Understanding E-Government: Information

Governments these days often boast about the efficiency of their electronic systems. Information communication technologies (ICTs) apparently allow public service to become cheaper, faster and more democratic. E-government has become another buzzword, the shining future of the public realm. Critics claim, however, that ICTs' potential for democratic renewal is hampered by ancient assumptions of how governments should function. But which viewpoint is nearer the truth? In this original and insightful volume, Vincent Homburg demonstrates how the use, form and impact of ICTs are, in fact, entwined within the socio-political, economic and institutional aspects already established by government and public administration. Evangelical or fatalistic perspectives are discredited to show the different realities in which ICTs play a role in our daily lives. Using case studies and vignettes from throughout Europe and the US, the book analyzes what these new technologies actually do, and how they are screened through varying layers of bureaucracy and convention. This is a timely addition to our understanding of what is meant by e-government. It gets behind the political rhetoric. Understanding E-Government: Information Systems in Public Administration will be key reading for all students of public administration, political science, organization theory and information systems.

Vincent Homburg is Associate Professor in Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He has written extensively on information technology, e-government and information policy

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
A puzzling but faulty question ... how do 'ICTs' affect public administration?	p. 1
Examples of wired public administration: challenges, problems and dilemmas	p. 4
A social shaping of technology perspective	p. 7
Theoretical lenses used in this book	p. 10
A programme for this book	p. 13
Notes	p. 14
References	p. 14
On technology, intelligence and the social	p. 17
Introduction	p. 17
The essence of computer machinery	p. 18
Characteristics of existing ICTs	p. 27
Machine intelligence and organizational context	p. 31
Machine intelligence and democracy	p. 35
Conclusions	p. 37
Notes	p. 38
References	p. 39
The Information Society	p. 42
Introduction	p. 42
The contours of the Information Society	p. 42
Paradoxes and challenges of the Information Society	p. 48
State and Information Society	p. 52
Conclusions and discussion	p. 53
Notes	p. 55
References	p. 55
Bureaucracy and virtual organizations	p. 57
Introduction	p. 57
Conceptual foundations of bureaucracy	p. 59
Questioning the foundations of bureaucracy	p. 63
Examples of virtual organizations	p. 66
The ethics of virtual organizations	p. 67
Conclusions and discussion	p. 69
Notes	p. 71
References	p. 71
The political economy of information networks	p. 73
Introduction	p. 73
An economic and political view on information networks	p. 74
Case study: the development of information networks in the research community in the Netherlands	p. 79
Conclusions and discussion	p. 83
Notes	p. 84
References	p. 85
E-Government: a wired government takes shape	p. 87
Introduction	p. 87
Origins of a wired government	p. 88
Citizen roles and services	p. 91
The rhetoric of a wired government in various countries	p. 94
The reality of a wired government in various countries	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 105
Note	p. 107
References	p. 108
ICT evaluation	p. 111
Introduction	p. 111
A definition and some distinctions	p. 113
Pitfalls of evaluation in practice	p. 115
Existing approaches	p. 117
Conclusion	p. 119
Notes	p. 120
References	p. 120
Conclusions and reflection	p. 122
Introduction	p. 122
Reflection on conceptualizations of ICTs	p. 123
Social shaping at various levels of aggregation	p. 124
The web of technology, power and institutions	p. 125
Outlook	p. 126
References	p. 127
Index	p. 128
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Understanding E-Government: Information Systems in Public Administration

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