprecise, ambitious vision
statements of governments are being replaced by a broader approach
that focuses on how benefits can be delivered. One of the e-government
trends is the growing tendency to treat citizens and businesses as
customers and to introduce the techniques of customer relationship
management (CRM) to government service delivery.
Another global benchmark study aims at assessing the progress
of the 190 UN member states. This study developed an e-government
index to rank the countries (UN-ASPA
2002: 1).
A major conclusion
of the study is that national e-government programme development
among the UN member states advanced substantially in 2001. The
sophistication with which countries use the Internet to deliver quality
information v aries. In 2001, 89 percent of the UN mem ber states used
the Internet to deliver information and services; 30 percent offered
interactive online services; and 9 percent offered the capacity to
conduct transactions online.
The e-government index shows that Nor th Am erica, Europe , South
America and the Middle East score above average, while Asia, the
Carribean, Central America and Africa remain below average. The
score is based on a country's official online presence, an evaluation
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E-Govemment: Towards a Public Administration Approach
of its telecommunications infrastructure, and an assessment of its
human development capacity. Almost every public administration
worldw ide has taken at least some initiative to realise a certain deg ree
of electronic government.
Shaping the Conditions for E-Govern ment
In order to transform into e-government, a government has to meet
certain conditions. These conditions refer to ways for realising
applications to actually improve the relation between government and
citizens/companies. Som e of the initiatives taken by gove rnments in
shaping the conditions for realising e-government have been as
follows.
First, the provision of access to laws and regulations. Databanks
containing legal texts have been made accessible on the Internet to
citizens and companies. For example, in the USA the Library of
Congress provides legislative information online at
www thomas loc gov
Second, the streamlining of basic data. Some gov ernments connect
the personal data of their citizens and use this information for basic
services. They are currently developing unique registrations to warrant
or guarantee the quality of the information (eg, is the information
correct and up-to-date?). These registrations contain personal data of
citizens. By connecting them, the same data do not have to be
registered in different information systems.
Third, the securing of confidential transactions. In order to increase
the security of ICT usage, governments are launching programmes to
develop electronic signatures, electronic identity cards, and a public
key infrastructure (PKI). Singapore took the lead in 1998 as one of
the first countries to enact an Electronic Transaction Act (ETA) to
provide legal recognition of electronic signatures through the use of
digital certificates. At present, some governments (eg, the Dutch
government), are piloting projects regarding the incorporation of
biometric cha racteristics in travel documents or identity cards in order
to improve their security. Experiments with iris scans and face
recognition have been carried out in the United States and many
Western European countries.
Fourth, the creation of ICT awareness and the development of
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management of wealth and income tax was initiated by the Spanish
Tax Agency
(www.aeat.es)
in 1999. This project covers the entire tax
process (information, electronic tax return filling and payment,
certifications, etc) for all types of taxpayers. Tax declarations are
submitted online and tax payments can be transferred through online
banking facilities. With a digital certificate from the Spanish Federal
Reserve citizens can apply for a tax return. Companies can handle
their corpora te tax and VAT via AEAT's website (Cap Gemini E rnst &
Young
2003:
30).
An illustrative example of e-learning is the EdNA online service
from Education Netw ork Australia
( www.edna.edu.au).
EdNA online
is an information service that provides two key functions. First, it
offers a directory that contains all educational and training program mes
in Australia and a database of web-based reso urces useful for teaching
and learning. Second, it serves as a communications service aiming
to promote collaboration and cooperation throughout the A ustralian
education and training sector. Other practices in the education field
are aimed at the completion of applications: for examp le, for financial
aid (www.fafsa.ed.gov) or for adm ission to the first ye ar of
undergraduate courses
(www.cao.ie ).
In several countries, the police, courts and prisons explore the
possibilities of the Internet to transform and redesign the traditional
methods and procedures. Three leading justice and public safety sites
were identified by Accenture's research: one relating to the online
fil ing of court applications (the Federal Court of Australia:
www.fedcourt.gov.au), another to the online payment of fines (the
Belgian M inistry of Justice: www.just.fgov.be), and a third to the filing
of c la ims on l ine ( the Subord ina te Cour t s o f S ingapore :
ww w. sma llcla ims. goc.sg).
Although using the Internet to promote participation and
democratic processes is relatively under-explored, there are some
examples in which some national governments reach out to citizens
in this manner. The British Parliament webcasts its parliamentary
debates
(www.parliamentlive.tv).
An Internet pilot for military and
overseas civilian voters was implemented during the 200 0 presidential
election in the United States. The pilot concerned a very small
population (84 voters who actually voted over the internet), but it
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illustrates that governments are seriously exploring the potential of
online voting in national elections. Another example is the initiative
by Finland's Otakantaa
(www.otakantaa.fi/kaynnissa.cfin)
which
provides an interactive service for public discussio ns (including online
debates) on highly topical issues. One ministry hosts and facilitates
this service each month.
In the field of social security benefits, an interesting practice is
realised in France (www.ameli.fr ) concerning the reimbursement of
medical costs by medical insurance funds. On a local level, the
insurance funds are responsible for the registration of the insurants
and the day-to-day management. They have created a service with
which citizens can consult their files and reimbursem ent sta tus from a
single access point (Cap Gemini Ernst & Y oung
2003:
32).
When it comes to the social contribution for employees, an
interesting practice is in Belgium. The website of the social security
administration there
(www.sociale-zekerheid.be)
is a good example
of the com bination of back-office integration and an e-portal solution.
This w ebsite is a front-office result of a long-term effort th at the
Belgian governm ent has made over the last few years to link different
databases. The portal site has been designed in such a way that each
citizen or employer can easily find answers to questions concerning
the Belgian social security system. Employers can handle several
transactions online (such as social contributions for employees) by
means of electronic forms. The website is being extended to enable
electronic transactions for citizens as well (Cap Gemini Ernst & Y oung
2003:
42).
The Locus of E Government
Basic Aims and Advantages
Although the pace between countries may differ, the developments
described above point in the same direction. Little by little gov ernmen t
agencies connect their operations with the online world of the Internet.
The advantages seem obvious. First, e-government aims to be more
customer-oriented. Governments can get rid of a lot of red tape by
using com puters. Instead of going to a tax office or a municipal bu reau,
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citizens can download the necessary brochures and forms immediately,
24-hours and 7 days a week directly from the Internet. Second, with
e-government, public administration becomes more efficient. Both
people and paper can be saved when public administration connects
to the Internet. Procedures and routines are automated in order to
save on expensive civil servants. Third, e-governmen t makes public
administration more m odern. This is one of the major attrac tions of e-
governmen t. Which public administration does not want to be mo dern?
After all, the opposite (old-fashioned) cannot be seriously regarded
as an alternative. Because society increasingly becom es an information
society (eg, Castells 1996/1998), governments should adapt and
become e-governm ents. The trend towards e-government is then seen
as part of a broader process of worldwide public sector reform (eg,
Heeks 1999).
While these advantages of information and communications
technology may be valid for the private sector, this line of reasoning
seem s too simple to account for its adoption in public adm inistration.
Can we simply compare selling books or insurances via the Internet
with electronic government? If not, how should we understand e-
government? To get a grip on the trend towards e-government, two
analytical dimensions can be explored. First, what is the locus of e-
government? Which parts of organisations are being replaced by
information technology? Which phases of the policy process are being
carried out by means of computers? How do political actors use
computers? Which relationships between government and citizens
become digitalised? Second, what is the focus of e-government?
Which processes, procedures, routines and departments become
electronic?
Organisations
Public organisations are multiple entities par excellence (eg, Morgan
1986).
Although the structure of an organisation m ay not tell us much
about organisational realities, looking at structure is a common way
of approaching (public) organisations. To find out where e-government
is located in public organisations, it is relevant to use Mintzberg's
(1983) conceptual map of an organisation. He distinguishes between
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five parts: the operating core, the strategic top, the executives, the
techno-structure, and the support staff. In the case of e-government, a
large amount of attention is given to supporting the implementation
of services. T his is a spearhead in every country. Alm ost every leading-
edge practice is focused on service delivery. E-governm ent primarily
concerns the operating core. Also, the techno-structure is being
touched by e-government. The techno-structure has to create the
conditions for e-government (eg, PKI and the electronic signature).
The e-governm ent su pport organisation belon gs to the techno -structure
of public administration. None of the identified activities of e-
government are focused yet on targets and strategy and thus on a
strategic level w ithin gov ernment organisations.
Policy
Policy is a key concept of public adm inistration science. As with the
study of organisations, there are numerous ways of approaching pub lic
policy. Although all analytical tools in the policy sciences seem to be
essentially contested, a rather common analytical tool is the policy
process based upon systems theory (Easton 1953). From a systems
approach, the policy process analytically consists of the following
phases: problem acknowledgement and agenda-se t t ing, pol icy
development and decision-making, and policy implementation and
managerial control. The evaluation phase loops imp lementation w ith
new processes of agend a-setting. This process approach may not tell
us how policies are developed in practice, but it is an adequate
analytical tool to find the locus of e-governm ent.
An analysis of e-government initiatives worldw ide demo nstrates
that e-government pr imari ly concerns the implementa t ion of
formulated policy. The principal issue is to improve citizen-focused
services and to get government authorities online and thus involved
in digital transactions. A trustworthy and secure infrastructure is part
of this principal issue. Many of the initiatives co ncern the improvem ent
of managerial control over policies that are being implemented.
Examples include the provision of access to laws and regulations, the
streamlining of basic data, and the development of the electronic
signature and biometry. Few, if any, of the identified initiatives are
geared towards problem acknowledgement and agenda-setting or the
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formulation of public policies and decision-making. One of the few
exceptions perhaps is the above-noted interactive service for public
discussions in Otakantaa in Finland.
Politics
Politics is directly connected with public administration. It is one of
the reasons why e-government cannot be compared with e-business.
Public administration is not just another branch of industry, but a
different type of institution. Citizens are not just shareholders who
want
to
make
a
profit, but con stituents of
a
polity that is democ ratically
organised. Therefore, po litics is part and parcel of public administration
and e-government.
A look at representative bo dies in Western d emocracies indicates
that politics co mprises four key activities. The first is rep resentation:
the choice of a representative body that can make decision s on b ehalf
of the people (Manin 1997; Pitkin 1967). Second, politicians select
and define social problems that qualify for policy-making (idea-
generation and consideration). Decision-making and deliberation in
Parliament is a third political activity. According to the principle of
checks and balances, democratic supervision is the fourth type of
political activity. Although the design may depend on the specific
state system, representative bodies supervise governments.
The e-governm ent initiatives taken so far seem particularly aimed
at supporting democratic supervision. An example is online public
access to laws and regulations. Access to governm ent information
aims to increase the transparency of public administration for citizens
and interest groups. Therefore, it enables them to assess and criticize
the actions and policies of governments. For the time being, e-
govern men t has little bearing on other political activities. An exception
is the above-noted pilot e-voting system in the USA which mainly
focuses on representation. In terms of shaping the conditions for
stretching e-government to the collective decision-m aking p rocesses,
the developments concerning PKI are interesting because this
infrastructure could support direct democracy in the long-term. On
an ad hoc basis, many government authorities in various countries
use the Internet for chatting and discussion platforms.
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Citizens
In Western democracies, citizens and public administration are
connected in several ways . A defining characteristic o f a republic is
that citizens are both rulers and ruled (eg, Van Gunsteren 1998).
Citizens rule in at least two ways. First, representative democracy
allows citizens as voters to choose their representatives. Second,
citizens are connected with everyday practices of policy-ma king and
decision-making. Sometimes governments consult citizens to hear
wh at they think about a specific policy prop osal, but generally citizens
make up the building blocks of civil society. As people being ruled,
citizens are addressed by public administration by being subjected to
the authority of government. Penal law is an example of this
relationship between citizens and public administration. But citizens
are increasingly being defined as consumers of the products and
services that are being supplied by government.
At present, the majority of e-government initiatives concern
citizens as consum ers. This is because there is a keen interest in the
developmen t of customer services and relationships. The streamlining
of basic data also falls in this category. A gove rnm ent's interest in the
citizen as a subject is less predominant, although there are initiatives
such as securing confidential transactions and biometry. Initiatives
concerning citizens in their civil society capacity are still scarce. The
e-voting initiative in the USA is an example of the perspective in
which the citizen is seen as a voter.
The Focus of E Government
A Limited Focus
Bec ause of e -go vern me nt ' s ra the r na r row locus in publ i c
administration, e-services (or i-services) w ould be a better nam e for
the current trend towards e-government. But this trend is not only
limited in its locus. It is also limited in its approach towards public
administration as the focus.
Superficially, the issue at stake does not seem to be very important.
After
all,
e-government only appears to improve government services.
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It takes a specific activity of a government agency as a starting point
(eg, social security benefits, the openness of government, finding a
job,
etc ), and then changes it into e-government by putting the pro cess
into computers and connecting it to the Internet. As the advocates of
e-government argue, only the instruments are being replaced. What
used to be done manually is now being carried out by computers.
Through technology, government services merely become more
efficient, more modern and more reliable.
Technology s Ideology
In his book Understanding Media, McLuhan (1964) demonstrates that
such a socially and culturally neutral replacement of technology is
impossib le . Using numerous examples , he argues that new
technologies will never be neutral with regard to their social and
cultural context. The Graeco-Roman alphabet is not just a written
reflection of the spoken word, but a specific form of writing with its
own bias. Because of the fact that our alphabet detaches the symbols
and sounds from their semantic and verbal c onten t, it has proved to be
the most radical technology for
the
homogenisation of diverse cultures.
Hieroglyph, which connects symbols with their semantic content,
wou ld neve r have had such an enorm ous impact on different culture s,
because it serves a specific culture and distinguishes it from other
cultures.
McLuhan demonstrates that we should not only look at the content
of the messag e, but also at the content of the medium . This is expressed
by the famous phrase the medium is the me ssag e . Postman (1993)
argues that a specific ideology is hidden behind every technology.
Every seemingly neutral technical instrument is tied up with (hidden)
ideological bias, with each affecting how one views the world. As
Postman (1993) puts it:
To a man with a pencil everything looks like a list. To a man
with a cam era, everything looks like an image. To a man with
a computer, everything looks like data. And to a man with a
grade sheet, everything looks like a number.
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Only by exploring and revealing the (hidden) ideology behind a
technology is one able to get a grip on its social and cultural
implications. Which ideology hides behind the physical things? In
what w ay do these objects or instruments change peop le's w orldview
and their perceptions of reality? The attention should therefore be
shifted from the content of what is processed by computers to the
ideology behind computer processing. Only then will the real
transformations be uncovered that are caused by a specific technology.
Government as Information Managem ent
So what is the ideology behind e-government? A clue can be found in
Postman's examples as quoted above. According to e-government's
ideology, governance is a ma tter of information collection, information
processing, and information dissemination. For e-government,
information is the core of public administration. When we believe in
this e-governm ent ideology, governm ent essentially becomes a matter
of information. Whether this is done manually or by computers, it
will be the same process. Because people are imperfect, so will the
information be when people process it. Therefore, citizens are better
served when the computers process the information, because
computers are more efficient and more reliable.
The ideology behind e-government can thus be characterised as
an information ideology. In its core, public administration is a matter
of information. Brown and Duguid (2000: 20-21) demonstrate the
consequences of this infologic which som etimes seems to replace the
logic of humanity:
Thus you don't need to look far these days to find much that
is familiar in the world redefined as information. Books are
portrayed as information containers, libraries as information
warehouses, universit ies as information providers, and
learning as information adoption. Organizations are depicted
as information coordinators, meetings as information
consolidators, talk as information exchange, markets as
information-driven stimulus and response.
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Brown andDuguid (2000) define the dominance of the information
ideology as infoprefixation . This results in a tunnel vision that tends
to be blind to the richness of the institutions that are being transformed
into something informational. Besides being a tunnel, Lash (2002)
has demonstrated that information tends to function as a prison from
which it is difficult to escape. The information ideology is not only a
perspective or a worldview. When it is being applied, it tends to
becom e a social bul ld oze r that t ransforms prac t ices in to
infopractices. When a meeting is defined as an information
consolidator, it will probably be designed as such. Althou gh the social
conseq uences of this design may be disastrous, from a scientific po int
of view it is merely interesting to understand the transformation.
Because public administration is a socially rich institution, the
reductive focus of information should arouse scientific interest from
public administration scholars.
The limited focus of e-government uncovers the bias that this
ideology causes. When information management becomes the
dominant approach, every issue concerning government and public
administration will be defined as an information issue or an issue
relating to the organisation of information. The ideology of e-
government can be labelled as an informational Taylorism. If it is
applied to public administration, it will ignore other meanings of
government. But what exactly will we loose with e-government?
Snellen (2002 ) offers an interesting and useful conc eptual framework
to understand the richness of public administration as a complex of
institutions. He distinguishes four different paradigmatic approaches
toward public administration. These approaches can be empirically
regarded as institutional pillars upon which p ublic adm inistration rests.
Therefore, Snellen speaks of four different rationalities.
First, there is political rationality. Democratic governance always
results from conflict between propo nents and opponents. The d isputes
concerning government policy may be regarded as the essence of
politics. These disputes are settled by deb ate, by voting, and ultimately
by the use of power (sometimes even force). Conflict, power, force
and political decision-making are always conn ected with (democra tic)
public administration. Second, there is legal rationality. Every action
of governm ent needs to be legal, both in its form and in its substance.
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Usually, government moulds its activities in a legal form. Legal
security, legal equality and the legal obligations underpinning
government decisions are requirements which government's actions
and structures must meet. Third, economic rationality und erlies public
administration. Efficiency is a typical requirement relating to this
rationality. Even when the economy flourishes, government is
confronted with economic scarcity. The means never suffice to meet
society's demands. Economic rationality also requires a rational
organisation of public administration. Fourth, there is professional
rationality. Effective governm ent policy requires a valid policy theory.
Professional rationality requires scientific knowledge with regard to
the effects of government's interventions.
These four rationalities can be used to analyse the e-government
initiatives described above. Primarily, e-government relates to the
economic rationality of public administration. It aims at creating a
rational organisation of public administration. It enhances the economic
rationality of public policy and the efficiency and effectiveness of
government agencies. E-government (un)consciously also contributes
to some other requirements and rationalities. As far as it concerns
professional rationality, it enhances the internal consistency and
harmony of public policy. With regard to legal rationality, only a
specific interpretation of this rationality is enhanced by e-governm ent.
It departs from a formalistic, positivist concep tion of law and serves a
formal ideal of legal security and legal equality in practice. Political
rationality is largely ignored by e-government. Because of its bias,
the implementation of e-government causes at least four transformations.
First, e-government solidifies political relationships and power
relationships by stabilising data-definitions and the informational
architecture of public administration (Zuurm ond
1998).
The existence
of different definitions does not always express the laziness and
sloppiness of public administration, but each definition reflects a
specific interest. A variety of definitions m ay be required by po litical,
professional or legal rationality. By solidifying specific definitions
and thus specific interests, e-government also solidifies a certain
distribution of power. When e-governm ent has actually been realised,
we may expec t fewer conflicts and bureaucratic struggles within public
administration. Although bureaucratic politics flourish during the
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effects from a dem ocratic point of view. Instead of exp ectin g them to
contribute to the public interest, it forces citizens to behave as
consumers. It only asks what your country can do for you. It tends to
forget that public administration is also built on active citizenship
involving what you can do for your country.
Although these transformations may be desirable, they need to be
reflected on. E-government affects the fundamental character of public
adm inistration and the basic structure of its institutions (Zouridis 1998).
Therefore, it may also affect the legitimacy of public administration
and governm ent's societal position. In practice, these issues are seldo m
addressed. Instead, we are hypnotised by the information ideology of
e-government's advocates.
Towa rds a Public Administration Approa ch
The final question appropriately addressed here is whether e-
government can be enriched from a public administration point of
view. Can we imagine a concept of e-government that does justice to
the richness o f public administration institutions? The locu s and focus
dimensions provide some clues.
Enriching the Locus of E-Government
E-governm ent primarily aims at the implementation of public policy,
dem ocratic control, the operational core , and consum ership. The locus
of e-government can be enriched by using IC T in other parts of public
administration and for other activities as well.
First, ICT can be deployed for the development of new policy
proposa ls to mobilise the support and creativity of citizens. At pre sent,
a regular process for new policy proposals is characterised by some
core aspects. Thus, government w orks towards a single and tangible
produc t: a policy paper. Public administration m anages both the policy
proposal and the policy process. Government decides w hat topics w ill
be handled in the policy paper, what the policy ag enda will be , and so
on. Moreover, government agencies decide who w ill participate and
at what m oment. The process is rather restricted and sophisticatedly
managed. Although this way of preparing policy proposals seems
logical, the question can be posed as to whether the use of comp uters
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and the Internet opens up some new possibilities. The development
of the Linux operating system offers a famous example of produc t
develop men t on the Internet (eg, Kollock 1999). The Linux story
and the open source movement inspire thought about these
characteristics because they completely differ from the product
development process of a policy proposal.
The L inux process does not require one single and tangible product.
Many versions and modules of Linux exist, and users are able to build
their own system. There is no single final product, but everybody is
able to select and com bine the functions they need. If this principle is
translated to the realm of policy-m aking, the Linux m odel could mean
that government agencies could connect their policies with the
development of a specific policy field and the actors in this field.
Instead of enforcing a policy, it could be co-created w ith the invo lved
actors. Also, the Linux process is not managed by anyone. Nobody
manages what people do with Linux, how they improve the existing
versions, and what new m odules people add to the existing ve rsions.
Neither the content nor the process is centrally managed. Everybody
manages their own version of Linux, but there is no overall
management. This stimulates people to use the system and to add
som ething to it or to adapt it to their own preferen ces. In addition, the
system is entirely open . The Internet facilitates both th e openn ess and
the free dissemination of Linux, as well as the com munity structure
for the development of the system.
As a metaphor, the example of Linux may be interesting for the
way w e think about policy processes. Could policy proposals also be
co-created by communities on the Internet? Could ICT be used to
create platforms and comm unities that are built around specific policy
issues? A Linux model of pol ic y-m akin g may im prove the
effectiveness and the societal support for new policy proposals.
Moreover, it appeals to active republican citizenship.
Second, ICT may be directly deployed for the interventions and
steering attempts of government. Governm ent uses legal reg ulations,
money and communication to influence societal processes. It could
also use ICT for the purpose of influencing these process es. Accordin g
to Kelly (1998), all of our networks for production, distribution and
consumption will become intelligent rather
soon.
Th is means that every
physical thing will be equipped with a chip. Although the capacity of
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the chip may be limited, it makes it possible to connect the object
involved with an entire network. All of these pieces of intelligence
are connected to each other, and then the networks and chains for the
production, distribution and consumption as a whole become
intel l igent . I t could be that the technological in tervent ions
governments enforce in these chains by means of ICT are much more
effective than the current steering attempts. Think of the possibilities
of this kind of e-government for the implementation of environm ental
policy or the collection of taxes.
Third, ICT can be used by organisations to support their strategic
processes. For example, without much effort an organisation can
organise a digital debate with stakeholders regarding its own goa ls.
The question can even be asked wh ether a certain policy carried out
by a specific organisation is still necessary, considering relevant
societal developments. An organisation can also use the possibilities
offered by group decision rooms to internally reassess its goals and
strategies or to develop new goals or strategies. Moreover, ICT makes
benchmarking a more feasible option. Due to m odern technology, it
is possible quite easily to com pare the performance of an organisation
to other organisations, whether it be in the same policy field in another
country or in another policy field in the same country. The results of
benchm arking can be used to redirect the chosen strategy.
Fourth, the political domain could also enrich the locus of e-
government. The literature on e-democracy is too extensive to
summarise here (see, eg, Van de Donk, Snellen & Tops 1995; Hague
& Loader 1999). The activities of politics suggest the possibilities of
ICT are numero us. With regard to representation, ICT could b e used
to interactively connect elected representatives with constituencies
and citizens in their voting
roles.
Com munities of voters may g enerate
and deliberate new ideas. These can be connected digitally with
processes of democratic control by parliament. ICT could be used to
support parliament by means of specific parliamentary information
systems. Why not enrich e-government w ith e-democracy?
Enriching the Focus of E-Government
Enriching the focus of e-government requires a look at the bias with
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which the current initiatives have been designed. A numb er of design
requirements can be derived from the rationalities that un derlie pub lic
administration.
First, while e-government aims at solidifying and stabilising pub lic
policy, political rationality to some extent requires vagueness and
volatility. For e-governm ent, the requirements m ean that ICT has to
be designe d flexibly. If it is not flexible, its practice will be lim ited to
basic initiatives like the creation of a digital passport. Moreover, if
more complex initiatives are being realised in practice, they will be
rather vulnerable if their design is not flexible. This may explain w hy
in the past large amounts of mon ey have been w asted on IC T pro jects
in public administration. It can be expected that a system for social
security benefits has to be continuously adjusted due to changing
political preferences.
Second, political rationality also requires that a certain amoun t of
bureaucratic poli t ics should be embedded in the design of e-
government. E-government aims at dissolving bureaucratic politics.
Joining up government is its primary goal and a lot of bureaucratic
energy is devoted to creating the conditions und er which govern men t
agencies can be joined
u p.
Joining up government agen cies may bring
the undesirable forms of bureaucratic politics to an end, but it also
throws the bureaucratic baby away with the bathwater. To a certain
extent, bureaucratic politics create the necessary context for second-
loop learning processes.
Third, legal rationality requires some institutional barriers for
joining up government. To prevent government from invading our
freedom, a number of checks and balances are provided. The adage
that every power has to be supplied with a countervailing power is
one of the foundations of the modern state. Taking criminal law as an
example, the organisational ch ain of police organisations, the P ublic
Prosecutions Dep artment, and the judg es has been exp licitly created
as a system of checks and balances. Every succeeding organisation
has to reassess what the preceding organisation has done. When this
chain is joined up through IC T and electronic netwo rks, every link
uses the same information. Then the institutional cleavages may be
threatened. Therefore, e-government should not only be designed from
the perspective of rational organisation, but also from a legal
perspective.
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Fourth, government services as legal processes involves legal
decision-making which mixes the general rule with the individual
case.
It may depart from a general rule stated by law, but it always
proceeds from the general rule to the individual case and back again.
E-government transforms these processes into administrative pro cesses
of bringing an individual case under the general rule. Judged by legal
rationality, the design should also allow the technology to move back
and forward. Therefore, e-government requires reflexive technologies
to meet the requirements of legal rationality.
Concluding Remarks
The concept of e-government seems to suggest that it merely adds
electronic devices to government. E-government only touches some
parts of public adm inistration: the operating co re, the implem entation
of public policy, democratic supervision by parliament, and citizens
as consumers. E-government redefines these parts by means of
infologic. It then transforms the relevant processes into informational
processes.
If e-government s t icks to the information approach and
informational Taylorism, it cannot exploit the possibilities of the
concept. It then probably fails, or it will be limited to rather trivial
initiatives. If informational e-government does not fail, the situation
may become even worse. E-government will then transform public
adm inistration into an effective information proces sing machine . This
could endanger the societal foundat ions upon which publ ic
adm inistration rests and the legitimacy of governm ent in the long run.
E-government does not necessarily have to suffer the pitfalls of
the information management approach. If it departs logically and
sensibly from a traditional public administration perspective, it could
avoid a tunnel vision that blinds the real nature o f public administration
in the modern world.
Note
1.
Based on the Accen ture Report (2002: 20-33) unless indicated otherwise .
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Stavros Zouridis is Associate Professor of Public Administration at Tilburg University, The
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An earlier version of this article wa s presented at the 7th International Research Symposium
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