Difference between revisions of "E-government"
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The plan to ‘establish Europe as the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world’ promoted since the Lisbon Summit of 2000 was written into the eEurope 2002 Action Plan. By the time E-Europe 2005: An Information Society for All was published, the inclusion of the concept of ‘participation for all’ was added to the competitive agenda. Its objectives are: | The plan to ‘establish Europe as the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world’ promoted since the Lisbon Summit of 2000 was written into the eEurope 2002 Action Plan. By the time E-Europe 2005: An Information Society for All was published, the inclusion of the concept of ‘participation for all’ was added to the competitive agenda. Its objectives are: | ||
| − | to provide a favourable environment for private investment and for the creation of new jobs, to boost productivity, to modernise public services, and to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the global information society’ <ref name="CEC" | + | to provide a favourable environment for private investment and for the creation of new jobs, to boost productivity, to modernise public services, and to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the global information society’ <ref name="CEC"></ref>. |
Critical to its ability to deliver this is ‘its aim to stimulate secure services, applications and content based on a widely available broadband infrastructure’ <ref name="CEC". Technology, in terms of the infrastructure of the broadband, was seen as the key problem in delivering the Action Plan and establishing competitive advantage for Europe. In line with the competitiveness drive, the private sector is directly invited to work towards e-Europe objectives with the support of the Commission and Member States. The promise of success, in terms of ‘a significant impact on growth and productivity, employment and social cohesion’, is once again offered as underpinning the Information Society (Commission of the European Communities, 2002:22). | Critical to its ability to deliver this is ‘its aim to stimulate secure services, applications and content based on a widely available broadband infrastructure’ <ref name="CEC". Technology, in terms of the infrastructure of the broadband, was seen as the key problem in delivering the Action Plan and establishing competitive advantage for Europe. In line with the competitiveness drive, the private sector is directly invited to work towards e-Europe objectives with the support of the Commission and Member States. The promise of success, in terms of ‘a significant impact on growth and productivity, employment and social cohesion’, is once again offered as underpinning the Information Society (Commission of the European Communities, 2002:22). | ||
Revision as of 15:15, 7 April 2008
E-Government
E-Government, digital government or online government is the used of information communication technologies (ICTs) as a platform for exchanging online information, providing services and transacting government business with citizens, businesses, NGOs and other government agencies.
E-Government: From Technology-driven to Citizen-driven
The shift in e-Government policy from being technology-driven towards being citizen-driven takes place in a context of a shift to governance, that is, to including civil society, citizens, and the private sector in the networks of government as a credible way forward. An OECD handbook,’ Citizens as Partners, OECD Handbook on Information, Consultation and Public Participation in Policy-Making (2001) cultivates the need to see citizens as partners in policymaking.
In a European Commission initiative, advanced in European Governance: A White Paper (2001), the role of ICT in engaging with the issue of a democratic deficit in relation to governments and EU institutions is addressed. Here a new framework for co-operation on information is announced and it recognises that ‘information and communication technologies have an important role’ to play in the evolution of a partnership model of policy-making. It’s own institutions are linked into a ‘interactive platform for information, feedback and debate, linking parallel networks across the Union’ (www.europa.eu.int). In general, the European Union has more recently engaged in enthusiastic postings on their EUROPA website of a great deal of information material, showing its operations, processes and decisions and inviting consultation on a large number of initiatives.
Graph image creation requires permission to upload.
E-Government and the Missing Dimension of Citizen’s Participation
As the implementation of e-Government progressed the development of transactional government on-line was prioritised in the 1990’s. As research exposed the growing digital divide, belatedly questions of democracy entered the debate. Increasing access and tackling the digital divide (given the evidence that lack of access to technology in an e-government context could in fact de-democratise) became a growing concern. An associated democratic question, namely increasing the quality of access and increasing citizen’s participation, likewise found its way onto the e-agenda in the early 2000’s.
The plan to ‘establish Europe as the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world’ promoted since the Lisbon Summit of 2000 was written into the eEurope 2002 Action Plan. By the time E-Europe 2005: An Information Society for All was published, the inclusion of the concept of ‘participation for all’ was added to the competitive agenda. Its objectives are: to provide a favourable environment for private investment and for the creation of new jobs, to boost productivity, to modernise public services, and to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the global information society’ [1].
Critical to its ability to deliver this is ‘its aim to stimulate secure services, applications and content based on a widely available broadband infrastructure’ Cite error: The opening<ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCEC
