Global Strategy and Practice of E-Governance: Examples from Around the World

Global Strategy and Practice of E-Governance: Examples from around the World Danilo Piaggesi Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Kristian J. Sund Middlesex University, UK Walter Castelnovo University of Insubria, Italy

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Published in the United States of America by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global) 701 E. Chocolate Avenue Hershey PA 17033 Tel: 717-533-8845 Fax: 717-533-8661 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.igi-global.com/reference Copyright © 2011 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher. Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Global strategy and practice of e-governance : examples from around the world / Danilo Piaggesi, Kristian J. Sund, and Walter Castelnovo, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60960-489-9 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-60960-490-5 (ebook) 1. Internet in public administration--Case studies. I. Piaggesi, Danilo, 1956II. Sund, Kristian J., 1975- III. Castelnovo, Walter, 1960JF1525.A8G564 2011 352.3’802854678--dc22 2010053484

British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.

Editorial Advisory Board Frank Bannister, Trinity College, Dublin Gianluca Misuraca, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Spain & Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Chris Vein, City and County of San Francisco, USA Christof Kuechemann, Resident Director of the GTZ, El Salvador Maddalena Sorrentino, Università degli studi di Milano, Italy

List of Reviewers Mohamed Abdul Razak, Anna University, India Johanna Ekua Awotwi, Center for e-Governance, Ghana Monis Aziz, IBM, India Frank Bannister, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Ana Sofia Cardenal, Universita Oberta de Catalunya, Spain Walter Castelnovo, University of Insubria, Italy Luca Cernuzzi, Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción,” Paraguay Maria Chea, American University, USA Marc Deakin, Edinburgh Napier University, UK Russell Lidman, Seattle University, USA Tunç Durmuş Medeni, METU, Turkey Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark Gianluca Misuraca, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland Danilo Piaggesi, Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Rinaldo Pietrantonio, George Mason University, USA Leonardo Pineda Serna, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia Evgeny Styrin, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia Maddalena Sorrentino, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy Kristian J. Sund, Middlesex University, UK Gianluigi Viscusi, Università di Milano Bicocca, Italy

Table of Contents

Foreword . ........................................................................................................................................... xvi Preface . .............................................................................................................................................xviii Acknowledgment................................................................................................................................ xxii Section 1 Strategy and Practice at the Local Level Section Introduction.........................................................................................................................xxiii Chris Vein, City and County of San Francisco, USA Chapter 1 E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India....................... 1 Abdul Razak Mohamed, Anna University, India Chapter 2 Municipal Mobile SMS Services: An E-Government Initiative of the Municipality of La Paz, Bolivia.................................................................................................................................. 24 Rodolfo Castillo López, Asesoramiento Empresarial S.A, Bolivia Chapter 3 The Soveria.it Project: A Best Practice of E-Government in Southern Italy......................................... 34 Gianpaolo Iazzolino, University of Calabria, Italy Rinaldo Pietrantonio, George Mason University, USA Chapter 4 Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao.......................................................................... 57 Chang Boon Patrick Lee, University of Macau, Macao U Ian Edith Lei, The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel (VMRH), Macao

Chapter 5 Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India: A Case Study of E-Gram Suraj (E-Rural Good Governance) Scheme.................................................................................................... 67 Saxena Anupama, Guru Ghasidas University, India Chapter 6 The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government......................................................................... 83 Walter Castelnovo, University of Insubria, Italy Chapter 7 Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies: Method and Experience....................................................................................................................... 102 Adegboyega Ojo, United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China Tomasz Janowski, United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China Chapter 8 From the City of Bits to E-Topia: Space, Citizenship and Commmunity as Global Strategy in the Governance of the Digitally-Inclusive Regeneration Thesis..................................................... 124 Mark Deakin, Edinburgh Napier University, UK Section 2 Strategy and Practice at the National Level Section Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 142 Frank Bannister, Trinity College, Ireland Chapter 9 Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems: An Analysis of Critical Success Factors...........144 Meltem Yildirim Imamoglu, Ministry of Finance, Turkey Mohammed Rehan, Atilim University, Turkey Chapter 10 Study of Electronic Governance Practices: Controllership Instrument for Decision-Making in the Management of the Brazilian States.......................................................................................... 157 Gilmar Ribeiro de Mello, State University of West of Paraná, Brazil Valmor Slomski, University of São Paulo, Brazil Edson Luiz Riccio, University of São Paulo, Brazil Chapter 11 Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation: A Case Study of Afghanistan............ 185 Monis Aziz, IBM, India

Chapter 12 The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet): Implementation Challenges...................... 209 Johanna Ekua Awotwi, Centre for E-Governance, Ghana Chapter 13 Danish eGovernment Success Factors: Strategies and Good Practice Examples................................ 231 Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark Chapter 14 Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process as an Emerging and Innovative Public Policymaking Area........................................................................................... 255 Asım Balcı, Selçuk University, Turkey Tunç Durmuş Medeni, Türksat, METU, Turkey Ahmet Nohutçu, Kocaeli University, Turkey Chapter 15 E-Turkey: Turkey’s Way to the Information Society........................................................................... 272 İbrahim Arpacı, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Chapter 16 E-Government in Russia: Strategies of Formation and Development................................................. 286 Yuri Hohlov, Institute of the Information Society, Russia Evgeny Styrin, Moscow State University, Russia & SUNY Albany, USA Chapter 17 E-Governance for Development: Designing an Operational Roadmap for ICT-Enabled Public Administration Reform............................................................................................................. 304 Gianluca Misuraca, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Gianluigi Viscusi, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy Chapter 18 The Contribution of Colombian Civil Society Organizations to E-Government for the Improvement of Transparency through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies . ...................... 324 Julián Casasbuenas G., Director Colnodo, Colombia Chapter 19 Is the Internet Mightier than the Sword: An Anti-Corruption Perspective.......................................... 338 Russell Lidman, Seattle University, USA Chapter 20 Parties and ICTs: Analyzing Party Strategies to Use the Internet for Political Mobilization.............. 355 Ana Sofia Cardenal, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

Section 3 Strategy and Practice at the Regional Level Section Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 377 Gianluca Misuraca, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Spain & Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Chapter 21 E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America: The Case of the Electronic Invoice.............. 380 Pablo Valenti, Digital Strategy Specialist, Uruguay Chapter 22 Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance in Latin America.................................................................................................................................. 397 Nestor Zapata, Main Advisor of the PROA/GTZ Project, El Salvador Christof Kuechemann, Resident Director of the GTZ, El Salvador Chapter 23 Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective: Case Studies and Lesson Learned.............407 Luca Cernuzzi, DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Magalí González, DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Marco Ronchetti, University of Trento, Italy Adolfo Villafiorita, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy Komminist Weldemariam, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy Chapter 24 Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society: The Case of Latin America.................................. 424 Leonardo Pineda Serna, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia Chapter 25 E-Government Clusters: From Framework to Implementation .......................................................... 443 Kristian J. Sund, Middlesex University Business School, UK Ajay Kumar Reddy Adala, Centre for e-Governance, India Chapter 26 The Knowledge Economy: A New Development Paradigm for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) . .................................................................................................................. 464 Danilo Piaggesi, Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Maria J. Chea, American University, USA

A Possible Future Manifesto ............................................................................................................ 478 Afterword............................................................................................................................................ 485 Compilation of References ............................................................................................................... 487 About the Contributors .................................................................................................................... 518 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 530

Detailed Table of Contents

Foreword . ........................................................................................................................................... xvi Preface . .............................................................................................................................................xviii Acknowledgment................................................................................................................................ xxii Section 1 Strategy and Practice at the Local Level Section Introduction.........................................................................................................................xxiii Chris Vein, City and County of San Francisco, USA Chapter 1 E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India....................... 1 Abdul Razak Mohamed, Anna University, India This chapter discusses urban e-governance in the case of Tamil Nadu state, as well as Tambaram, a suburb of the city of Chennai, in India. The author emphasis the importance of e-readiness in this particular context. Chapter 2 Municipal Mobile SMS Services: An E-Government Initiative of the Municipality of La Paz, Bolivia.................................................................................................................................. 24 Rodolfo Castillo López, Asesoramiento Empresarial S.A, Bolivia This chapter discusses the creation of a master plan developed by the Municipality of La Paz in 2009, for the improvement of ICT-based services to citizens. The chapter focuses on the m-Government side of the plan, and in particular on the use of SMS services. Chapter 3 The Soveria.it Project: A Best Practice of E-Government in Southern Italy......................................... 34 Gianpaolo Iazzolino, University of Calabria, Italy Rinaldo Pietrantonio, George Mason University, USA

This chapter describes the content of the Soveria.it project implemented in a small town in the South of Italy with the aims of: promoting the use of ICTs to make public administration services more efficient and accessible through internet; creating channels for a direct communication between citizens and public administration; and creating a public wireless access to Internet, available to the entire population free of charge. Chapter 4 Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao.......................................................................... 57 Chang Boon Patrick Lee, University of Macau, Macao U Ian Edith Lei, The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel (VMRH), Macao In this chapter the authors investigate the factors that might influence the usage of e-government services. They conclude that there are two important ways to increase usage intention of e-government services: (i) develop trust in e-government services and (ii) make e-government services more compatible with the users’ lifestyle. Chapter 5 Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India: A Case Study of E-Gram Suraj (E-Rural Good Governance) Scheme.................................................................................................... 67 Saxena Anupama, Guru Ghasidas University, India In this chapter the author considers whether the introduction of ICTs has improved the role of women in rural governance in India and suggests how to exploit the potential of ICTs to solve the existing gender issues. Chapter 6 The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government......................................................................... 83 Walter Castelnovo, University of Insubria, Italy This chapter discusses the involvement of small municipalities in partnerships, both with public and private partners, as a way to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. It suggests a possible solution to the problem of the asymmetric availability of skills and capacity of the public partner with respect to the private partners, thus allowing the public part a better governance of the relationship. Chapter 7 Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies: Method and Experience....................................................................................................................... 102 Adegboyega Ojo, United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China Tomasz Janowski, United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China The authors of this chapter discuss how e-governance and public administration reform strategies go hand-in-hand, and how the integration of these strategies can be important to a successful implementation.

Chapter 8 From the City of Bits to E-Topia: Space, Citizenship and Commmunity as Global Strategy in the Governance of the Digitally-Inclusive Regeneration Thesis..................................................... 124 Mark Deakin, Edinburgh Napier University, UK Deakin’s theoretical (and some would say almost philosophical) piece reflects on governance in a modern urban context. In a sense, Deakin asks the important question of whether ICTs help to bring citizens into the community, and to bring communities closer together, or whether ICTs are actually splitting up the community and alienating its citizens. Section 2 Strategy and Practice at the National Level Section Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 142 Frank Bannister, Trinity College, Dublin Chapter 9 Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems: An Analysis of Critical Success Factors...........144 Meltem Yildirim Imamoglu, Ministry of Finance, Turkey Mohammed Rehan, Atilim University, Turkey This chapter discusses electronic public procurement systems, including the advantages of these. The context of study is Turkey, but the authors outline some experiences of a number of European Union countries as well. Chapter 10 Study of Electronic Governance Practices: Controllership Instrument for Decision-Making in the Management of the Brazilian States........................................................ 157 Gilmar Ribeiro de Mello, State University of West of Paraná, Brazil Valmor Slomski, University of São Paulo, Brazil Edson Luiz Riccio, University of São Paulo, Brazil This chapter defines a Brazilian States Electronic Governance Index (BEGI) and considers the relation between it and some well known economic and social development indexes. The authors conclude that States with the highest Gross Domestic Product, the highest Human Development Index and the lowest Gini co-efficient, are the ones with the highest number of implemented electronic governance practices. Chapter 11 Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation: A Case Study of Afghanistan............ 185 Monis Aziz, IBM, India This chapter discusses the challenges to the implementation of government ICT projects and governance through ICT in countries ravaged by war or conflict. The author suggests that ICTs can be an important enabler of development and reconstruction in such post-conflict nations.

Chapter 12 The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet): Implementation Challenges...................... 209 Johanna Ekua Awotwi, Centre for E-Governance, Ghana This chapter discusses Ghana’s e-Governance initiative and the particular implementation challenges and constraints this initiative has encountered. Chapter 13 Danish eGovernment Success Factors: Strategies and Good Practice Examples................................ 231 Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen, Danish Technological Institute, Denmark In this chapter the author discusses the success factors of the Danish e-Government initiatives. Such factors include: the definition of an interoperability framework, the focus on cross-organizational collaboration and governance; a joint approach between the government, the regions and the municipalities; and the promotion and encouragement of ICT use in the public sector. Chapter 14 Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process as an Emerging and Innovative Public Policymaking Area........................................................................................... 255 Asım Balcı, Selçuk University, Turkey Tunç Durmuş Medeni, Türksat, METU, Turkey Ahmet Nohutçu, Kocaeli University, Turkey This chapter describes the process of transformation of Government that has been going on in Turkey since the early ‘80s and presents e-government as a new avenue of the transformative trend, influencing the Turkish system of Government as a whole. Chapter 15 E-Turkey: Turkey’s Way to the Information Society........................................................................... 272 İbrahim Arpacı, Middle East Technical University, Turkey This chapter discusses the e-government development process in Turkey and some of the major projects taking place within this context. With data from a series of interviews with officials, the author discusses some key challenges of the electronic transformation. Chapter 16 E-Government in Russia: Strategies of Formation and Development................................................. 286 Yuri Hohlov, Institute of the Information Society, Russia Evgeny Styrin, Moscow State University, Russia & SUNY Albany, USA This chapter discusses the implementation of a national e-governance strategy in Russia. The authors outline the various stages of policy the country has gone through, as well as some of the main challenges faced.

Chapter 17 E-Governance for Development: Designing an Operational Roadmap for ICT-Enabled Public Administration Reform............................................................................................................. 304 Gianluca Misuraca, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Gianluigi Viscusi, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy This chapter presents a conceptual framework on E-Governance for development that is intended to account for the relations among different stakeholders when introducing ICTs and for the way these interactions can affect institutions and society at large. The application of the framework is exemplified with respect to two Mediterranean countries: Algeria and Morocco. Chapter 18 The Contribution of Colombian Civil Society Organizations to E-Government for the Improvement of Transparency through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies . ...................... 324 Julián Casasbuenas G., Director Colnodo, Colombia This chapter discusses the experience of civil society organizations in Columbia in pushing the agenda of transparency of government, through the implementation of an “Internet for Accountability” initiative. The results of a consultation are presented and in particular some of the difficulties faced by rural municipalities are discussed. Chapter 19 Is the Internet Mightier than the Sword: An Anti-Corruption Perspective.......................................... 338 Russell Lidman, Seattle University, USA The author of this chapter considers whether ICTs can help reduce corruption and improve governance. The examples considered in the chapter clearly show that ICTs can be used to organize and sustain an opposition to corruption, even when the mainstream media stand apart from the issue. Chapter 20 Parties and ICTs: Analyzing Party Strategies to Use the Internet for Political Mobilization.............. 355 Ana Sofia Cardenal, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain This chapter studies what elements can influence the online strategies of political parties. It concludes that parties that are large, in the opposition, non-ideological or highly cohesive, and with small bureaucracies, are those that use internet more intensively to mobilize support. Section 3 Strategy and Practice at the Regional Level Section Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 377 Gianluca Misuraca, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Spain & Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Chapter 21 E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America: The Case of the Electronic Invoice.............. 380 Pablo Valenti, Digital Strategy Specialist, Uruguay This chapter describes the introduction of government electronic invoicing within some countries of the Latin America area.The author indentifies four elements that should be considered when introducing electronic invoices: a solid legal framework on the use of tax documents; a solid institutional basis; a solid technological basis allowing a reliable infrastructure; the involvement of the private sector as a strategic partner. Chapter 22 Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance in Latin America.................................................................................................................................. 397 Nestor Zapata, Main Advisor of the PROA/GTZ Project, El Salvador Christof Kuechemann, Resident Director of the GTZ, El Salvador The chapter describes three cooperation projects supported by the German Technical Cooperation in Chile and El Salvador. It highlights the GTZ mode of intervention, which aims at improving the management, efficiency and efficacy capacities of the Latin- American counterparts by adding elements that promote transparency, participation and citizenship information. Chapter 23 Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G perspective: Case Studies and Lesson Learned.............407 Luca Cernuzzi, DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Magalí González, DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Marco Ronchetti, University of Trento, Italy Adolfo Villafiorita, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy Komminist Weldemariam, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy The authors of this chapter discuss the concept of information and communication technology for good (ICT4G), illustrating the concept with a series of case studies. They point out the importance of good governance, and interestingly make the point that e-governance is as much or more about governance as it is about “e”. Chapter 24 Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society: The Case of Latin America.................................. 424 Leonardo Pineda Serna, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia In this chapter, the author discusses what should be done by the Latin-American and Caribbean countries to become incorporated into the global knowledge society. The discussion leads to: (i) the definition of a strategic plan for developing ICTs in the area and (ii) the description of a roadmap for integrating the different stakeholders, as a way to fostering a strategic innovation in the e-governance of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Chapter 25 E-Government Clusters: From Framework to Implementation .......................................................... 443 Kristian J. Sund, Middlesex University Business School, UK Ajay Kumar Reddy Adala, Centre for e-Governance, India This chapter extends the work of Michael Porter and others in describing industry clusters, to the concept of e-government clusters. Several such clusters have emerged in the recent decade and a few cases are explored and an extended cluster framework presented. Chapter 26 The Knowledge Economy: A New Development Paradigm for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) . .................................................................................................................. 464 Danilo Piaggesi, Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Maria J. Chea, American University, USA This chapter discusses the opportunities that would arise for the Latin America and Caribbean countries from the transition from a basically agricultural economy to the knowledge economy. To achieve this result a multi-sector stakeholder approach is needed in which both public and private organizations should be involved in a collective effort to deploy a knowledge economy based society. A Possible Future Manifesto ............................................................................................................ 478 Afterword............................................................................................................................................ 485 Compilation of References ............................................................................................................... 487 About the Contributors .................................................................................................................... 518 Index.................................................................................................................................................... 530

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Foreword

The world today is at a very difficult juncture: On the one hand, it is deeply afflicted by an economic and social crisis which may have severe repercussions on the economy, society and international relations in the future. Dangers and new threats to peace and security are on the rise. Some of these threats are long-standing; others are exacerbated by new challenges posed by climate change, fundamentalists of various creeds, organized crime, and international migration, among others. On the other hand, science and technology are advancing in leaps and bounds, with innovations in all sectors that promise to generate goods and services to definitively tackle global hunger and social exclusion. Mankind now has a historic opportunity to overcome poverty. In the midst of these possibilities, powerful instruments have been developed: the new information and communication technologies (ICT), opening the doors to a new economy, a new society, a new way to engage in politics, a new system of international relations and, most importantly, a new distribution of global power. Use of the ICTs have brought about major changes to the economy by introducing “knowledge” as a driver for production. This new approach to economic relations deeply transformed development models, created new products and promoted new production systems changing international economic relations. The ICTs are opening the doors for a more educated, better informed and more connected society, one that moves towards a broader middle class with new social values, aspirations and demands. The information and communication technologies are fueling these processes, heralding a knowledge-based society capable of finding innovative and promising solutions to achieve social inclusion, a long-standing aspiration of mankind. Only time will tell if this statement holds true, but I believe we are on the right path. The ICTs were used recently in politics demonstrating their power to influence and even change the way in which politics are engaged, putting leaders in touch with the grassroots. The proliferation of social networks and new ways to stay informed and to communicate have triggered deep changes in the connection between politicians and the people. In fact, the new technologies are changing the values and the qualifications sought in politicians, demanding ever greater transparency in their actions and changes to how they govern. In international relations, the ICTs are penetrating the new faces of globalization. Among other phenomena, they help generate novel approaches to trade, to investment decisions, and to corporate restructuring to create global enterprises. More importantly, they open doors for innovation, not only to create new products but also new business models and new production systems that reshape international trade and relations. These challenges and opportunities raise several problems: first and foremost, training human resources so they will have the skills to embrace the new economic world and the knowledge-based society. This

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can be accomplished through a deep overhaul of the entire education system, emphasizing research, science and technology. There is also a need for public and private institutions capable of efficiently serving the new economic and social forms. The state will play a key role in these tasks. Furthermore, governments have the responsibility of modernizing their apparatus, making full use of the new technologies to change how they govern and, most importantly, how to be accountable to society. The role of the state in the economy has been a matter of debate since the very inception of the capitalist economic system. The issue has been and remains a challenge for all existing political and economic systems in the world. The state is the lynchpin for the development of our societies. At issue is not the size of government--a topic in the realm of national debate--but how to provide the modern state with instruments to enhance its efficiency, make it more accountable to society and able to assume responsibility for the changes taking place. Here again, the ICTs are providing valuable and successful contributions to improve the efficiency and accountability of governments. One of the most pressing needs is to redefine the relations between the state and the market. While we need efficient, regulated markets, we also need governments capable of reacting to the new challenges posed by society and the economy. The new technologies are helping redefine these relations. Some of the experiences described in this book are especially illustrative of the many actions adopted by governments. I believe this book provides a valuable contribution as it examines the impact of ICTs on many sectors, focusing in particular on the new role of society, the global economy, and the state. Technological innovation in the use of the ICTs has spawned dynamic and continual production. Today, there are innumerable experiences fruit of innovation and creativity at every level. Rather than being the sole purview of Research Centers, such innovations are to be found in many arenas, an encouraging sign as to the viability of state reform. Knowledge about these experiences is in part the purpose of this book, and sharing them is its best contribution given the caliber of the contributors and the wide range of cases presented. I congratulate those who supported this effort for the many interesting contributions contained in this book. Enrique V. Iglesias Ibero-American Secretary General, Madrid, Spain & Former President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C.,USA

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Preface

The governance of social systems reflects political values, involving control between citizens and their representatives. These values determine the evolution of the mix among such factors as institutions, technology, history, culture and economics that define political processes. Each of these factors is constantly changing while having an impact on each other. Experiences involving the mix of these factors take place in anarchic, totalitarian and democratic contexts as well as in societies in transition. Changes among these factors can reinforce or modify the approaches social systems have to govern themselves. Just as the internet is increasingly changing government processes, recent social networking applications such as Twitter and Facebook have more recently affected democratic processes too, by providing citizens with additional powers and a real capability to influence their government representatives and bypass official communication channels. Some recent examples include, China’s July 2009 regional information blockade, including a total shut-down of the Internet, following the Uighur unrests (“full” Internet usage was restored to Xinjiang ten months later). And then, of course, there is Iran where, beginning in June 2009, the organizing power of cell phones and social media, and their ability to capture and disseminate images like the death of a young Iranian woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, arrested the world’s attention. Most of the news that reached the West from Iran came via YouTube and Twitter. Thus, Information and Communication Technology is promoting a more democratic governance in today’s knowledge society that highlights the importance of analyzing some “best practices” on local, national and regional strategy and practice of e-Governance in different societies from around the world. This book focuses on the efforts of those societies seeking to become more democratic experiences through the application of advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) in public administration (e-government), and on processes and transformations leading to become more inclusive and participatory societies (e-governance). As such, the contents of this book provides a “snapshot” of the diversity of efforts to identify and understand the conditions for effective approaches and techniques for strengthening the process of democratization by deploying ICT. It does not attempt to offer simple solutions to complex problems but rather document practical approaches and experiences in a variety of local and national contexts, that might provide insights that could be integrated by others in their own context. Data gathering, information processing and knowledge creation are essential capacities for economic and social development. ICT can enhance the development process in both the developed and developing world by creating new opportunities in the generation, transformation and distribution of information and knowledge, lowering transaction costs, accelerating the process of innovation and building trust

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between citizens and Governments.Good governance can contribute to economic growth while economic growth can contribute to good governance. The rise of ICT led to the creation of the Information Society and the Information Society has led to the present Knowledge Society, where the application of technology evolves in economic, social, institutional and cultural contexts, creating and expanding capabilities and responding to new incentives. This can create a virtuous cycle, triggering a new economy (the Knowledge Economy), where the benefits come from the exchange of knowledge produced locally or imported and adapted to local conditions. Several research studies point to the potentially, but not inevitable, positive relationship between ICT investment and the increase in productivity and competitiveness. These studies suggest that: (a) the relationship between ICT and growth is obvious in developed economies that have already reached a threshold in its distribution and use; (b) there is a time gap from the start of investment and the resulting increases in productivity and growth due to the process of assimilation and adaptation of ICT; and (c) education, innovation, human capital; social inclusion and a favorable economic environment are keys to exploiting the potential offered by ICT. Although the conclusions of these research studies vary according to context and implementation strategies, they all seem to concur on one essential aspect: access to information and the production and adaptation of knowledge can transform production processes, increase labor productivity, and improve the living conditions of the citizens. The experiences described in the chapters of this book can be summarized as follows: ICT is a tool, which coupled with investments in factors of competitiveness, such as innovation, education, social inclusion and government policies facilitating changes, can contribute to economic growth and social development, triggering a virtuous cycle leading to a Knowledge Economy. Furthermore, the diverse ICT experiences described in the following chapters reveal some common factors that limit the deployment and appropriate use of ICT: (a) the limited institutional ability to articulate and promote public policies for the distribution and use of ICT, (b) the limited network coverage and the high costs of access to ICT, and (c) the lack of digital education enabling interaction with ICT and the scarcity of content that is of interest to the local population. By the same token, there are some factors that are common to the numerous successful experiences in ICT in public administration from around the world. This book presents some of those experiences as “best practices”, in order to inspire other countries in the deployment of ICT for better governance in all aspects of human-life. In general, the positive factors characterizing those experiences are: • • • • •

political support; an integrated and long-term vision; institutional and technical capability; the participation of the private sector; a favorable environment (infrastructure, regulatory framework), and projected levels of investment.

In recent years, the countries represented in this book have invested significant effort and resources in ICT initiatives, and in general there has been progress. Important lessons have been learned: •

it is essential to work with a medium and long-term vision, concrete goals, and a will to coordinate between and among different initiatives;

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•

• • • •

there is a gap in the know-how to absorb available technological resources and use them to benefit development needs. ICT investments must be combined with people’s ability to use them in a creative and appropriate way; the rate of technological innovation accelerates technological obsolescence. Solutions must be designed to ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure; many organizations are aware of their limits and how these can be tackled by using ICT, but few know how to accede to financing; there seems to be an opportunity for the establishment of mechanisms to transfer technology between and among countries in this book and other regions of the world; in poor and marginalized areas, the biggest challenge is to demonstrate the benefits of using ICT.

In particular, we would like to draw the basic principles for a global ICT-based strategy from the best practices presented in our book that incorporates the integral dimension of e-governance, within the context of “managing changes” at local, national and regional levels, bearing in mind that there are no simple solutions and the “factors” and mix of factors are constantly changing. In the list below, for each element of the strategy, we indicate the corresponding chapters of the book: 1. Creation of a favorable environment for the distribution and use of ICT: For ICT to contribute to development, the environment must facilitate its spread and use in institutional, business and social contexts. The strategy will support the development of initiatives that contribute to complete the process of liberalization of the telecommunications market, increase the use of ICT, combine regulatory measures with public-private initiatives to extend connectivity and adapt tariffs, and create assurance and confidence in the public, social and commercial use of ICT through the formulation and application of norms, edicts and/or laws, among others. (chapters 4, 13, 15, 16) 2. ICT in support of the modernization of the State: ICT is a key tool for the modernization and transformation of the State, within the continuous effort to improve trust between citizens and Government. This strategy pursues initiatives aimed at establishing a modern, professional and transparent public administration, so as to improve the efficiency and transparency of the management of expenditures, promote the participation of society in the formulation of public policies, improve and extend the coverage of public services, especially to the excluded sectors, increase fiscal responsibility, and decrease fraud. (chapters 4, 6, 7, 14, 17, 25) 3. ICT in support of competitiveness: This strategy promotes initiatives that support innovation and the transfer and implementation of ICT to increase productivity, competitiveness and sustainable economic growth, which are determining factors in achieving a dynamic economy. The strategy prioritizes the needs of the SMEs, micro-firms and rural producers, as well as the needs of sectors offering a high potential of economic development and job creation like the ICT sector, which is favored by its own technological advantages to compete in a global market. (chapters 3, 9, 10, 12, 21) 4. ICT in support of social development: Social development is a fundamental element to reduce poverty, promote equality and improve the well being. The distribution and appropriate use of ICT can accelerate social development and broaden its impact, especially in the areas of health and education. (chapters 1, 2, 5, 11, 18, 19, 20) 5. ICT in support of regional integration: The creation of Regional Public Goods aimed at implementing sustainable economic growth and reducing poverty contributes to regional integration,

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providing the economies with a better position to face the forces of globalization. ICT can contribute to the process of regional integration, specifically in the promotion of regional infrastructure, the consolidation of regional markets, and the strengthening of institutions. (chapters 22, 24, 26). Besides the components of the global strategy emerging from the examples discussed in the book, we would like to add a further element that complements the strategy. It is an element that in our view will become more and more central for any future discussion on E-Governance: 6. ICT in support of the environment and in responding to natural disasters: The protection of the environment and the management of natural resources are increasingly important factors for achieving sustainable development and improving quality of life in general. This strategy proposes to utilize ICT in addressing environmental issues and protecting natural resources, and in preventing, mitigating and managing natural disasters. The current volume of programs and financial initiatives of the multilateral development organizations and national agencies around the world requires an effective coordination effort, so that initiatives complement each other, avoiding duplication. To this end, it is imperative to strengthen communication between involved organizations and to consider their plans in the design and continuous evaluation of projects. Since every country is different, an international effort toward harmonization should be pursued in the process involving the integration of ICT in public administration and democratization. We hope this book will contribute to global efforts in order to ensure that all countries generate the political will needed to effectively use ICT and expand their Knowledge Economy to become more democratic and participatory knowledge societies, in a new world ruled by a new e-Governance. We wish you a very good reading! Danilo Piaggesi Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Kristian J. Sund Middlesex University, UK Walter Castelnovo University of Insubria, Italy

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Acknowledgment

To my wife Helena for her encouragement in taking on this new challenge in my professional life, and for her continuous support and professional advice. Danilo Piaggesi Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA

To my wife Agnese for being my biggest supporter and the love of my life, and to my daughters Beatrice and Sophie, for bringing me joy every day. Kristian J. Sund Middlesex University, UK

To my wife Donata and my son Michele for their patience and understanding for all the times that my professional duties did not allow me to spend with them the time I wished. I would also like to thank Francesca Battinieri whose help has been invaluable for me during the preparation of this book. Walter Castelnovo University of Insubria, Italy

The editors would like to warmly acknowledge the valuable help of the reviewers and the members of the editorial advisory board. In addition we would like to thank all contributors to this book not only for their contributions, but also for their hard work in meeting sometimes tight deadlines. The support of IGI Global, and in particular of Julia Mosemann, has been very valuable during the preparation stages of this book. Finally we would like to express our thanks to Kieth Hales for introducing us to this project.

Section 1

Strategy and Practice at the Local Level

INTRODUCTION It is hard to remember life before the Internet. In the span of two decades, the Internet has entirely reshaped the way we govern, the way we conduct business; indeed, how we, as individuals, live, work, and play. Broadband access to the Internet has enhanced the speed with which this new world is available to each one of us.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES The challenge for those of us working in the public sector is not with the Internet, but with our ability to keep pace with technological innovation and adoption. Our ability to ensure that the power of broadband and the Internet are harnessed not only for commercial purposes, but also to meet our society’s needs to produce and share ideas, to develop communities, and to serve the public interest is tested daily. How are we to use the power of broadband and the Internet to continue meeting our society’s need to produce and share ideas with the goal of creating a better place to live, work, and play? That’s quite a challenge - especially when many municipal governments face an uncertain financial future upon which to build and operate programs that meet the needs of our constituents. As many of us reduce spending, our workforce continues to age: when the economic recovery occurs, some of us will be without experienced staff to replace our retiring workers. The ubiquity of technology and its use to make services available anytime, anywhere in the private sector translates into rising demand for such services in the public sector, often with frustration at the progress with which we deliver it. We have great ideas, but at times we suffer from an inability to build strategies that can be broadly implemented.

We have, of course, many tools to overcome the challenges. There are many, many elected and community leaders who understand the transformative power of technology and who provide the ability for us to move forward, to experiment and find creative solutions to those above mentioned unprecedented challenges. And, of course, there are technology changes such as social networking tools that help lower the cost of creating solutions and increase the speed to market.

E-GOVERNMENT Much has been written about applying electronic capabilities to government, or e-gov as it is known. Over the years, we have moved through several phases of implementation. The first phase focused our attentions on developing a citizen-centric government where the use of information and communications technology (ICT) was applied to make government services more accessible. Paying parking tickets on-line is one example of using electronic means rather than physical means of providing service. Phase 2 is about people-driven government Gov 2.0 as it is now known. Creating on-line ideation platforms where ideas are generated, discussed, and voted-on creates a community-driven approach to policy making that is available to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. In other words, using ICT to socialize and commoditize government services, processes, and data. Some believe there is a phase 3 where semantic web technology will allow us to customize and create a more intelligent government. Bureaucracies whether in the public or private sectors are hard to change. Our performance and compensations don’t support it. Structural inefficiencies and difficulty in developing meaningful reward systems create a culture of risk aversion and therefore resistance to change. Often our very government organizations play a part through their decentralized and political power structure and departmental or individual autonomy upon which functional silos are created. At times it seems that because we are made up of multiple organizations with multiple leaders, we have a short-term focus on long-term project implementation. Uncertainty is created. Progress may be slowed or stopped altogether.

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS The case studies in the following chapters are in at least some cases a stark contrast to these challenges. Many are successful despite all the reasons for it not to be. Why is that? I believe it is for two very important reasons. First, to be truly successful in the municipal arena, leaders must be fearless and have an innate ability to figure out ways to succeed using bureaucracy, not fighting it. We approach challenges systematically but with creativity, knowing that the creative power of people, not technology, will enable our projects to success. Second, we have a “secret sauce”, a tried and true strategy for success. To varying degrees we use whatever crisis is before us to create a sense of urgency. We form employee coalitions at grass roots levels. We never stop evolving the vision. We become an apostle, making change our cause of existence. Making lemonade out of lemons, we beg, borrow, and steal committed people and technology. Starting small, we focus on a “win” with our technology projects and talk nonstop about it. Once our constituents come to depend upon our now web-enabled programs, they effectively become indispensible and cannot be taken away.

Success is everywhere: in cities such as Macao or La Paz or in countries as diverse as India and Italy. In my own hometown of San Francisco, we have focused on opening-up government, making it more transparent and accountable. We’ve tried new things: releasing government data to the public where mobile application developers are creating “apps” that we’ve never dreamed of or had the money to build ourselves; creating open APIs that support a common approach to service delivery that support social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter; organizing innovation camps where government and private sector technologists come together and discover the similarities, and not differences, between us. The challenges we face will not be solved if we don’t dive in, get our feet wet, and start working. Government is at the front line of service delivery. Every day, we gather and assess data, build and implement solutions. We know pretty quickly if they work or not - our constituents can be unforgiving but also extremely appreciative when we meet their needs. This is why we’re in public service. To face the odds with the knowledge and hope that technology will help us address, not solve, the age old problem of how to govern efficiently and effectively. Chris Vein City and County of San Francisco, USA

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Chapter 1

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India Abdul Razak Mohamed Anna University, India

ABSTRACT The fast growing information and communication technology (ICT) sector brought in the use of computers, internet and mobile phones not only by the technocrats but also by the general public to receive and send communication faster, cheaper and easier. This situation brought out visible changes in people life, government function and cities spatial form and structure. Globally, the e-Governance system approach attempts to change the government-centered planning and delivery of civic services to people-centered planning and execution of development. It is also evident that the transformation is prominent not only in the planning and production of services but also in terms of urban local government system. This is to state that there are two noticeable visible changes in the government system such as (a) Government to Governance, and (b) Governance to e-Governance. These changes make the central, state and local governments more responsible, transparent, and participatory in terms of planning, development and management of towns and cities. But due to the urgency and cope with the World order the central, state and local governments in India introduce e-Governance without looking into the concept of e-Readiness. This chapter attempts to explore the basic question such as how the application of e-Governance system to be considered as an important means towards improvement in the service delivery systems of urban local governments within the perspective of e-Readiness. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch001

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

INTRODUCTION Urban Development is an important area of concern to Central, State and Local Governments, professionals, academics, NGO’s and people of India. Due to the increase in number of urban settlements globally it becomes a challenge for the urban municipal governments to meet the ever growing and changing needs of the people. The needs include access to shelter, trade and business, transportation, recreation, employment, civic and other social infrastructure facilities. It is imperative that the issues like legal support, application of new technology, good institutional framework, organizational pattern and administrative system, manpower and financial health becomes essential for e-Governance. e-Governance system facilitates the urban municipal governments to make effective and efficient planning, executing and managing urban service delivery to the people. The impact of globalization and economic liberalization brought in adapting new methods of planning and governance system of Indian towns and cities. The most visible aspect in this regard is the introduction of electronic system in administrative and organizational aspects of urban municipalities in India. The establishment of computerized infrastructure in the central, state and local government’s office in India is evident from the large scale investments by the central and state governments. But what is the invisible fact is the slow pace of adaptation to the technology and the organizational climate in terms of the need for the change in the work environment both the physical and human perspective. Also the issue of e-Governance Vs e-Readiness where the principle it is e-Readiness and then e-Governance, but in reality it is noticed that e-Governance first and e-Readiness latter with the case of local governments in India. The main focus of this chapter is to highlight the e-Governance practice in the urban municipality of Tamil Nadu whereby the e-Governance is in practice without fulfilling the e-Readiness

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factors in order. Broadly the chapter is organized in terms of (a) a bird’s eye view of e-Governance and e-Government in India, (b) the theoretical and global perspective of e-Governance Vs eReadiness, (c) the existing status of e-Governance and e-Readiness in the state of Tamil Nadu and situation in Tambaram Municipality as a case study, and (d) at the end along with stating a few relevant solutions and recommendation, some points on the future research direction also been mentioned.

E-GOVERNANCE AND GOVERNMENT IN INDIA The adaption of the Habitat Agenda (1996) urban governance has become a priority issue in most of the developing countries in search of ways and means of improve the functioning of local government and promoting decentralization and devolution of power to the local government. The essential of computers and internet becomes considered and used by the local government in the municipal administration for the delivery of civic and public services. Good governance reforms aim to address these shortcomings. Yet progress – after many years of effort in implementing such reforms in India – has been much more limited than expected. Historically, India faced tremendous challenges when it set on its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) journey. The ICT industry, at a very nascent stage, appeared far behind its Western counterpart. In 2005, the scenario has undergone an amazing transformation. Indian ICT organizations are now counted among the well known and reputed ICT solutions and services providers across the world and scores of global ICT leaders have invested in India, making the country their hub for software development, offshore outsourcing and R&D. According to Khopkar, and Bodat, (2007) ICT is becoming part and parcel of National Develop-

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

ment strategies across the Globe. The Government of India’s vision is to use ICT as a tool for raising the living standards of the common man and enriching their lives. Towards this end an ambitious program of PC and Internet penetration to the rural and under-served urban areas has been taken up. The Department of Information Technology has initiated a program of establish State Wide Area Network (SWAN) up to the block level with a minimum Bandwidth of 2 MBPS to provide reliable backbone connectivity for e-Governance. In the Broadband Policy announced in October, 2004, the broadband connectivity has been defined as “an always on” data connection that is able to support interactive services including internet access with a minimum download speed of 256 kbps to an individual subscriber. The policy visualizes creation of infrastructure through various access technologies for providing broadband services. It is expected that the number of broadband subscribers would be 3 million by 2005, 9 million by 2007 and 20 million by 2010”. Other initiatives taken by the Government in the ICT Sector include announcement of the Information Technology Act 2000 for copyright protection, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Policy permission to private ISPs to set up international gateways and internet access through cable TV infrastructure among others. Rahul De’ (2006) highlights the fact that the ubiquitous mouse has a special place in the Indian psyche. It is revered as the vehicle of the Hindu people God Lord Ganesha—the remover of all obstacles. Today, in the arena of e-governance, its Pentium-powered avatar (Creation) reigns supreme in the hands of an increasingly e-literate janata (people). From the early nineties, e-Governance has seen the use of IT for wider sectoral applications with policy emphasis on reaching out to rural areas and taking in greater inputs from NGOs and private sector as well. The introduction of e-Government systems in India started out in the late 1960s and early 1970s with an emphasis on computerizing applications

for defense services, the economic planning department, the national census, elections and tax collections etc. The government mainly did the spending and the development was entirely done by internal Information Technology departments. In the 1980s the National Informatics Centre was established, whose main role was to implement and support large-scale computerization projects in India. The 1990s saw the emergence of a national IT initiative by the Government of India with corresponding plans in the states. External funding was sought from agencies such as the World Bank and external parties such as NGOs and private corporations were involved in the computerization efforts. The focus also shifted to external e-Government systems that could provide services to the public. There has been an increasing involvement of international donor agencies such as DfID, G-8, UNDP, and WB under the framework of e-Governance for development. The 1990s saw a spate of e-Government initiatives in India, in various states, that addressed issues of land records management through digitization, issue of government documents to public and collection of various dues via kioskbased centers and the use of GIS-based services for assisting agriculture. During the year 2005, the government in India is poised to spend Rs 120 billion on e-Government initiatives. The results of such efforts are not very promising, though: most e-Government systems that are implemented in India and also in the developing countries around the world fail, with the failure rates at over 80% (here 50% are partial failures) while the rest are total failures. Many reasons are attributed to such high failure rates, most of which have to do with a lack of direction and continued support by the responsible government department. Projects are, apparently, conceived of as a response to the push to ’computerize’ from the government without a clear understanding of the problem being addressed or the adequate design of such systems. Or, projects are conceived of

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

to address certain immediate problems without analyzing the deeper causes of the problem.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness: A Theoretical Perspective Theoretically e-Governance is considered as a good form of governance and it is widely agreed by researchers that e-Governance is faster, easy, cheap and transparent in terms of communication and access to services by citizens. The Government of India (2001) Report of the working group on convergence and e-Governance for the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), Planning Commission, New Delhi described the concepts as follows. e-Government is that which the services and information are delivered to the citizens or clients through electronic medium while in the case of e-Governance, the interaction between the citizen and the government takes place through electronic medium and decisions are processed electronically. e-Governance is the application of Information Technology to the processes of Government functioning in order to bring about Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) Governance. Many governments around the world have launched their e-Government initiatives to provide citizens and organizations with more convenient ways to access government information and services (Turban, King, Lee, Warkentin, & Chung, 2002). Pinch and Biker (1984) claim that the range of players involved in technological innovation (for example technical specialists from supplier organizations, suppliers of complementary as well as competing products, consultants, policymakers, existing and potential users) tend to have very different understandings of technology and its use. Furthermore each has a different relationship to the technology and varying commitments in terms of past experience and expertise (Williams, 1996). Governance is (1) collective problem-solving, i.e., the solving of collective problems involving multiple actors operating under different insti-

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tutional arrangements (a) Involving State and non-State actors, i.e., public, private and third sector (2) At all levels, i.e., from local to global (local, regional, national, regional, global), and (3) Addressing the three main functions of collective problem-solving, i.e., policy-making, regulation, and service-delivery (Finger, M. 2007). New information and communication technologies (ICT) can make a significant contribution to the achievement of good governance goals. National and local governments move forward to use new technologies in dissemination of information, delivery of services to people and facilitating government and people relationships. Good governance is essential for any government to bring in change and desired development. With access to state-of-the-art technologies and highly-trained technologists in Third World countries increasing, conventional wisdom holds that social and organizational factors may be the primary obstacles to successful IT integration in the public sector (Heeks, 2001a). The use of new technology makes the government concentrates on the governance system particularly from e-Government to e-Governance (Finger, 2007). There are three main contributions of eGovernance: improving government processes (e-administration); connecting citizens (e-citizens and e-services); and building external interactions (e-society) – (Heeks, 2001). At the same time there are various stages involved in terms of eGovernment development. According to (Howard, 2001; Lau, 2001), there are four major stages of e-Government development: 1. Information Publishing: this is a basic form of e-Government where government posts information on the official government websites. The presented information may include information about available public services, government contract, and government events. 2. Two-way Communication: in this stage citizens communicate with the government

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

through the Internet and make simple requests. Usually, the information requested is not processed immediately online but sent to the requestor by mail or email. 3. Transaction: this stage is more sophisticated than previous stages where citizens can conduct all transactions online. Driving license renewing is one example of these transactions. 4. Integration: this is the most sophisticated stage of e-Government development. In this stage, all government services provided from different departments and agencies are integrated together and accessed through single website called e-Government portal. These stages are important to see how an organization practices e-Governance in to a reality. Donald F. Kettle’s (2002) emphasis on the historical analysis of American public administration provides some good discussion on government and governance. Government is an institutional superstructure that society uses to translate politics into policies and legislation. Governance is the outcome of the interaction of government, the public service, and citizens throughout the political process, policy development, program design, and service delivery. Governments are specialized institutions that contribute to governance. Representative governments seek and receive citizen support, but they also need the active cooperation of their public servants. Governance is the outcome of politics, policies, and programs. Parminder Jeet Singh, (2006) view that many state and local level governments in India are in the process of developing ICT solutions to provide integrated delivery of services to citizens. Attempts however, have not delivered on services that require complex organizational processes, such as cross-referencing, discretion, evaluation and judgment. These types of processes are often essential to serve disadvantaged sections of society. The most critical issue is that many ICT initiatives have not motivated any fundamental

changes in the way government works or in the way public services are provided. Several issues have been identified as cause of this, such as a lack of ownership at the ministerial level or that ministries consider e-Governance to be an information technology (IT) issue, not one of changing the way government works. The result however, is that little structural change is underway in the Indian administration, change that is necessary for e-Government services to evolve. Guo Liang (2006) highlights that in the recent years both central and local Chinese governments have paid increased attention to e-Governance, defined as using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance government administration and management. To improve eGovernment in China, governments need to realize that purpose is not only to serve the government, but also to serve the people. More awareness and training needs to be provided to reach this goal. Zaied A N H, Khairalla F A and Al-Rashid W (2007) in the information age, the gap between the developed and developing countries increased due to the ease of access to new technologies and the usage of information and communications technology (ICT). The first step in promoting e-Government is conducting the e-Readiness assessment. e-Readiness is defined as the degree to which a community is prepared to participate in the information age (networked world). It is measured by assessing a community’s relative advancement in the areas that are most critical for ICT adoption and the most important applications of ICT. e-Readiness assessment is meant to guide development efforts by providing benchmarks for comparison and gauging progress. It can also be a vital tool for judging the impact of ICT, to replace wild claims and evidence about the role of ICT in development with concrete data for comparison. Furthermore, recent research by Saki Sassen (2006) argues that ICTs cannot be seen as tools in a linear process of reducing exclusions. Not only can new inclusions produce new exclusions, but more importantly, the concept of citizenship itself

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

is influenced by exclusions, and warns that as a result, the grip of the nation-state on questions of identity and membership is weakened by major social, economic, political, and subjective trends. Sassen’s arguments warn of the serious challenges that exist to any inclusion strategy, and therefore the extent to which citizenship will be served interactively by e-Government is very important aspect of e-Governance. There are a number of e-Government definitions in the existing literature. Most definitions of e-Government revolve around the concepts of government’s employment of technology, in particular web-based application to improve the access and delivery of government services to citizens, business partners, and other government agencies. World Bank defines as “the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks the Internet, and mobile computing) that have ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.” (World Bank Group, 2007) Various commentators provide different rationales for the deployment of e-Government systems in India, not least of which are the arguments for leap-frogging development - the idea being to push India into a developed country status, technologywise, without going through the pains of the technology development and adoption process. Other reasons include bringing about efficiency and transparency in governance, a much-needed cure for India’s various ills. The arguments about development and the need for e-Governance often include the benefits accruing to Indian industry and markets and the government, however, few focus on the needs of the most marginal and poor sections of society.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness: A Global Perspective When EIU, Economist first e-Readiness ranking was published, there were less than 700m mobile phones, most of them in the rich world.

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Today, more people have a mobile device than do not, and the distribution has spread mightily throughout the developing world—nearly onehalf of all mobile subscribers are in Asia and around 10% each in Africa and Latin America. During 2009 e-Readiness rankings reveals that there is consistent with the trajectory of the global economy. The severe financial crisis and resulting recession have struck most countries hard, having a considerable negative impact on their business environment scores. But digital development marches on. Connectivity continues to improve, and remains the major enabling factor for any country’s ability to improve its e-Readiness. The 2009 e-Readiness analysis shows that usage lags connectivity levels—another reason that overall scores have dropped this year—but that users around the world are finding increasing utility nonetheless, even in countries in the lower tiers of our ranking table. While usage levels are still in their infancy, encouraging signs are seen, ranging from e-participation efforts to actual use of online public services (EIU, 2009). European countries are at the highest level of ICT infrastructure and access development and 88% of these countries are at higher than the level of Average Achievers’. North American countries are the next with the minimum difference and 77% of them are at a level higher than Average Achievers’ level. The countries in South America, Asia and Oceania are nearly at the same level of ICT infrastructure and access development and 47%, 50%, and 40% respectively, of their countries are at development levels that are higher than that of the average. African countries are at the lowest level of development and the highest difference is between this continent and others (The least difference between this continent and other continents is 0.88). It is appropriate to use experts’ opinions, who know policy priorities and theoretical backgrounds, to reflect the multiplicity of stakeholders’ viewpoints and weight indicators and dimensions. For example, in July 2001, the Ministry of the

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China built the National Informatization Quotient (NIQ) (Jin and Chengyu, 2002) based on the opinions of the experts. The NIQ is a composite index based on 20 indicators in six dimensions that were weighted based on experts’ opinions. In other words, the NIQ uses a subjective expert evaluation for determining the weights of the different dimensions, which are summed to give the final index value. In addition, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) (2007) that has developed a composite index to rank e-Readiness of 60–70 countries annually from 2000 until now, have applied this method to determine how each one of its six dimensions in influencing the overall e-Readiness of countries. Another ICT readiness index measure, the digital access index (DAI), was developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2003, and it has five main factors that were weighted based on the same method as the EIU. The government of India report (2001) of the working group on convergence and e-Governance states that there are important pre requisites for e-Governance. It includes (a) large scale computerization, (b) capability of use of local language in the IT systems, (c) awareness (bringing the mindset of the government staff), (d) infrastructure, (e) standardization, (f) certification authorities, and (g) knowledge networking for better governance. The points discussed above clearly state that there is a lot of efforts, suggestive measures and the great potential for the e-Governance system in development. But the problem is the efficiency and effectiveness of the system in terms of both the providers and users. In this regard e-Readiness and awareness is one of the key issues in terms the success of e-Governance. Lack of e-Readiness contributes to both lack of and failure of e-Governance initiatives (Heeks. R, 2001a). Also he states that there are six key questions can be asked of developing country governments in order to assess how strategically prepared they are for e-Governance. (1) Are the

management system records and work processes in place to provide the quality and quantity of data to support e-Governance, (2) Are the laws and regulations required to permit and to support the move to e-Governance in place, (3) Are the institutional support exists for facilitation of e-Governance, (4) Are the attitude, knowledge and skill in place in terms of the organization, (5) Are the provided with computers and telecommunication infrastructure, (6) Are the organizations has leaders with vision to put e-Governance on to the agenda and make it happen. The key questions related the readiness is the data system infrastructure, legal infrastructure, institutional infrastructure, human infrastructure, technological infrastructure, and leadership and strategic thinking. It is much essential to consider the fact that the urban municipal governments got a great potential to follow e-Governance both in terms of the organizational development and peoples participation in gaining access to civic services and amenities. In this context one should raises two fundamental questions in terms of the sustainable urban development such as (1) what is the favorable and un-favorable condition exists in practicing e-Governance in urban municipal administration and (2) how the citizens perceive about the e-Governance way of gaining access to services from the local government. These two questions are important and derived out of the contribution of Heeks highlighting the view on the e-Readiness perspective and also the awareness level of the people regarding the e-Governance system in urban municipal administration.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Municipalities of Tamil Nadu City Corporations and Urban Municipalities in India considered as the local governments. The local governments of the various States in India realized the importance of using ICT for better administration and better delivery of civic services to its inhabitants of the towns and cities.

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Even though the need of ICT is felt by the local government, still the utility both in terms of administrative improvement and people interface is very much minimal due to number of reasons. One of the issues is e-Readiness of the organization and e-Governance awareness among the citizens are absent and considered as a neglected area of operation within the context of urban municipal government in India. Sharma P. (2004) e-Government sector as Government to Citizen (G2C) initiatives are designed to facilitate citizen interaction with government, and attempts to make transactions such as renewing licenses and certificates, paying taxes, and applying for benefits. India is the World largest democratic country where 27 per cent of the population lives in urban areas. Tamil Nadu is the second largest urbanized state in India. It accounts for about 44 per cent when compared with the overall urbanization trend in India. Urban Municipal Governments (UMG) in India is given legal ambiance in terms of financial and political aspects as per the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act. 1992. Urban municipalities are the local government, considered as the third level of government system in India. The three level government systems in India viz. central, state and the local system which is called as three tier system of government. The conventional method of governance system followed in the three level of government in India is highly human centered and expensive. There is a large amount of money spend annually by the government towards the payment of staff salary. Heeks, R (2001) viewed that it is true all over the World government in the developing nation’s costs too much, delivers too little, and is not sufficiently responsive or accountable. The human resources dependency is very much seen today in government system even though ICT introduction in the UMG in Tamil Nadu during 2000. In terms of delivery of public services Tamil Nadu State attempted to provide online registration of property transactions, registration of vehicles, issue of

8

driving licenses, land records and single window/ one stop delivery of public services. Traditionally the UMG is a dependent government in term of money, man power and other resources either from the state, central or external agencies. The people in the municipal towns perceive that the municipality don’t have money and never do the desired services to the people. After the administrative reform of the national government and globalization efforts made the use of e-Governance in development. The introduction of ICT in municipal governance aimed at improving the administrative and work processes efficient and effective. But there are limited evident shows that the incidence of the UMG towards the success of the e-Governance system in Tamil Nadu. Even though all the municipalities opened up websites, installed computers and access internet facilities but it is still very little has been done in following e-Governance system in to the day to day functioning of the municipality and the people use the service in getting the services. There is lack of trained manpower in the municipal administration, political will, motivated leadership and office staff, lack of internet literacy among public, access to computers and internet to the public are the main reasons for the situation. But the evolution of e-Governance is a highly complex process requiring provision of hardware, networking, software, re-engineering of the procedures for examination of cases and decision making. One of the issues is e-Readiness of the organization and e-Governance awareness among the citizens are absent and considered as a neglected area of operation within the context of municipalities in India. e-Governance offers a new way forward, helping improve government processes, connect citizens, and build interactions with and within civil society. It is a known fact but for the success of the new technology depends on two factors. These are (1) The way in which providers create infrastructure with motivated staffs in the organization, and (2) The extent of awareness, ap-

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Figure 1. E-Readiness assessment of different states in India as per NCAER-2006

preciation and practice by the users. The measure of technological application in different governments and business demands are also important in terms of e-Governance to work. It depends on (1) Measuring the number and type of people who have access to Internet, and what they use it for could be of useful in understanding the effectiveness of ICT in people’s life. (2) On the other hand what infrastructure exists, attitude of the staff, availability of skilled man power etc becomes essential and crucial for the local government using innovation in their delivery of civic and other infrastructure services to the people.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Tambaram Municipality The e-Readiness report 2006 of National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, (field survey was conducted and data collection for 15 states) India takes the analysis one step further, by evaluating the e-Readiness of certain central ministries. The performance of

government ministries is relevant since one of the major purposes of e-Readiness is to strengthen the government. Also, the major constraint in promoting ICT usage is that of shortage of qualified human resources. In particular, incentives for Information Technology staff have to be introduced in order to retain the existing talent within the government system. Even though performance on e-Governance is one of the parameters in this survey, one can argue that the effectiveness of e-Governance may itself be implicitly dependent on the other parameters constituting e-Readiness. The NCAER survey report (2006) identified Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra as the leading States in terms of “eReadiness”. (Figure 1). The EIU 2009 e-Readiness assessment positioning India almost the mid stage of development which is 4.17 and it was 4.96 during 2008. There is a reduction in the points in the ranking shows but still there is a great potential and market. At the same time the NCAER 2006 e-Readiness assessment places Tamil Nadu a Leaders as the first

9

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Figure 2. Location of the state of Tamil Nadu in India

level State as well as second in order while Karnataka placed as first in the country. The eGovernance growth and e-Readiness assessment shows an advantages position at the macro level but it essential to see the performance at the local government level becomes important to trace the factors limits and areas of potentials for further enhancement. Tamil Nadu is one of the 30 states of India. The location of Tamil Nadu State in India is shown in the Figure 2. It is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of Greece) and the seventh most populous state. Tamil Nadu has been amongst the top three States in terms of ICT investments and production. It has emerged as a hub for software, hardware and R&D. The number of Indian and Multinational organizations having presence in Tamil Nadu is a testimony to this. ICT production in Tamil Nadu touched a high of US $ 5.7 billion in 2006-07 and is expected to rise even further in

10

the coming few years. Tamil Nadu now wishes to leverage the unique advantages it possesses and enhance its presence in the ICT sector. The Vision 2011 of Tamil Nadu has an 11% share, at US $ 5.7 billion of the total Indian ICT production of US $ 51 Billion. Tamil Nadu hopes to sustain and improve its ICT performance in the coming years and aspires to capture a 25% share of Indian ICT production by year 2011 (Figure 3). The Administrative Milestones in Tamil Nadu, there are 8 Municipal Corporations viz., Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur and Erode. Seven Corporations (except Chennai) and 150 Municipalities including 49 Grade III Municipalities are under the administrative control of the Commissioner of Municipal Administration, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Under the Urban Local Bodies level, reforms committed viz., e-Governance, shift to Accrual based double entry accounting, property tax (85%

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Figure 3. Share of ICT production in Tamil Nadu from 2006-2011

coverage), property tax collection efficiency (90%) have been already achieved by the Urban Local Bodies. Also there is 100% cost recovery for water supply and solid waste services have been committed to be achieved in the year 2012. e-Governance Implementation in Urban Local Bodies is the sub component of Information and Communication Technology under the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP III) and also includes procurement of goods and services required to complete the e-Governance initiatives. In terms of e-Readiness assessment there is no attempts has been made so for by any agency in Tamil Nadu or from outside. The e-Governance system practice in the state very recent and more in to operation during 2007 and the projects are at the introduction stage. Even though all the 150 municipalities opened up websites during 2007, only the data entry task as well as introduce computer in the office for the day to day activities are still progressing. So to say there is also no attempts has been made by the government to view the e-Readiness of the municipalities in Tamil Nadu. Chennai (in Tamil Language), also known as and popularly called as Madras, is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu and is India’s fourth largest metropolitan city. With 6.7 Million popula-

tion as per 2001(City Population is 4.2 Million); the 370-year-old city (on 22 August 2009) is the 31st largest metropolitan area in the world. The following map (Figure 4) shows the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) and the location of Tambaram. Tambaram town is an important constituent of Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) which includes Chennai Municipal Corporation, 16 Municipal Towns, 27 Town Panchayats and 211 villages comprised in 10 panchayat Unions. Tambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. Prior to 1964, Tambaram was a small panchayat. In 1964 it was constituted as Grade III Municipality comprising the Village Panchayats of Pulikoradu, Kadaperi, Irumbliyur, and Selaiyur. Due to rapid development and growth of the town commercially and residentially, the Municipality is now classified as a ‘Selection Grade Municipality’. The extent of the Municipality is 20.72 Sq.km. The population as per 2001 census is 133,677 besides a floating population of more than 100,000 per day. (Table 1). The trend in population growth show a tremendous increased almost three times between the years 1971 to 2001. Also the Government of Tamil Nadu identified special economic

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Figure 4. Location of the Tambaram in the Chennai Metropolitan area

Table 1. Population growth in Tambaram between 1971-2001 Year

Population

Decadal Growth Rate

1971

58805

75.54

1981

86923

47.82

1991

107187

23.31

2001

133677

28.68

Source: Tambaram City Corporate Plan cum Business Plan 2007

zone in Tambaram leads to more industrial and residential development. The organization is governed by the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, 1920. The or12

ganizational setup of the municipality comprises of the Political Wing and an Executive Wing. The Political Wing is an elected body of Councilors from 39 wards in the town and is headed by the Chairman. The Executive Wing, headed by the Commissioner looks after the day to day functioning of the municipality and supports the Political Wing in the decision making process. There are five departments in the municipality which consist of general administration, engineering, public health, revenue and town planning. The main activities of these departments are given in the Table 2. Even though the e-Governance system introduced in the municipality the computer division is not included in the structure as a

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Table 2. Municipal departments and functions Department

Functions

General Administration

Establishment, Records, Accounts, Correspondence, Treasury

Engineering

Works, Water Supply and Operation and Maintenance

Public Health

Preventive Health Care, Conservancy, Vital Statistics

Revenue

Billing and Collection of Taxes, Charges and Fees

Town Planning

Administration of Master Plan

Source: Tambaram City Corporate Plan cum Business Plan 2007

department of the municipality. The departments and their main functions are detailed out below. The e-Governance project started in 1999 with supported by the World Bank funded project on Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project III. The project provides services such as Revenue collection through collection centers including in the municipal office. There are three pilot centers started during 2004. A portal www.municipality. tn.gov.in/tambaram was launched. Currently, there are three centers operating. The Centers provide services such as (a) payment of water and sewerage bills, (b) property tax, (c) registration of new trade license,(d) renewal of trade license (e) birth and death certificates (f) building plan license, and (g) professional tax etc. The services are provided within 30 minutes to 45 minutes. The centers operate on working days from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm and on public holidays from 10.00 am to 12.00pm. The Institutional arrangement is that the municipality has one program Assistant and the centre at the municipality is run by office Assistants and other two centers run and managed by bill collectors. The hardware and software services are not been outsourced. The Software was designed by TNUDPIII. The centers premises are provided by the municipality and the staff is not provided with hardware, networking solutions, and operators. The salary paid by the municipality and there is no engineering staff, help-desk staff and security staff at all the centers. The updated databases concerning the services is provided by TNUDP

III and all telecom/leased line bills and electricity paid by municipality. The Technology structure is concerned the network architecture is designed as an Intranet on a Wide Area Network (WAN) and the network is designed in 2 tiers. The first tier for the client-end is located at the centers. The front end is UBbased. All the centers are on 256 kbps dedicated leased lines and the data base server is window service 2003. All the machines used in this tier are window XP machines, along with one switch and one router and the servers keep consolidated database. The Primary access points are three centers, which are established on the municipal office premises. Each center has one bill collector and there is no waiting foyer, help desk, and token counter. The centers have no ATMs and no Citizens can access the portal from their households as well to avail of the services online. As a part of the project all the operators are given 15 days operational training on computer application and also some effort have been made in providing IT training in the concerned departments like accounts, etc. The municipality pays monthly salaries to all the operators engaged in these centers. The collection efficiency improved and the revenue collection is increasing tremendously. It is evident from the increasing transaction from 7,522 during 2004-2005 to 29,682 during 2007-2008 (Table 3). In terms of constraints and Implementation challenges initially there was resistance came from vested interest groups, especially government

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Table 3. The transaction and revenue of the municipality during 2004-08 S. No

Year

No. of Transaction

Payment (in Rupees)

1

2004-2005

7522

1,20,97317

2

2005-2006

25666

3,33,57512

3

2006-2007

28025

3,49,00307

4

2007-2008

29682

3,34,76437

Source: Annual Report of the Tambaram Municipality 2007

officials and middlemen. The central success factors are public demand, e-support of the departments, infrastructure, bureaucratic support and political will. As per Heeks the six key factors in terms of e-Readiness which are used for the assessment of the municipality e-Readiness. The following are the findings emerge out of the analysis of the secondary information and the sample survey conducted in the municipal office. 1. Management system records and work process: it is a long way to go in terms it readiness. The municipality outsourced the data entry system of the health records and is in progress. Even though the health dept. of the municipality installed computers the record keeping also in place and the work process is not ready with quality and quantity of data to support the e-Governance system. 2. Policy and Legal system: It is evident from the central and state government’s policy and legal system is stronger due to the fact that the State Government is having a very good and positive relationship with the national government. So the legal and policy system provide avenues for the practice of e-Governance system. But the failure is in terms of the effective implementation and enforcement at the local government level due to lack of leadership and inadequate social and physical infrastructure in the organization.

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3. Institutional Framework: Even though there is a strong institutional framework at the state level but at the municipal level it lacks since the weak leadership and the conventional method of work practice by the staff. There is a strong democratic force in operation since the introduction of e-Governance is a political decision the bureaucratic system is not supportive as it was seen from the staff survey that they are old and resistance to switch over to computer supportive work in the office. 4. Attitude, knowledge and skill in place in terms of the organization: From the sample survey conducted among the staff of the municipal office reveal the mindset of the staff is not ready in terms of following an e-Governance culture of work in the office. Since the staff in the organization is old and worked in conventional way afraid of, unwillingness to change their work with computer since lack of knowledge and skill. The exposure to computer training is just no way out and under compulsion. There computer training is e-Governance but still majority of the staff don’t have any knowledge of what is e-Governance and its importance in local government function. There is lack of willingness and motivation among the staff towards skill development since they are old age and retire from service soon, also no incentives and future career prospects etc. The staff is aware that it is only the change

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

in the method of work and not at all that help in career development. The regular staff in the office with the usual hierarchy and function and the addition is a program assistant to look after the computer system (i.e. what is perceived by the staff e-Governance). The regular staff of the office perceives that this is the job of the program assistant to do all the computer entry and maintenance. But the program assistant feels that it is the job of everyone in the office since the e-governance system demands for computerization and work. This becomes the conflict situation between conventional work culture and e-Governance system of work in the organization. The program assistance job is treated as a facilitative role in the organization which is not in the organizational structure map. The career prospect is not available for the program assistance when compared to the fellow staff in the municipal office, are eligible for a regular promotion according to their experience. So the motivation and involvement of the program assistant is very low and show less concern to promote e-Governance system in the local government. 5. Computer Infrastructure: The introduction of e-Governance is quite old in the municipality and having about 10 years but it started functioning after 2004. The municipal office has a computer room with 1 server and 2 desktop systems, printer and the program assistance in charge and no support staff for the program assistance. The Municipal Commissioner, Manager and the heads of the departments are provided with a computer in their rooms which are rarely used and mostly used by the staff assistance for letter writing and data entry. The computer availability in various departments accounts 25 which are distributed as 7 in public health, 5 in engineering, 3 in revenue, 2 in general administration, 4 in finance, 1 in town planning (during the time of survey 2008). It is not just number of computers and training

but it is very much important to note that the office space, furniture, sitting arrangements, air and ventilation and sustained power supply is important for the e-Governance to work. It is true from the sample survey that the municipal staff placed a high priority towards the improvement of the physical infrastructure of the office which is lacking very much in the office. A part from the computer the observation of the content of the web site could be stated as informative and not interactive yet. The users can access to information flagged in the site and some cases the information is down loadable and not fill in and mail it again format. The information is not updated periodically and there is common information such as building rules, forms for various uses, profile of the town, infrastructure availability etc. 6. Leaders with vision: To put e-Governance on to the agenda and make it happen is in the hands of the leader. As per e-Governance at the state level the leadership and vision is very clear and also seen from the target set for the next 15 years. The state of Tamil Nadu ranks first in the country in terms of e-Governance according to a National survey 2008-09 (The Times of India 10-12-2008, Chennai Edition). But the situation is different in the local government side. Even though the municipal readers are given training on e-Governance it seems that they are not effective and demanding in terms of put e-Governance in to practice. They are also state the municipal staffs are not cooperative and show interest in the adaptation of new technology in their day to day work. It is also evident from the municipal staff survey that the leadership is highly important in terms of e-Governance to work.

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

The above finding of e-Readiness from the point of the state government policy and legal system only but, the organizational management, infrastructure position, users awareness express the fact that the Municipality still lacking in terms of the e-Readiness assessment factors.

SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENATIONS Good Governance (Government System) and effective and efficient physical plans (Planning System) are the two sides of the same coin to value the sustainable development of cities and towns. Physical Planning is an instrument for social, economic and environmental development. At the same time the Good Governance is the process in which the social, economic, political and environmental development is carried out. Periodic change is noticed in India on the approaches to physical planning since independence. They are sector plans to town plans, city plans to city and region plans on one hand and the other hand the land use plan to corporate plan, corporate plan to business plan and business plan to city development plans along with master plans for the city and region. However, there is also evident that the change in the government system of the town and city administration and management. In this juncture it is important to note that there is also change required in two areas. (1) Planning Support Services (PSS) such as information (spatial and non-spatial data), communication system, and technology including the Geographic Information System. (2) Government Support System (GSS) such as new policy and institutional framework, administrative restructure, manpower training, computer and internet use, overall work environment and quality leadership. It is a good beginning in many of Indian urban local governments to start open up the municipal website and proudly states that e-Governance at urban municipal development in practice. But in reality

16

it is a long way to go to state that e-Governance is at Board in the process of government reform. The e-Governance input to physical planning of cities and towns are essential for sustainable urban development. The Municipal e-Governance to function there is a large amount of External Support (ES) and Internal Support (IS) is essential for organisations (Mohamed Abdulrazak, 2008). Both external support and internal support (ESIS) is viewed as Proactive Approach towards improving eGovernance system in urban municipalities. The external support such as: a.

Technology: the municipality is as individual organisation as well as a group of municipalities in the region as collective in terms of sharing services such as water use, solid and liquid waste disposal system in the regional level. i. Website improvement: Municipal websites should have (a) a clear purpose, (b) should be organized in a manner that gives proper meaning to the citizens that what information and the purpose in which is useful, (c) website design should reflect the needs of users, rather than a government’s organizational structure or the format of communication, (d) should make clear which level of government is responsible for particular services or information, and (e) provide links to senior governments when relevant. ii. Collective e-Service: Municipalities should ensure existing components are effectively developed before adding features and e-services. This is basic “walk before you run” advice, but appears necessary. In the rush to take advantage of technological opportunities, the ultimate purpose of the municipal website can be lost. To avoid this situation, it is suggested

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

that municipal websites first improve upon the information aspects of their websites – organized effectively, the information presented match citizen demand, and user-friendly. When developing e-Services, municipalities in the local region should work collectively to seek out economies of scale. e-Services are expensive to develop, and the costs may be prohibitive for a single municipality. However, it is possible that municipalities could work together to find economies of scale in implementing certain e-Services. It could include water supply and distribution, waste collection and disposal/ reuse. b. Human resource: human resource development as appropriate and skilled staff in the organisation as well as time bound knowledge updating to practice the new methods and approaches in work. c. e-Governance auditing: this is mainly the performance appraisal of the staff and organisation by the third part assessment of the e-Governance capabilities and its development These are some of the important suggested areas of concern towards the external support for the Municipality. Further, it is also essential for the organization to focus on improvement in the internal support: a. Change in the organizational structure: The inclusion of Computer Dept. as a part of Organizational structure with sufficient number of staff according to the size of Municipality and also ensuring the career advancement. b. Leadership Training: It is essential on creating strong sensitivity towards egovernance system among leaders and not just giving mere computer knowledge. The required knowledge for the staff includes

technical aspects, non-technical aspects of e-Governance, legal and policy aspects of e-Governance, organisational and administrative aspects of e-Governance etc. c. Create subjective understanding: It is pre-condition to make the municipal staff that e-Governance is not just use of computer and data entry it is beyond, which means it is crucial to import “e-Governance ethics” among the staff. More than giving Technology support skill staff preparedness should be the focus in training as a part of capacity building. d. Quality organisational physical environment: physical work environment could be improved in terms of creating more office space for office staff and the visitors, good furniture, light and ventilation facilities, parking space, public convenience etc. e. e-Governance monitoring: Municipality could create Internal e-Governance monitoring system in which the leader should play an important role to have annual review of the departments and its quality of work. f. e-Governance campaigns: Municipality could work with NGO’s, local schools to promote Public Awareness by organizing eGovernance Campaigns at neighborhood level for the “community preparedness”. The above suggestion are made to keep up e-Readiness in the municipality and importance of e-Governance in the light of (a) the future of Tamil Nadu Govt. efforts in making secondary cities towards ICT development as well as (b) the Tambaram Municipality to be a proposed Corporation from 2011.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The future research areas in terms of e-Governance it is essential to study and understand first of all the status of e-Governance at various levels in

17

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

India. To start with the e-governance system as G2G, G2C, C2C, C2G etc and to assess according to Howard and Lau (2001) four stages. The reengineering of organizational processes within the line of Heeks six basic questions on the e-Readiness at the state and local level governments is another important area of research required in India to improve the effective manpower and e-Governance system success. The political processes and e-Governance in India is yet another important area of concern since the politically powered governments freezing democratic principles even at the local government levels. Even though, the local municipality is responsible for providing better quality of life to its inhabitants with welfare motives rather than with political interest. Citizen awareness towards e-Governance is the crucial area of research in India while the social, economic, geographic and cultural divide of the people is so prominent. The diversity of people’s needs and preference really matters in terms of the success of the e-Governance system. Only, when people learn, understand, access, practice and benefit while using the new technology, there could be change, development and success. Research is essential in the area of staff skill upgradation in the sense capacity building. Before draw lines of training needs in general there is also important to note the individual capabilities and motivation towards learning is very important and essential in terms of following responsibility and accountability in delivering the work.

CONCLUSION The 2010 United Nations e-Government Survey: Leveraging e-Government at a time of financial and economic crisis was completed in December 2009 and launched in early 2010. The report presented various roles for e-Government in addressing the ongoing world financial and economic crisis. The public trust that is gained through

18

transparency can be further enhanced through the free sharing of government data based on open standards. The ability of e-Government to handle speed and complexity can also underpin regulatory reform. While technology is no substitute for good policy, it may give citizens the power to question the actions of regulators and bring systemic issues to the fore. Similarly, e-Government can add ability to public service delivery to help governments respond to an expanded set of demands even as revenues fall short. Since the last edition of the survey, in 2008, governments have made great strides in development of online services, especially in middleincome countries. The costs associated with telecommunication infrastructure and human capital continues to impede e-Government development. However, effective strategies and legal frameworks can compensate significantly, even in least developed countries. Those who are able to harness the potential of expanded broadband access in developed regions and mobile cellular networks in developing countries to advance the UN development agenda have much to gain going forward. Kunstelj M and Dečman M (2005) the development of e-Government as a modern state management also includes local government as a part of public administration. The advantages of using IT within business processes have long been recognized in the private and public sectors, in the latter of which they have become increasingly notable through the growing participation of the citizens in the information society and their awareness and competence to use IT. Kunstelj M and Dečman M (2005) the situation is most unsatisfactory as regards public services. According to the European Commission’s four-stage model for the evaluation of electronic services development, most Slovenian municipalities (72%) attain the zero level of e-service development, supplying no information about theirs administrative services whatsoever on their websites.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

Meijer, A., Burger, N. and Ebbers, W. (2009), many important forms of public participation take place in interactions between citizens. Studying these interactions is crucial for understanding eGovernance, defined as steering in the public domain. Defined in a sociological way the changing role of the user takes up centre stage. Particularly the growing importance of user generated content and social networking (Pasco et al, 2007) is key features of Web 2.0 and these features are extremely useful for supporting interactions between citizens. Government agencies find it difficult to attract citizens to their websites and participate in discussions on political issues whereas political content swarms well-known websites such as YouTube and Face book. Citizens seem to be interested in the public sphere but discuss issues in digital places that they are familiar with rather than visit government websites (Calenda & Meijer, 2009). Despite of the enormous efforts of the public organizations in the State of Kuwait to apply e-Services and the promotion of e-Government were frequently on the political agenda, the information environment within these organizations is not adequate for applying the e-Government. The overall e-Readiness of the public organizations for applying e-Government is only 54%. Ninety percent of the public organizations have adopted ambitious plans to deliver their e-Services within the 10 coming years, while others have seen a more unstructured development. The important aspects in terms of e-Readiness (preparedness) such as (1) Internet Infrastructure: (a) The contents of the web site, (b) the extent and the level of information, (c) language used, (d) usability of the information by the public, (e) the nature of information in terms of down loadable/interactive in terms of users, and (f) time (in terms of year) and scale (in terms of area) of information (2) Human resource in Municipal Organization: (a) availability of technical staff, (b) availability of computers, (c) availability of system support staff (d) availability of space and office infrastructure, (e) operational method, (f)

training and skill development of staff as in service and external means, (g) work culture before and after introduction of e-Governance, and (h) leadership. It may be appropriate to conclude that, Lack of e-Readiness contributes to both lack of and failure of e-Governance initiatives (Heeks. R, 2001). From the analysis of the secondary information and the sample survey conducted in the municipality the following are the answer to the six key questions stated according to Heeks to assess the e-Readiness of the Tambaram Municipality •

•

• •

• •

Management system records and work processes in place to provide the quality and quantity of data to support e-Governance -Preparation stage Laws and regulations required to permit and to support the move to e-governance in place - YES Institutional support exists for facilitation of e-Governance – NO Attitude, knowledge and skill in place in terms of the organization – NO including the Leader Computers infrastructure – Good Beginning Leaders with vision to put e-Governance on to the agenda and make it happen - NO

In terms of the sustainable urban development, successful e-Governance system is very much essential and pre-requisite. The target population should be (a) the general public (in terms of awareness) and (b) the municipal staff (in terms of change in the mind set and attitudes) from the higher and middle level of the municipal towns. Good governance with governance support services and efficient and effective physical planning with planning support services become essential for urban development. e-Governance could play a vital role in terms of making appropriate change in the organization as the e-Readiness in place including creating public awareness to move the

19

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

e-Governance work towards sustainable urban development.

REFERENCES Calenda, D., & Meijer, A. (2009). (to be published). ‘Young people, the Internet and Political Participation: Findings of a web survey in Italy, Spain and The Netherlands’. Information Communication and Society. Finger M. (2007) EPFL Model of e-Governance, Presentation during Ist Module of Executive Master in e-Governance, EPFL, Lausanne,12/13 November. Government of India. (2001). Report of the Working Group on Convergence and E-Governance for The Tenth Five Year Plan(2002-2007). Planning Commission Government of India. Government of Tamil Nadu (2008) Policy note on Administration of Urban Local bodies – Corporations, Municipalities, Town Panchayats and water supply demand no. 34, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Chennai. Hanafizadeh, M. R., Saghaer, A., & Hanafizadeh, P. (2009). An Index for cross-country analysis of ICT Infrastructure Access. Telecommunications Policy, 33(Issue 7), 385–405. doi:10.1016/j. telpol.2009.03.008 Heeks, R. (2001a). Building e-Governance for Development, i-Government paper no.12. UK: . Heeks. R (2001) Understanding e-Governance for Development, Paper No.11, Institute for development policy and management, University of Manchester, UK. Howard, M. (2001). E-government across the globe: How Will “e” Change Government? Government finance. RE:view, 17(4), 6–9.

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Jin & Chengyu. (2002) Jin, J., & Chengyu, X. (2002). The digital divide in terms of national informatization quotient (NIQ): The perspective of mainland China. In Proceedings of the international conference on digital divides: technology and politics in the information age, Hong Kong, Baptist University, Hong Kong, SAR, China. Kettl, D. F. (2002). The Transformation of Governance. John Hopkins University Press. Kunstelj, M., & Dečman, M. (2005). “Current State of e-Government in Slovenian Municipalities” The Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 3(Issue 3), 117–128. Lau, E. (2001). Online government: A Surfer’s Guide. Organization for Economic Development, 224, 46–47. Liang, G. (2006). Under The “Golden Shine”: China’s Efforts to Bridge Government and Citizens, Centre for Social Development. Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Meijer, A., Burger, N., & Ebbers, W. (2009). “Citizens4Citizens: Mapping Participatory Practices on the Internet.” Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 7(Issue 1), 99–112. Mohamed, A. (2008) Urban municipal e-governance: E-readiness and Awareness- A Case study of Tamil Nadu, India, Unpublished Master Thesis, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. Rahul De’. (2006). The Impact of Indian EGovernment Initiatives: Issues of Poverty and Vulnerability Reduction, and Conflict. India: Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. Sassen. S. (2006) Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages, Princeton, Princeton University Press. Sharma. P. (2004) E-Governance: The New Age Governance, APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. (2009) Ereadiness Ranking 2009 The Usage Imperative. Economist. Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Warkentin, M., & Chung, H. M. (2002). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (2007). Wilbursmith Consultancies. Chennai, India: City Corporate Cum Business Plan for Tambaram. Williams, R. (1996). The Social Shaping of Information and Communication Technologies [online]. Edinburgh: Research Centre for Social Sciences. World Bank Group. (2007). e-Government. Retrieved 12/11/2006. Zaied, A. N. H., Khairalla, F. A., & Al-Rashid, W. (2007). “Assessing e-Readiness in the Arab Countries: Perceptions towards ICT Environment in Public Organizations in the State of Kuwait” The Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 5(Issue 1), 77–86.

ADDITIONAL READING Center for International Development, Harvard University. (2001-2; 2002-3). Global Information Technology Report; Readiness for the Networked World (2001-2002; and 2002-2003) Online. (http:// www.weforum.org/gitr)

Computer Systems Policy Projects. “The CSPP Readiness Guide for Living in the Networked World”. Online. http://www.cspp.org/projects/ readiness/ Davidrajuh, R. (2005). Measuring and improving e-readiness of Norway. Paper presented at the 2004 International Business Information Management Conference, Amman, Jordan. Department of Information Technology. (2005). India: e-Readiness assessment report 2004. Retrieved May 9, 2006, from http://www.mit.gov. in/ereadiness/index.asp Downey R. and Berdahl L. (2001) e-Municipalities in Western Canada, Canada West Foundation Economist Intelligence Unit (2003). “The 2003 e-Readiness Rankings”. Online. Economist Intelligence Unit. (2004). “Scandinavia consolidates lead in Fifth Annual Economist Intelligence Unit e-Readiness Rankings”, Press Release, April 16, 2004. Online. http://www. store.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=pr_story&press_ id=1260000726 Fengchun, Y. (2006). The Status of Vulnerable Groups in the Chinese e-Government Construction. Beijing, China: Academy of e-Government, School of the Government Peking University. Finger M. (2007) From Governance to e-Governance – Presentation during Ist Module of Executive Master in e-Governance, EPFL, Lausanne 12/13 November

Choucri, N. Maugis, V. Madnick, S. Siegel, M (2003) Global e-Readiness - for What? Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

GeoSINC (2002) e-Readiness Guide how to develop and implement - a National e-Readiness action plan in developing countries.

Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP). (1998) Community Assessment Guide, http://www.connectedcommunities.net/assessmet_guide.htm

Kettl, D. F. (2002). The Transformation of Governance. John Hopkins University Press.

Self-Assessment Tool. http://www.cspp.org/ projects/readiness/23ques.htm

Kumar Praveen, K. (2008) Online Public Interface to Boost Tamil Nadu’s e-Governance record, The Times of India, Chennai Edition, 10th December.

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E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

McConnell International Consulting. (2000), ‘Risk e-Business, Seizing the Opportunity of Global e-Readiness’, Research Report in collaboration with World Information Technology and Service Alliance. www.mcconnellinternational.com. Michael, B. (2006): Customer-centric, citizen centric. Should Government learn directly from business? Think Paper 2 ECOTECH, Belgium. Michel, H. (2005). e-Administration, e-Government, e-Governance and the Learning City: A typology of Citizenship management using ICTs. Volume 3 Issue 4, pp 213-218, Electronic Journal of e-Government, [cited July 15 2006]. www. ejeg.com Rizk Nagla (2002) e-Readiness Assessment of small and medium Enterprises in Egypt, The American University in [email protected] Rao, M. (2003). Checklist for national e-Readiness. International Trade Forum, 3, 10–13. Reggie, D. (2007). Towards Measuring True eReadiness of a Third- World Country: A Case Study on Sri Lanka. Norway: University of Stavanger. Sassen, S. (2006). Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Sharma, S. K., & Soliman, K. (2003). Digital divide and e-Government implementation. Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Global Information Technology Management World Conference, Calgary, Canada. Sharma. P. (2004) e-Governance: The New Age Governance, APH Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. (2006). Singh Parminder. India: Roadmap for Process Re-Engineering for Extending e-Governance to the Disadvantaged.

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The Economist and IBM Corporation. (2004) The 2004 e-Readiness ranking, A white paper from the Economist Intelligence Unit, London. Thomas, R. (2003) e-Government vs. e-Governance: examining the differences in a changing public sector climate, Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance, Canada Times of India. (2008) Time to e-Govern – fast track digitization projects to boost crisis hit IT, editorial page, 12th December. Tung, B., Siva, S., & Ina, S. (2003). A framework for measuring national e-readiness. International Journal of Electronic Business, 1(1), 2003. World Bank. (2002). Knowledge assessment matrix. Retrieved May 9, 2006, from http://www1. worldbank.org/gdlnscripts/programs/kam2002/ kamscript.exe/show_page World Economic Forum in Collaboration with the Centre for International Development (CID) of Harvard University. (2002) Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World, Abstract at http://www.cid. harvard.edu/ciditg/gitrr/ World Information Technology and Services Alliance. (2000) International Survey of e-Commerce, 2000, http://www.witsa.org/papers/EcomSurv. pdf.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS E-Governance: The ways and means of government and organization function using modern information and communication technology such as internet, computers mobile phones to deliver services faster, easier and cheaper to its people and customers. E-Readiness: It is the preparedness such as legal, technology, human skill support of the government and organizations towards using modern

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

information and communication technology to run the e-governance system. Governance: The ways and mean in which the government and organizations at the macro and micro level function within a given structure, established institutional framework, administrative set up towards achieving good quality of life of the people. Government: Group of elected representatives belongs to political party/parties win over the general elections could be at the national, state and local level come into the power to run the legal, judiciary, administrative aspects the country towards social and economic development of the people. ICT: Information and communication technology driven by skilled man power, computers, internet and mobile phones used to deliver civic and social services and facilities to people by the public sector as well as private sector agencies. Local Government: It is the third level of government in India which consist of corporation in cities, municipalities in towns and panchyats in villages are considered as local governments under decentralize system of government with the support of 73 and 74 Constitutional Amendment Act of India. Municipality: A town level organization comprised of the elected representatives and appointed

state government staff to look after the civic and social functions of the area and plan and deliver service to the people inhabited in the area. It is a local government work with the direction of the state government. Organization: OOffice of the govt. or private agency where personals are recruited as per the set regulation and established for delivering service to members of the society towards achieving common organizational goals. Physical Planning: Human settlement plans prepared by the local government which denotes the various uses of land in the urban and rural administrative areas with appropriate colours to permit development related to housing, transportation network, industrial locations, trade and commercial areas, recreational areas, open spaces, water bodies, forest areas and agricultural lands. Urban Development: Growth of urban settlements in terms of its physical area expansion, social and economic improvement of the people, political participation and environmental improvement of the area of town towards a better quality of life of the people by the city governments in a state. Urban: Human settlements with more than 5,000 population where more than 75 per cent of the population engaged in non-agriculture work.

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Chapter 2

Municipal Mobile SMS Services: An E-Government Initiative of the Municipality of La Paz, Bolivia Rodolfo Castillo López Asesoramiento Empresarial S.A., Bolivia

ABSTRACT The Municipality of La Paz (MLP) has been a pioneer municipal institution in applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for its benefit and the benefit of La Paz’s citizens in the last 10 years. In 2009 the Government of the Municipality of La Paz (GMLP) developed a new Master Plan, with the objective to further improve its management and to further reduce bureaucracy and corruption. This Plan consisted of several elements, one of them related to ICT, was the introduction of 18 new Web Services of which 9 are Web Geographical Services and 9 are Mobile Short Message System (SMS) Services. This Chapter presents how the MLP developed into a modern and efficient institution while providing services and information to its citizens through these e-Government initiatives and ultimately through the use of mobile phones using SMS. Municipalities and governments in general that are applying mobile services and information are now called “Mobile Governments” or “M-Governments”.

INTRODUCTION The Municipality of La Paz (MLP) has been a pioneer municipal institution in applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for its benefit and the benefit of La Paz’s citizens in DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch002

the last 10 years. Its Mayor, Dr. Juan del Granado Cosio has been in office precisely 10 years and has provided constant leadership and support to all initiatives that lead to transform the municipality into a modern and efficient institution. Municipal ICT services are currently under the responsibility of the Organizational Development and Information and Communications Technologies Direction

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Municipal Mobile SMS Services

(DDOTI). Its actual Director, Luis Sergio Valle S., has been an important contributor for the content and general information utilized in this Chapter. It is well known that ICT services provide several benefits such as increasing the flow, dissemination and processes of information while creating value and knowledge for all: governments, business and citizens. Governments have used ICT in several stages: in the 70’s ICT helped the “systematization” of the public administration processes such as accounting, payroll, inventory, tax systems and others (Systems stage); in the 90’s ICT helped the development of the Web portals in the Internet, which contained ample and updated information (e-Government stage) and in the 2000’s ICT helped the introduction of interactive services such as e-payments, e-bidding participation, e-education, e-commerce, e-health, e-voting and others (Information Society stage). ICT also enable governments to be more efficient and transparent, however to do so requires restructuring the administration and delivery of public services by investing in human resources at all levels as well as in information and communications systems. Early in 2008, the Government of the Municipality of La Paz’s (GMLP) carried out a survey to assess the perception of the citizens of La Paz with regards to the delivery of its services. The results of this survey showed that: (i) construction permits, tax payments and cadastral services were perceived as non efficient, (ii) more information and “socialization” of the entire municipal services platform was needed and (iii) bureaucracy and corruption levels, although greatly reduced, were still relatively important and generalized. Furthermore, the survey also revealed that only 9% of the citizens of La Paz know and has accessed the municipal Web page www.lapaz.bo (GMLP, 2008) either through private Internet or through public Internet facilities such as “Internet Coffees” (estimated to be over 5,000 in the metropolitan area of La Paz).

On the other hand, 84% of the citizens of La Paz have mobile phones, mostly with SMS services (GMLP, 2008). Based on these facts, the DDOTI developed a Master Plan for the year 2009, with the objective to improve the efficiency of the municipality and to present better information about the entire services platform while further reducing bureaucracy and corruption. The Master Plan considered the introduction of 16 new Web Services on top of the 7 existing Web services. Of the 16 new Web services 9 are Web Geographical Services and 9 are Mobile SMS Services as seen in Table 1. The Mobile Services introduction constitute the first instance of the GMLP towards a “Mobile Government” or “M-Government” that extends the benefits of remote delivery of government services and information to those unable or unwilling to access the Internet, at a lower cost and ease of use, as mentioned in a World Bank Background Note (World Bank). The existing Web services and the new Web Geographical Services and the new Mobile SMS services are presented in Table 1 (DDOIT, 2009). Municipal services trough Web pages are not new and have been used worldwide for many years, whereas Mobile SMS services have been introduced in the last few years. Some examples of municipal mobile SMS services can be seen under the Literature Review section. Consequently, the GMLP has shown leadership and is in line with the process of making available the above mentioned e-services through mobile phones, so that many more citizens, mostly from low to medium incomes, will have access to them at a reduced cost. Mobile SMS services are emerging as the new ICT tools for the following reasons: (i) they reach more people as there are more mobile phones than Internet access points, (ii) they reach more distant places including rural areas, (iii) they are less costly to operate than Internet, (iv) they are easier to operate and learn than PC’s and the Internet, (v) they can be used for payments and other financial interactive services and (vi) they can be upgraded

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Municipal Mobile SMS Services

Table 1. Web Services

Web Geographical Services

Mobile SMS Services

Contracts Bidding Information

Map of La Paz: streets, schools, hospitals, etc.

1. Contracts Bidding Information

General Cemetery Obituary Certification

Aerial Photography for Planning & Cadastral Information

2. Property Tax Information

Tax & Patent Information for Street Vendors

Photogrammetric Zoning and basic services (2006)

3. Tax & Patent Information for Street Vendors

Google Map of Rural La Paz

4. Interdepartmental Bus Transport Information

City Bus Transport Routes

Google Map of La Paz

5. City Bus Transport Routes

Job Exchange Registration & Information Services

Public Investment Map

Information for Children’s Activities

Subscription to Municipal Information Services

Territorial Services Map (ArcGIS software)

7. Emergency & Municipal Telephone Directory

Contour Map of La Paz

8. Municipal Cultural Agenda

KML Google Map of La Paz

9. Vehicle Tax Information

and take advantage of technological advancements with relatively low cost (World Bank). Thus, the objective of this chapter is to describe how the GMLP is providing Web services to those citizens that have access to Internet and how is introducing new services to a larger portion of those citizens that have mobile phones. The Chapter will include background information about the GMLP´s efforts to be less bureaucratic, more transparent and efficient through the use of e-Government initiatives and e-Governance. It will also include a description of the information systems and the technological platform required to provide these municipal services.

BACKGROUND The MLP is the third largest municipality in Bolivia in terms of population with 840,000 inhabitants. With the adjacent Municipality of El Alto, they constitute the largest metropolitan area in Bolivia with 1.7 million inhabitants. The MLP has an area of about 2,012 km2 as it comprises also three rural sectors. The City of La Paz is the Capital of the Department of La Paz and is also the residence

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6. Municipal Processes Follow Up

of the Executive and the Legislative Branches of the National Government (contrary to popular knowledge the official Capital of Bolivia is the City of Sucre). The population growth of the MLP is estimated at a low 0.8% annually (between 2001 and 2008) versus 3.0% for Bolivia. Based on the 2001 Census, 33.1% of its population is less than 14 years old while only 4.4% is over 65 years old. The Poverty Index of the MLP is 34.5% much less than Bolivia’s 58.6% while the Human Development Index is 0.730 versus 0.669 respectively. The same Census shows that 92% of the homes of the MLP had running water, 81% had sanitary services and 95% had electricity (INE, 2010, 2001 data). Needless to say Bolivia remains as one of Latin America’s countries with the highest Poverty Index and the lowest Human Development Index. ICT initiatives can help improve these Indexes. The GMLP provides five municipal services through decentralized and efficient entities that are: a bus terminal which handles 65 bus companies, a slaughter house, a zoo with over 500 animals of 74 different species, 25 public bathrooms located in high traffic sites and the general and most traditional cemetery. Other municipal

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

services are provided by EMAVERDE which handles construction and maintenance of green areas and parks, and by EMAVIAS which handles construction and maintenance of roads and streets (GMLP, 2010, pp. 501-506). The MLP is also partner with the Municipality of El Alto of EPSAS that provides water, sanitary services and garbage collection and disposal. The GMLP has under its responsibility the maintenance of 369 educational units that operate in 205 establishments out of which 73 have been built in the last 10 years. In the same period the GMLP has delivered 1,000 computers, 50 printers, 50 scanners and 50 networks to 57 educational establishments under a special ICT program, partially funded with MICROSOFT. The GMLP has also under its responsibility the maintenance of 75 health establishments, consisting of hospitals and health centers of different categories, out of which 26 have been built in the last 10 years (GMLP, 2010, pp. 403-412). As described in the Web page www.lapaz.bo/ Transparencia, in 2000 the new elected Mayor Dr. Juan Del Granado Cosio started a comprehensive ethical, institutional and financial program for governance and democratic stability and to combat corruption and bureaucracy. This program, called Municipal Development Plan 2000-2005, was defined after a series of meetings and consultations that involved over 500 neighborhood workshops with almost 14,000 participants. The program called for 7 strategic alignments: 1. A productive and competitive municipality 2. An inhabitable municipality 3. A solidary, equitable and affective municipality 4. An intercultural with tangible, intangible and natural patrimony municipality 5. A solvent, decentralized, transparent, participative and corruption free municipality 6. A gender equitable municipality 7. An integrator and metropolitan municipality (GMLP 2010, 99)

Several actions were taken towards the attainment of these strategic alignments, that later were complemented in the second Municipal Development Plan of 2007-2011 (GMLP, 2009, p. 13). The main actions taken towards compliance of alignments 1 and 5 are the following: Less bureaucracy. The GMLP carried out several projects to increase the productivity and efficiency of the municipality in delivering services. One of these projects called “Municipal Scorecard” stared in 2004 as an IFC pilot project. This project is a benchmark tool that compares municipal efficiency and processes that affect the development of the private sector, in terms of business climate, investment facilities and job creation, while identifying best practices. Specifically this project examines the municipal procedures in obtaining a Business License and a Construction Permit. As a result of this project almost all municipal processes were streamlined to fewer steps thus reducing bureaucracy significantly. This pilot project was so successful that the IFC expanded it to 8 countries and over 30 municipalities (IFC). New cadastral platform. A new cadastral platform was gradually introduced that combined GPS systems that greatly improved and expanded data collection and consequently municipal taxes. As a result municipal taxes increased 64% in the last 10 years (GMLP, 2009, p. 509). e-Government initiatives. Several e-Government initiatives were introduced, such as the above mentioned streamlining process, paperless systems in various departments, data warehousing to integrate data bases, electronic purchases and investments to improve efficiency and transparency, municipal Web page and other municipal information services. Transparent bidding of goods and services. New rules and regulations were introduced pertaining bidding and contracting of goods and services on line with excellent results. In 2004, all these initiatives and others were “institutionalized” in a special Transparency Unit,

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Municipal Mobile SMS Services

created to permanently fight bad practices in the municipal administration and to provide better and more transparent public services under the caption: “ZERO TOLERANCE TO CORRUPTIÓN” as can be seen in www.lapaz.bo/transparencia. The overall objective of the Transparency Unit is to prevent corruption in the GMLP by facilitating access to municipal information to its citizens and developing follow up actions about administrative procedures and services while monitoring municipal employees, as well as consolidating the institutional image of the Municipality as a trustworthy and transparent public entity. To achieve the overall objective of higher transparency and better public access to information, the GMLP developed the following e-tools: •

•

•

•

•

Web pagewww.lapaz.bo. This page includes several items such as: Procedures Manual, Annual Purchasing Program, Biddings and Expressions of Interest, Information about structural projects, Labor Market and others. This page and its content are continuously updated. Municipal Rules and Regulations since 1969. This site, within the Web page is also continuously updated. Municipal News. News about Municipal activities and projects in “Good News for La Paz”. Municipal News are also transmitted in different media such as TV and radio. Direct contact with the Mayor. An email box for direct contact with the Mayor that has shown good results. Complaints and accusations box. An email address for complaints and accusations which is [email protected]

The main Web pages of the MLP and of the Transparency Unit are the most used and popular ICT tools for municipal servants, citizens as well as business. Municipal servants can find several links that deal with the rules and regulations of

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the MLP as mentioned, a glossary of terms used for transparency issues as well as several other sites of interest. Citizens and business can find information about municipal projects, procedures manuals, news about municipal activities, simple forms to request information, to place complaints, or to denounce corruption among others. Information systems. The GMLP has developed 46 data bases and 43 information systems, of which 7 are called strategic and decision making systems, 20 are called administrative systems and 16 are called operative support systems. A brief description of the principal systems related to the efficiency and transparency of the GMLP follows (GMLP, 2009, pp. 91-93): •

•

•

•

SIGMA (Integrated Management and Modern Administration System). This system integrates budget, accounting, treasury, public credit, purchases and contracts, and provides information to the public about municipal purchases and contracts. SIGMA was developed by the Finance Ministry and is utilized by most public and decentralized institutions (Mobile SMS Service 1.). SITR@M (Municipal Processes System). This system tracks down all municipal processes and provides information to the public about where are they located and at what stage they are in (Mobile SMS Service 6.). GENESIS System. This system is designed to administer the non tax income of the GMLP, which consists of fines, interests, patents and others. To facilitate the collection of these non tax incomes, 6 financial institutions such as banks and savings and loans, with over 100 agencies have been designated for this purpose (Mobile SMS Service 3.). SIT (Territorial Information System). This system provides GPS referenced information about City Maps, Photogrammetric

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

•

•

Zoning and basic services as described in the Web Geographical Services column of the Introduction Table. SIM (Electronic Monitoring and Municipal Investment Information System). This system provides timely and complete information about all municipal investments in public works and services. RUAT (Unique Registry of the Municipal Tributary Administration). This system designs, develops and administers transactional systems for municipal tributes, particularly Property and Vehicles tributes (Mobile SMS Services 2. and 9.). RUAT was developed by an association of municipalities and provides excellent services in the main municipalities of Bolivia. RUAT has also developed a Mobile SMS system, which can be accessed from any mobile all over the country regardless of the ISP. In fact the Mobile SMS system of the MLP utilizes RUAT’s data base.

Technological platform. The technological platform that supports all municipal ICT undertakings, internal as well as external, can be described as one of the most robust, scalable and sustainable platforms of Bolivia’s public administration. The network consists of 66.38 km of independent fiber optic cable that connects 56 buildings, with 2,319 network nodes. The Data Center is comprised of 57 servers and 23 virtual servers, all of them duly identified and maintained according to international standards (EIA 568B, EIA 569, EIA 06A and ITIL Norms). The Data Center is supported by a 47 Kva UPS and a generator that can provide energy up to 24 hours in case of emergencies (Valle). In terms of computers, at the end of 2009, the GMLP had a stock of 2,187 computers in use of which 72 were portables while in terms of telephony the GMLP had a stock of 1,743 IP telephones (GMLP, 2009, pp. 97,108). Software licenses are maintained with strategic alliances with MICROSOFT and ORACLE.

MUNICIPAL MOBILE SMS SERVICES The Web page www.ci-lapaz.gov.bo/ES/servicios/ Paginas/Serviciosmoviles.aspx describes the nine municipal mobile SMS services in terms of their relationship with the main Web Services page (also listed in the Mobile SMS Services column of the Introduction Table). Information about similar municipal mobile SMS services is presented in the Literature Review section. The cost of each SMS is Bs1.00 or US$0.14 that compares very favorably with SMS costs of other evaluated municipalities. This cost, if compared to the time and effort that each citizen must spend by going to the municipality and “stand in line” to find out information about taxes, different processes or inquiries, is entirely justified. In general, all nine mobile SMS services can be accessed by following five steps in any mobile phone: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Get the mobile phone menu Choose “text message” or “SMS” Choose “New SMS” Write the “service needed” with the respective information as described below 5. Send to “2650” At the present time only one Internet Service Provider (ISP), which is VIVA, has signed an SMS agreement with the GMLP, therefore only subscribers of this ISP can use the new mobile services. VIVA has about 28% of the mobile phones market of Bolivia, while ENTEL Móvil (a state owned company) and TIGO have 40% and 32% respectively. In terms of mobile phones, La Paz has over 29% of the mobile phones of Bolivia or about 1.9 million units (Nueva Economía). Preliminary results, at this early stage of introduction, show little utilization of the new mobile SMS services. The principal reason for the low use seems to be a matter of inadequate promotion and marketing by part of the GMLP, as well as the mentioned SMS agreement with only one ISP.

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Municipal Mobile SMS Services

The GMLP expects to overcome these difficulties and sign SMS agreements with the other two ISPs in the near future. A brief description of the 9 municipal mobile SMS services follows: •

•

•

•

30

Contracts Bidding Information. This “service” utilizes the format: “CON; UNIQUE PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE; ITEM CONSULTATION NUMBER” for above step 4 and provides information about the status of the public contract in question. This information can be in the form of “granted, pending or cancelled”. If the information is “granted” the name of the bidder is provided. It is estimated that there are about 1,000 contracts and services bidding processes at any time and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them (DDOTI, 2010). In the last 10 years the GMLP handled 22,729 bidding contracts (GMLP, 2010, p. 494). Property Tax Information. This “service” utilizes the format: “INM; PROPERTY MUNICIPAL NUMBER” for above step 4 and provides the yearly outstanding property municipal tax due for the home, department or property unit in question. There are 227,325 registered properties in the City of La Paz and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them (RUAT, 2010). Tax & Patent Information for Street Vendors. This “service” utilizes the format: “GRE; STREET VENDOR NUMBER” for above step 4 and provides the yearly tax due and patent information about the street vendor´s station number in question. It is estimated that there are about 25,000 registered street vendors in La Paz and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them (DDOTI, 2010). Interdepartmental Bus Transport Information. This “service” utilizes the

•

•

•

format: “TIN; DEPARTMENT NAME” for above step 4 and provides information about bus schedules between La Paz and other departments (states) of Bolivia. It is estimated that there are 65 bus companies that operate at the Bus Terminal and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them. City Bus Transport Routes. This “service” utilizes the format: “LIN; TRANSPORT LINE NUMBER” for above step 4 and provides routing information about the public bus line in question. It is estimated that there are about 950 public bus lines operated by 30 syndicates in La Paz and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them, as can be seen in the following site www.lapaz.bo/ES/servicios/ Paginas/Rutasdetransporte.aspx. Municipal Processes Follow Up. This “service” utilizes the format: “TRA; MUNICIPAL PROCESS NUMBER” for above step 4 and provides information about the status and whereabouts of the municipal process in question. Municipal processes can be of different nature such as property name changes, registration of new or remodeled properties, registration of new business or business license, registration of tax exempt properties, inspection and supervisory requests, tax valuations, new construction drawings approval, construction permits and others. It is estimated that there are about 5,000 municipal processes per month in La Paz and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them (DDOIT, 2010). Emergency & Municipal Telephone Directory. This “service” utilizes the format: “DIR; DIRECTORY TYPE” for above step 4 and provides emergency and all other municipal telephone numbers. It is estimated that there are over 200 emergency and municipal fix line telephone

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

•

•

numbers and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them. Municipal Cultural Agenda. This “service” utilizes the format: “AGE; TYPE OF EVENT; PLACE OF EVENT” for above step 4 and provides information about the type of cultural event such as theatre, movie, concert, etc., the place of the event and the event starting times. It is estimated that there are about six municipal cultural events per day in La Paz and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them (DDOTI, 2010). Vehicle Tax Information. This “service” utilizes the format: “VEH; LICENCE PLATE” for above step 4 and provides the yearly outstanding municipal tax due for the vehicle in question. In 2009 there were 905,870 vehicles of all types in Bolivia (INE, 2009) and this mobile SMS service provides information on all of them regardless as to whether they are registered in the MLP or elsewhere (RUAT).

LITERATURE REVIEW A Literature Review about “Municipal Mobile SMS Services” in the web pages shows about 83,500 sites, a large number indeed that proves that these ICT services are gaining importance all over the world. However, as it can be seen in the partial list of identified municipalities, the SMS services they offer are few and basically informative, except for purchasing tickets and car parking payments. It is clear that the GMLP is showing leadership and vision by providing nine mobile SMS services to its citizens. The partial list of identified municipalities and the SMS services that they offer is: •

Muskat Municipality, Oman: “Building Permits”, “Municipal License”, “Construction permission” and “Minor

•

•

•

•

•

Building Permits”. See also www.mm.gov. om/tabit/540/Default.aspx Barcelona City, Spain: “Official Procedures”. See also www.bcn.cat/mobil/ en/alertes.html Bilbao Council, Spain: “Bus lines, Schedules and Connections”. See also www.bilbao.net/nuevobilbao/jsp/ pwegb010 Brihat Mumbai Municipal Corporation, India: “Property Tax Payment”. See also www.indg.in/e-governance/mobilegovernance/ mobile-based-services Miguel Hidalgo District of Mexico City, Mexico: “Procedure or Service Conclusion Notice” and “Notice for Procedure or Service Problem”. See also www.mgovernment.org/resources/euromgov2006 Global Cities Dialogue. Members experiences with mobile services. May 2008. This link: www.inthekzone.com/pdfs/mobileservices provides information about the municipalities that participated in the Global Cities Dialogue held in Buenos Aires, Argentina: ◦◦ Buenos Aires, Argentina: “Cultural Events” and “Useful Telephone Numbers”. ◦◦ Helsinki, Finland: “Bus, Train and Metro Routes, Schedules and Timetables” ◦◦ Antwerp, Italy: “Train and Tram Tickets Payment” ◦◦ Barcelona, Spain: “Local News”, “Bus and Train Routes” and “Useful Telephone Numbers” ◦◦ Belo Horizonte, Brazil: “Local News” ◦◦ Boston, USA: “Criminal Information” ◦◦ Bremen, Germany: “Car Parking Payment” ◦◦ Buenos Aires, Argentina: “Local News” and “Cultural Events” ◦◦ Cologne, Germany: “Train Tickets Payment”

31

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

◦◦ ◦◦

◦◦ ◦◦ ◦◦

Dubai, The Emirates: “Cultural Events” and “Air Flight Information” Issy-les-Moulineaux, France: “Cultural Events” and “Weather and Pollution Information” Segrate, Italy: “Car Parking Payment” Vilnius, Lithuania: “Car Parking Payment” Wellington, New Zealand: “Car Parking Payment”

CONCLUSION The GMLP has proven to be a leader in e-Government and e-Governance initiatives among Bolivia´s public institutions. Its Mayor, Dr. Juan del Granado Cosio has been in office precisely 10 years and has provided constant leadership and support to all initiatives that lead to transform the municipality into a modern and efficient institution. The GMLP counts with a robust technological platform that provides useful, timely and transparent information and services through its Web pages www.lapaz.bov and www.lapaz.bo/transparencia. Furthermore, the GMLP is introducing nine new municipal e-services through mobile SMS, so that many more citizens, mostly from low to middle incomes, have access to them at a reduced cost (US$0.14 per SMS). Along these lines, three mobile SMS services merit special attention for the impact they could have on the population as they could provide tax and payment information to about 227,000 property owners, 905,000 vehicle owners and about 25,000 street vendors that have to pay taxes yearly without going to the municipality and “standing in line” for hours. At this early stage of introduction, preliminary results show little utilization of these new mobile SMS services. The principal reason for the low use seems to be a matter of inadequate promotion and marketing by part of the GMLP, as well as the restriction by the SMS agreement with only one ISP. It is expected that the GMLP will overcome

32

these difficulties, sign SMS agreements with the other ISPs, just as RUAT has done, and be successful in providing mobile SMS services in the near future, just as other municipalities around the globe are doing. The literature review shows precisely that municipalities increasingly are offering mobile SMS services and information of all kinds, thus becoming “M-Governments”.

REFERENCES Bremer, A. Antonio & López Prado, Lucio (2006). Municipal m-Services using SMS. Retrieved June 24, 2010 from www.mgovernment.org/resources/ euromgov2006 DDOTI. Dirección de Desarrollo Organizacional y Tecnologías de Información, Gobierno Municipal de La Paz (2009, 2010). GMLP. Gobierno Municipal of La Paz (2008). Encuesta de Percepción sobre Burocracia y Atención al Cliente. GMLP. (2009). Modelo de Gestión en: Descentralización y Gobierno Electrónico. 2000-2010 10 años de Transformación. Dirección de Desarrollo Organizacional; Dirección de Recursos Humanos. Secretaria General. GMLP. (2010). 10 años 2000 – 2010 Transformación. Juan del Granado Cosio, Alcalde Municipal de La Paz, Editorial Artes Graficas SRL. La Paz: Bolivia Abril. IFC. (2007). International Finance Corporation. World Bank Group. Municipal Scorecard 2007. Midiendo las Barreras Burocráticas a Nivel Municipal. Perú: Printed in Lima. INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2010). Retrieved June 24, 2010 from http://www.ine. gov.bo/pdf/ParqueAutomotor2009/parqueAutomoto2009.pdf (2009 data).

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

INE, Instituto Nacional de Estadística. (2010). Retrieved June 24, 2010 from http://www.ine. gov.bo/indice/visualizador.aspx?ah=PC3030201. HTM (2001 data). Nueva Economía. Balance del Sector de las Comunicaciones, March 2010 RUAT. Registro Único para la Administración Tributaria Municipal. Information provided by Customer Service, April 15, 2010. See also www. ruat.gob.bo Valle, L. S. (2010). Buenas Prácticas de Gobierno Electrónico. Gobierno Municipal de La Paz. Dirección de Desarrollo Organizacional y Tecnologías de Información (unpublished internal working paper). World Bank e-Development Thematic Group. MGovernment Conference – November 29, 2007. Background Note

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ArcGIS Mobile: Software.: Software that helps organizations deliver GIS capabilities and data from centralized servers to a range of mobile devices (www.esri.com/software/arcgis/ arcgismobile/index.html) EIA: Electronic Industries Alliance Standards. ENTEL Móvil: Mobile services provided by Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. EPSAS: Empresa Pública Social del Agua y Saneamiento. GPS: Global Positioning System through satellites ITIL: Information Technology Infrastructure Library that offers best practices framework for IT projects and processes. KML: A file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile. TIGO: Mobile services provided by Telecel S.A. a Millicom International company. VIVA: Mobile services provided by NuevaTel S.A.

33

34

Chapter 3

The Soveria.it Project:

A Best Practice of E-Government in Southern Italy Gianpaolo Iazzolino University of Calabria, Italy Rinaldo Pietrantonio George Mason University, USA

ABSTRACT This chapter describes a best practice of e-government and e-democracy implemented in Southern Italy, the Soveria.it project. The project was part of a wider strategy pursued by the local administration of Soveria Mannelli started in the early 1990s to promote the use of information and communication technology. Ultimate goal of the strategy was to turn a small and less technologically developed town into a modern fully wired information technology-city. This case is relevant not only for the change produced from a technological, bureaucratic, and social point of view, but also for some of the limits encountered. The latter demonstrate how a too heavily top-down approach can be a weakness for stimulating the growth of less developed areas and provides a possible solution for it – i.e., a better understanding of the the society’s needs and a stronger partnership with civil society and local firms. The chapter analyzes the project origins, its technological and organizational aspects, its impacts and its limits. It then summarizes the main lesson learned. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch003

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

The Soveria.it Project

We are thankful to Mario Caligiuri, Mayor of Soveria Mannelli, and his staff for the very helpful support received while collecting the materials upon which this draft is based. Any idea here expressed remains though entirely and exclusively ours as well as any mistake or lack of precision.

INTRODUCTION Started in a small town in the Calabria region, Southern Italy, the Soveria.it project was a pilot experience for e-government and e-democracy in Italy. Its importance is twofold. First, it was a forerunner among the e-government projects implemented in Italy. Second, it sheds some light on crucial issues regarding the design of economic policies for relatively economically poor and technologically less advanced areas. The chapter describes the social and economic context of Soveria Mannelli town; the main technical aspects of the Soveria.it project; its social and economic impact; and finally some of the crucial aspects of replicating a similar initiative in different areas. According to a research conducted by the Italian research institute Censis, only 26% of families living in Soveria Mannelli owned a personal computer and 11% of them had Internet access before the Soveria.it project started, in 1998 (Censis, 2003.) A few years later, in 2003, these figures were more than doubled – i.e., respectively 66.7% and 40% – while the Italian averages were 51.3% and 38%. Soveria town was then defined as the “… Comune più informatizzato d’Italia …”or (i.e.) the town most intensively using information technology in Italy. The Soveria.it project started with the aim of realizing the first example of fully Internet wired town. This meant to provide every family with connection to the Municipality public administration network via Internet. Aim of the project was thus that of transforming the technological infrastructure of the Municipality administration and imple-

menting an e-Government and e-Democracy plan. By 2000, several info-structure were built giving the population of Soveria Mannelli Internet access and information technology-oriented services free of charge: the City Center for Information Technology (i.e., the Centro Comunale di Valorizzazione Informatica) and the City Media Center (i.e., the Mediateca Comunale.) These provided on-line access to self-certification procedures for public file and documents, the municipality budget and economic plans, and the Municipality tax database. The project also allowed to create a crucial tool for e-democracy: The access to the meeting of the City Council via video conference. Soveria Mannelli was the first case in Italy, in 2003, where the City Council publicly approved the annual budget after broadcasting the session via video-conference and introducing 100 amendments proposed by the citizens connected via internet in the finally approved bill. Finally, Soveria.it delivered specific high-level training programs, web-services for job seekers and employers, and certified basic training programs for school students, teachers, public employees, retirees, and unemployed. Though under a different name the Soveria. it project is still in progress today. The pursued goals are now slightly different: To deliver the European Computer Driver License to the entire population; to maintain full connection of the Municipality public school system; to maintain the operational broadband wireless connection over the entire area of Soveria Mannelli free of charge; to implement a video-camera integrated system covering the town called SIT (i.e., “Sistema Integrato Territoriale.”) The architecture of the Soveria.it system was based on three main pillars. The technological infrastructure is the first: A local network connecting via Internet the City Council, the Municipality Administration, up to 500 families, and 7 teaching institutions. The Multimedia Center is the second, which gives access to a vast collection of cultural, historical, artistic multimedia contents, sites, and

35

The Soveria.it Project

events through a 10 video-camera system; a line given by the e-Government. The e-Democracy Portal is the third. Starting prior to many other e-government initiatives1 and making it possible, for the first time in Italy, to access the Municipality budget and the City Council’s voting sessions for the entire population. All this makes of the Soveria. it project a forerunner as case of e-government and e-democracy (Ghapanchi, Albadvi, Zarei, 2008; Titah, Barki, 2008). The implementation of the project presented several issues though. The personnel of the municipality administration demonstrated some reluctance to accept the organizational change brought about by the the new adopted technologies. At the same time, part of the population was slow in learning how to use a new way of interacting with the local public administration. These factors combined slowed the implementation of the project. This was a drawback of the project and raised a suspect: A too heavily top-down oriented initiative can, in certain way, be rejected be the population. For these reasons, the general approach of the project was later restructured in a bottom-up fashion by launching a second phase named as E-Factory Project. The second phase allowed to strengthen the focus on different groups of subjects within the population and their different necessities and capabilities to manage the Soveria.it infrastructure. Soveria.it is therefore a remarkable example of successful economic policy first promoting the use of the information and communication technologies in a small and less developed geographical area (Yildiz, 2007; Badri, Alshare, 2008) (in 1998, the GDP per capita in the Soveria Mannelli area was below the 75% of the European Union average2) and giving the population direct access to the sessions of the City Council for the annual budget. At the same time, Soveria.it is an highlighting example of how important a too heavily top-down approach and a too deficient analysis of the social context might be.

ORIGIN AND GOALS OF THE PROJECT The Context of the Project Soveria Mannelli is a small town of the Calabria region, located approximately 400 km south from Naples, Southern Italy. Its population is of about 3,511 individuals; its total surface of approximately 20 square km or 7.72 square miles.3 According to the Italian National Institute of Statistic Istat, its economy presents no particular specialization of the productive systems. The Rubbettino Editore, a publishing company operating on a national scale is the most important business in town with more than 100 employees. Next to this, a few smaller manufacturing firms can be found producing furniture, and leather- and wood-based products. The unemployment rate in the town area is higher than both, Calabria and other Italian areas – see Table 1. The economic prospects overall remain not very good. This keeps fueling the emigration of unemployed young people and accelerating thereby the rate of population aging – see Table 2. Nevertheless, the idea of sustaining the economic development of the area by promoting the use of information and communication technologies was common to Soveria Mannelli since the early 1990s. In 1991, the public administration of the Reventino’s Mountain Communities (i.e., Table 1. Unemployment rates in Italy 2008 Geographic Area

Unemployment Rate

Soveria Mannelli

12.73%

Calabria

12.65%

Northern-Western Italy

4.0%

Northern-Eastern Italy

3.4%

Middle Italy

6.1%

Southern Italy

12.0%

Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it)

36

The Soveria.it Project

Table 2. Structure of the population, January 2001 Age 0-14

Age 14-64

Age over 65

Aging Index

Nativity Rate

Mortality Rate

Soveria Mannelli

14.0%

67.0%

19.0%

134.7%

11.8%

11.5%

Calabria

17.1%

66.2%

16.7%

97.6%

9.2%

8.5%

Southern Italy

17.3%

66.9%

15.8%

91.5%

10.1%

8.4%

Italy

14.4%

67.4%

18.2%

127.1%

9.2%

9.7%

Source: Censis’ elaboration on data from National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it)

the Comunità Montana del Reventino) – Soveria Mannelli’s Municipality being member of it – funded a program to promote the use of the personal computer within its employees. In 1998, Soveria Mannelli formally adopted the use of email and newsletter to send out updates regarding the activities of the Municipality. In 2000, Soveria Mannelli started the “Mediateca 2000” project – i.e., an initiative funded by the Italian Ministry for Culture and Heritage to promote the natural and historical heritage of Soveria Mannelli town via Internet. The implementation of Soveria.it came thus after several attempts made by the Administration to sustain the economic growth of the area promoting Internet and the use of information technology. These attempts were all animated by the goal of realizing some of the so-called Information Society or (i.e.) that of transforming the society of a small and static old town of Southern Italy into a modern and dynamic social and economic center.4 The Soveria.it project started in 1998. This was possible, first of all, thanks to the intuitions and efforts of some members of the Council and the Municipality’s Administration. They believed that the use of the modern technologies of information and communication could be crucial to stimulate the economic growth of a less technologically and economically developed areas like that of Soveria Mannelli. A substantive impulse for starting the project was given by the TelCal Program – i.e., a 450M Euros ($ 610M) information technology program funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Scientific Research in the late 1990s to realize an advanced

technological network connecting all public administrations in Calabria (Del Monte, 1990.) TelCal was run by a consortium of public entities and private corporations among which there was the public administration of the Calabria Region and Telecom Italia – former government-owned Italian telecom service provider. The co-operation between the consortium and the administration of Soveria Mannelli focused on the environmental protection and the labor market networks information technology services and was critical for the Soveria Administration to have enough funding to start Soveria.it (Caligiuri, 2001). The goal of Soveria.it was fourfold. First, it aimed at introducing both, public officers and private citizens to a modern use of pc’s, Internet and other related information technologies. Second, it aimed at implementing the e-government or (i.e.) transforming the organization of the public administration making its processes more efficient by the use of the information technology and fully accessible via Internet. Third, it aimed at implementing the e-democracy or (i.e.) creating direct channels for a direct and easy communication between public administration, the Council and the population on political matters. Fourth, it targeted a free Internet society, or (i.e.) a public wireless access to Internet available for the entire population free of charge. Immediately since its inception, the project allowed a vast majority of the municipality’s officers to learn the basic uses of the personal computer for office purposes and its main Internet-tools like the e-mail. At the same time, implementing the project made it possible to realize- the Media 37

The Soveria.it Project

Table 3. Average level of Internet access in Italian regions in 2006 Connection from Home

Work

School

Friends’ Place

Other

Italian Regions’ Average

24%

12%

4%

5%

1%

Piemonte

24%

15%

5%

6%

2%

Valle d’Aosta

23%

14%

4%

5%

2%

Lombardia

27%

16%

4%

5%

1%

Trentino-Alto Adige

28%

15%

6%

5%

2%

Veneto

25%

14%

5%

6%

1%

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

25%

14%

5%

4%

1%

Liguria

23%

12%

3%

5%

1%

Emilia-Romagna

26%

17%

5%

5%

1%

Toscana

26%

15%

4%

6%

1%

Umbria

23%

14%

4%

5%

2%

Marche

26%

13%

5%

4%

1%

Lazio

29%

16%

4%

5%

2%

Abruzzo

24%

12%

4%

5%

1%

Molise

22%

11%

5%

4%

1%

Campania

18%

9%

3%

6%

1%

Puglia

17%

7%

4%

5%

1%

Basilicata

24%

8%

5%

5%

1%

→ Calabria

21%

8%

4%

5%

1%

Sicilia

18%

8%

3%

5%

1%

Sardegna

22%

10%

5%

6%

2%

→ Soveria Mannelli*

34%

5.90%

2.20%

Note: The data for Soveria Mannelli are from 2003 as data from 2006 are not available. Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www. istat.it) and Censis Centro Investimenti Sociali (www.censis.it)

Center through which Internet access was made available to all private citizens free of charge. Very shortly, the project obtained remarkable results in terms of spreading the use of Internet and personal computers. According to the National research center Censis few years after starting Soveria.it, namely in 2003, Soveria Mannelli was the town with the highest information technology density in Italy (Censis, 2003.) The level of diffusion of Internet access was significantly higher than in any other Italian region – i.e., 34% of its population had internet access, whereas the average level nationwide was 24% and the highest level for all regions was 29% in Lazio – see Table 3.

38

What makes the Soveria.it project remarkable is also that it was a successful forerunner case of e-government and e-democracy. It was one of the earliest examples of Municipality Public Administration offering to its citizenship (full) access to the discussions and vote over the municipality’s budget.

The Italian Action Plan for e-Government To put things in perspective, it could be useful to recall that the first e-Government initiatives were launched in Italy between 2000 and 2002, while

The Soveria.it Project

Soveria.it was already in progress. The Action Plan for the Information Society was approved in 2000, then followed by the e-Government Action Plan 2000-2002. Before that, the only efforts to co-ordinate and promote the use of the information and communication technology into the public administration were made by establishing the Authority for Information Technology in the Public Administration AIPA, back in 1993 – i.e., then replaced in 2003 by the Italian National Agency for Digital Administration CNIPA. In that period (about 2000) a radical process of reform profoundly modified the general frame of reference for government activities in Italy, triggering a significant change. An action plan was then outlined by the government to face various problems like (i.e.) lack of integration, or uniformity of purpose, and a shared vision regarding the use of the information and communications technology. The goal was that of turning the traditionally hierarchical top-down administrations into a flatter service-oriented administrations, characterized by intensive exchange of information among all its parts and with the outside. The e-government Action Plan was meant to involve every public central and local administration: regions, provinces, municipalities, schools, hospitals, local health corporations, employment offices, chambers of commerce, and so on (i.e., every agency or organization providing public services to citizens or businesses.) Some key propositions summarizing the vision formulated by the administration follow below: 1. Citizens can receive every public service to which they are entitled by applying to any front-office administration authorized to perform the service, regardless of territorial jurisdiction or residence From a technical point of view, this meant that a network of equal users had to interlink the information systems of all government units,

without any hierarchy reflecting institutional or organizational superstructures. 2. When requesting a service, the citizen needs supply no personal information that is already in possession of any other State administration. This condition required that every national and local department and agency had to be equipped with an information system designed not only to automate internal functions/procedures but also to provide information services to other government units. Moreover all administrations performing a back-office role had to make their services accessible online, with no charge, to all government units performing a front-office role without further requiring any information from the citizens; 3. Citizens do not have to know how the State is organized for the performance of services, or which is the department to apply to, but can request a service exclusively on the basis of their own needs, not the knowledge of which agency does what. Front-office administrations had to integrate back-office administrations’ services and thus provide full services according to citizens’ needs and not according to organizational arrangements of the units supplying the services. 4. Citizens must be able to notify the Administration once only. TheAdministration shall maintain a file on every citizen permitting it to notify the change to all departments and agencies affected and to activate the consequent services. The identification (authentication) of the subject requesting a service (individual or business) and the verification of the relevant authorizations had to be perfomed by a uniform proce-

39

The Soveria.it Project

dure throughout the national territory, adopting identification tools independently from the type of service requested and so provide full access from every location. To this end, an electronic ID card had to be considered as the preferred tool to access every public services. The technological infrastructure to implement the Action Plan was made of a national information technology network or (i.e.) an allgovernment Extranet interlinking every local and central government information system with each other via Internet and providing equal internet protocols thruoghout the administrative domains. The Action Plan was based on some key points: (i) Actions of Central Government Departments; (ii) Actions by regional and local government; (iii) Integration of civic registers; (iv) System for interchange between Property Registers and municipalities; (v) The electronic ID card; (vi) The promotion of digital signatures; (vii) Computerized management of documents; and (viii) e-procurement. Several initiatives, both structural and procedural, have been launched within this integrated framework. The first phase of the Plan was implemented in local administrations (especially Regions and Local Institutions) according to 3 strongly interrelated programs. These were focused on e-government projects developing infrastructural and pro-final-user services. The first phase was also aimed at designing a technical and methodological framework and establishing a network of regional “Centri di Competenza” (competence centers). Overall, 134 projects were implemented (26 in Southern Italy) with a total commitment of 500 million Euros (120 co-financed by the Ministry for Innovation). Most of these projects were finalized to provide public web-based services to a wide part of population and enterprises. The second phase of the Plan was implemented with a 207 million Euros funding and aimed at extend the innovation the local administrations. The World e-government ranking 2008 published by the Waseda University Institute of Tokyo ranked

40

Italy as the third European country in terms of development and use of public administration services (score: 56,1). The top in the world is USA (68,3 score) while the first and the second in Europe are respectively Finland (58,6) and Sweden (56,6). Among the most important projects conducted in Italy, it be worth remembering the following: 1. The Regional Integrated Health Services for the Continuity in the Medical Treatment in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region The overall objective of the SISRCR (Regional integrated health services for the continuity in the medical treatment) in Friuli Venezia Giulia was creating an integrated system for the Regional Agency for Health and the Agencies for Health Services of the Region. Back-office and front-end systems allow for managing and distributing health services to the citizen and to specialized consumers (doctors, health operators) thanks to: a system of portals, one for each agency and a joint one; a call centre service for a constant access to the services; a smart card system to predispose and distribute the pharmaceutical prescriptions and the medical authorizations. The project aims at supplying the citizens with a complete services system that is focused first of all on the de-localization of access and information points in order to avoid useless accesses for gathering medical reports and information. The objective is not reducing the expenses through the decrease of the offered resources, but rather the rationalization of their use. 2. ICAR: a System for e-Enabled Cooperation among Public Administrations in Italy ICAR (Interoperabilità e Cooperazione Applicativa tra le Regioni e le Province Autonome) was setting up and testing the shared technical infrastructure for applications cooperation among Italian regional authorities, following the national standards defined for development of

The Soveria.it Project

the so-called Sistema Pubblico di Connettività e Cooperazione, SPC (Public Connectivity and Cooperation System). The SPC model is that of a “light SOA” based on three pillars: (a) formalization of service agreements, which makes it possible to define not only interfaces, but also behaviors, service level agreements (SLAs), security requirements and linkages with domain ontologies; (b) definition of a federated identity and access management system; and (c) definition of metadata (the object of cooperation), semantics and domain ontologies. The ICAR project (25 M€ budget) was co-funded with 9.5 M€ by Centro Nazionale per l’Informatica nella Pubblica Amministrazione and Cnipa (National Centre for IT in Public Administration), within line 1 of the second phase of the Italian e-Government plan for regional and local authorities. ICAR’s participants are 16 Italian regions (out of 19 altogether) and the autonomous province of Trento; the remaining regions and the autonomous province of Bolzano are constantly informed about the project’s developments and are expected to re-use its results. On the other hand, various researches made an evaluation of the Italian Action Plan for egovernment (Virili, 2001; Sorrentino, 2004). In some cases the evaluation was not positive. These authors affirmed that if the intention of the Administration was to trigger virtuous processes in the local administration, it had been necessary to pay attention not only to the guidelines for the selection of the suitable projects but also to the phase of implementation of the same projects. In many cases the e-government projects can be considered “one-shot” initiatives, instead of iterative processes.

The Project in the Context of the Calabria Region Results and importance of the Soveria.it project are remarkable especially in consideration of

how low the average diffusion of technology in Calabria in 2005-6 was compared to the rest of Italian public administrations and private firms – see Tables 4 and 5. The goal of promoting economic growth by the use of the information and communication technologies was not new in Calabria and Southern Italy though. This had already been the goal of several previous and larger investments programs of the Italian government like (e.g.) the TelCal Program. In this case, the motivating idea was that channeling public investments into the information and communication industry would have successfully stimulated the growth of the entire Calabria’s economy. In particular, concentrating the public demand for high-tech services would have created employment opportunities for the well-educated human capital trained at the Calabria’s Universities, achieving, by so doing, both goals: To improve the services of the Calabria public administrations and to bring about higher levels of employment (and income.) The Soveria.it project can be hence considered as a piece of a larger strategy pursued by the public authorities in Southern Italy, though it perhaps offers bigger ground to be considered as a successful story, if compared with other cases like (e.g.) the TelCal program. Soveria.it also proves how different the Italian policies for economic development of poorer regions were in 1990s with respect to those of the 1980s. The latter focused on heavy investments in traditional technologies requiring not well-educated workforce like (e.g.) manufacturing and chemistry, while the former focused on more tightly targeted investments in high-tech sectors requiring highly qualified workforce (Annesi and Modica, 1992.) The Soveria.it project today goes on through its follow-up – i.e., a more advanced phase called as E-Factory project. This is pushing further the achievement of the goals of Soveria.it in a more bottom-up fashion. Overall, this is expected to produce a stronger impact on the society and the

41

The Soveria.it Project

Table 4. Main technological equipment in use in Italian municipalities in 2005 Mainframe (%)

Servers (%)

Smart card readers (%)

GIS (%)

CAD (%)

PC per 100 employees

Piemonte

7.9

46.9

14.0

21.6

17.8

73.8

Valle d’aosta

3.1

88.6

10.0

11.4

42.1

72.0

Lombardia

10.2

83.9

22.8

14.6

56.6

80.1

Pr. Aut. di Bolzano

7.8

90.8

29.2

74.5

84.5

69.9

Pr. Aut.di Trento

3.9

96.8

13.1

100.0

100.0

67.5

Veneto

8.6

89.5

41.2

33.8

54.8

87.3

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

14.1

100.0

33.5

26.6

52.6

80.1

Liguria

8.5

58.2

14.2

17.1

44.3

68.1

Emilia-Romagna

13.3

86.8

45.9

39.4

74.1

86.2

Toscana

10.0

91.2

53.1

47.3

74.3

79.4

Umbria

3.4

83.3

36.6

29.9

58.3

78.4

Marche

12.0

85.4

18.1

14.7

52.5

69.2

Lazio

14.6

57.8

26.4

11.6

26.6

48.0

Abruzzo

8.9

61.7

18.5

11.2

31.4

72.1

Molise

0.0

85.0

5.1

1.6

36.5

72.1

Campania

15.3

57.4

12.0

6.9

40.1

39.2

Puglia

7.0

76.7

29.9

12.6

39.2

66.5

Basilicata

20.8

91.2

19.3

12.5

53.4

78.9

Calabria

6.7

60.4

14.2

9.1

55.5

61.2

Sicilia

16.8

71.5

15.1

9.3

36.4

47.2

Sardegna

6.9

66.7

18.8

12.7

58.4

86.6

Average

9.5

77.6

23.4

24.7

51.9

70.7

Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it)

economy of Soveria Mannelli town, and eventually that of the entire region of Calabria.

THE SOVERIA.IT PROJECT The implementation of the Soveria.it project was through a sequence of two phases. The first main phase (i.e.) “Soveria.it” aimed at carrying out the e-government and e-democracy principles within the Information Society Program in the town of Soveria Mannelli. The second phase (i.e.) “EFactory” was a follow-up and aimed at fixing the main drawbacks of Soveria.it. Here below are described the key features of each phase.

42

The Soveria.it Phase The Soveria.it project was funded by an European Commission 2 million Euros Grant to the Calabria Region for the implementation of a Regional Operational Plan.5 The main principles underpinning the project were the e-government and the e-democracy. By the first it is meant the adoption of the information and communication technology to increase efficiency and transparency of the Council Administration’s business processes and to provide its public managers with new and more powerful technological tools for responding to the society’s needs. By the latter, it is meant the use of the information and communication technology

The Soveria.it Project

Table 5. Use of Information and communication technologies in Italian firms in 2006 (%) Northern-Western Italy

NorthernEastern Italy

Middle Italy

Southern Italy

Calabria

# of Employees using the PC more than once a week

43.55%

38%

43.36%

27.18%

25.1%

# of Employees using Internet more than once a week

31.31%

25.61%

31.67%

19.09%

17.65%

PC Adopted

97.75%

97.04%

95.96%

93.59%

95.85%

Web Site

61.87%

58.24%

58.1%

44.26%

41.27%

Connection: Broadband

74.13%

70.42%

68.05%

61.95%

55.09%

Connection: Cell Phone

13.66%

10.71%

10.67%

7.87%

6.1%

Connection: ISDN

27.31%

29.11%

25.87%

28.21%

27.29%

Connection: Modem

20.1%

21.29%

22.96%

22.55%

25.76%

Connection: xDSL

69.16%

67.28%

65.2%

59.69%

54.59%

Used Technology: extranet

14.98%

13.57%

11.31%

10.17%

8.41%

Used Technology: Internet

95.14%

93.36%

92.4%

88.98%

86.68%

Used Technology: Intranet

35.51%

36.34

30.24%

28.4%

28.87%

Used Technology: e-mail

92.97%

92.28%

88.96%

86.13%

86.26%

Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it)

to involve the largest possible part of citizens to be aware of and participate in the Council activities: To involve the entire citizenship of Soveria Mannelli in the electronic vote was among the ultimate goals of the Soveria.it project. The general structure of the project was articulated by implementing 4 main parts. First was the realization of the Technological Infrastructure: An Internet-based network connecting 7 schools and 500 families with the Council administration’s network. Second was the implementation of the Multimedia Center for both, improving the public training capabilities by e-learning and advanced training technologies and promoting the area of Soveria Mannelli Town by collecting and publishing web-based multimedia documents regarding sites and events of cultural, historical, artistic and social interest. Third was the implementation of the e-Government by turning the Council and the Municipality public administration into an Internet-oriented organization able to control and provide the vast majority of its services by Internet.6 Fourth was the implementation of the

e-Democracy Portal consisting of the needed infostructure for the citizenship to directly participate in the public life of the town by expressing their opinions about the public decisions of the Council Administration through tools like (i.e.) e-mail, chat, news, forums and other instruments to be used either, at an individual or group level.

Technological Infrastructure The infrastructure of Soveria.it was based on a network connecting 7 schools to the Soveria Municipality’s headquarter and providing access to Internet with a security system protecting it from external attacks. Specifically, its architecture was made of 3 main sub-systems: (i) a sub-system dedicated to the public institutions; a (ii) a sub-system dedicated to the citizens; and (iii) a sub-system dedicated to maintain the inter-operability among all parts of the system. The sub-system for public institutions was composed in turn by 2 main components, respectively supporting the schools and the Municipality.

43

The Soveria.it Project

The first component allowed the schools to be connected to the Council’s sub-system and all services available through it, including the Remote Access Server (RAS) installed at the Municipality. The second component supported the local head office of the Municipality including the local system for users (schools and citizens.) The sub-system for the citizens consisted of hardware, software and the connectivity system through which it was possible for the citizens to access the sub-system of the Soveria Mannelli Municipality. The interoperability sub-system represented the link for data transmission to and from Internet. Relative to the time when it was implemented (i.e.) 19981999, this network solution was technologically advanced. The following ones were among its main components and services: (i) Internet access available via broad-band satellite connection; (ii) a modular and scalable structure, for the network could easily grow and be adapted to different requirements; an advanced firewall systems with different security levels; (iii) a standard transmission protocols and easy integration to other networks; and (iv) a multimedia system giving access to live images of Soveria Mannelli through a network of cameras installed in several different points and made also available an audio and video repository to promote the artistic and cultural estate of the town.

Multimedia Center Several initiatives had been implemented to stimulate the use of new information and communication technologies locally before starting the Soveria.it. The first step was to offer free of charge several training programs to the entire citizenship through the Media library and the Multi-purpose Center for Labor (i.e., “Centro Polivalente del Lavoro”).7 The goal was to introduce a large part of the population of Soveria Mannelli and, in particular, Municipality employees, young students, and old citizens to the basic use of information and communication technologies. Particularly important was the role

44

played by the Media Library strengthening the social impact of the project. Started in 2000 thanks to funding from the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage through the project “Mediateca 2000,” the Media Laboratory shortly became something more than a public place where accessing to the web; it became a cultural meeting point where the youth people of Soveria used to gather. This made the learning process a sort of social event for the entire collectivity and in turn made the training activities more effective that they could have been, were these conducted in a more traditional and lecture-like fashion.

The E-Government Services The on-line services for e-government were designed to transform the traditional and merely paper-based information system of the Soveria Mannelli’s Municipality into a modern knowledge-management system based on the use of digital databases. These services can be distinguished into the following main categories: (a) the “Council Notice Board” services, giving free access to announcements and ongoing communications from the Municipality to the population; (b) the “Deliberations Area” services, granting free access to every ongoing deliberation and legislative act of the Council as well as to the archive of past deliberations and statistics; (c) the “Announcements and Calls for Tenders” services, dedicated to the publication of the calls from Public Administration; (d) the “Council at Your Home” and the “On-Line Self-Certification” services, enabling the download, filling and submission of certificates, application forms and other documents to the Municipality; (e) the “Demography Space” services, through which it is possible to access information regarding the demographic aspects of the Town; and finally (f) the “Town Cartographic System,” managing the urban development plan of Soveria Mannelli and the Public Register for Land Property.

The Soveria.it Project

The E-Democracy Services The e-democracy services were designed to create a knowledge management system through which both the citizenship and the Council could share common knowledge, communicate, and debate about any political issue at hand. Among the main services are: (i) the “My Portal” service, a software package supporting private firms in creating their web sites; (ii) the “Web Tv” service, that combined with the Soveria.it portal made it possible to participate in surveys and express opinions by electronic vote, key aspect of the e-democracy concept; and finally, the “UniSoveria” service, that made it possible to access the archive of theses and researches conducted by all undergraduate and graduate students from the Calabria region on the subject of Soveria Mannelli.

Other Services Some other services created by the Soveria.it project are still worth mentioning. First is the service of full wi-fi coverage offered by the Public Administration completely free of charge for the entire population – an innovative as well as a very rare case in Italy. Second is the Multi-media System, a large archive of digital pictures and videos about sites and structures of Soveria Mannelli of cultural, geographical, and architectural interest – i.e., this is based on virtual application where the user is assisted by an interactive wizard to browse through pictures and videos. Finally yet importantly, it is the adoption of Gmail as provider of e-mail service implemented in 2008 for all employees of the Municipality’s public administration and then extended to the entire population. This allowed them to obtain an e-mail accounts with the [email protected] not only for the municipality staff but also for every citizen or enterprise still free of charge. This initiative indeed anticipated the experience of Los Angeles, where the public administration of the Municipality decided to cut the service management costs

by 7.25 million dollars by signing an agreement with Google for the provision of e-mail services.8

The E-Factory Phase Some of the main issues of the Soveria.it project were overcome by implementing a second project, “E-Factory - Permanent Lab for Innovation.” The idea behind it was that of turning the Municipality of Soveria Mannelli into a permanent innovation lab. This phase was organizes around the following three steps. 1. Context Setting: To make the Soveria.it project effective, it was necessary to create a more accurate knowledge of the social and economic context of Soveria Mannelli with specific regard to the labor market; to this end, two specific new surveys were conducted on the sectors that could have generated economic growth, the possible strengths and weaknesses of these, and the employment conditions of the area; 2. Information Technology Lab and Virtual Community: A specific information technology task-force was created to design new solutions based on the results of the research in 1 with the specific goal of introducing the personnel of the Council and the citizenship to the use of the new technology; also, a direct service was established at the Council to support and stimulate the presence on the web of citizens, voluntary associations, spontaneous and organized groups, firms, professionals, and schools; 3. Innovation Management through the “Soveria Informatica” Company: a publicprivate company was established and put in charge of developing innovative technology to be applied for the Municipality of Soveria Mannelli; the Soveria Mannelli Council owns the main share of the company, but other public partners are expected to join in the future, among which (e.g.) the Calabria

45

The Soveria.it Project

Region Public Administration, the e-learning university consortium “Nettuno,” and the University of Calabria. Overall, the implementation of these phases allowed to overcome some of the main drawbacks of the project like the lack of knowledge regarding the conditions of the job-market in Soveria Mannelli area or the management capabilities required by the complexity of the technological infrastructure, or the initial weak participation of the public employees. This is discussed in more details in the following sessions.

IMPACT AND LIMITS OF SOVERIA.IT Soveria.it was a pilot initiative and the main element of a long-term policy for social and economic development. This is for several reasons. First, it offered the opportunity to carry further the introduction of the information and communication technology in the public administration that had previously been started by other initiatives. Second, being that of Soveria Mannelli a small community, it involved not only a large number of public officers but also several people from the civil society. Finally, to export elsewhere the there-to-be tested policy (if successful) would have been relatively easy given the similarity in the social and economic contexts of Soveria’s area with those of Calabria and Southern Italy. However, its impact was somehow constrained by some key element characterizing the social and economic context that received not sufficient care by the policy-makers while the project was started. These are in particular, the different levels of learning ability among different classes of individuals, and the lack of confidence among citizens and public officers regarding the potential of the project to successfully improve the conditions of the local job market. On the successful side, the impact of the project was strong on two points. One regards the public

46

administration of the Municipality and one regards the citizenship. The technological infrastructure and the organizational processes and procedures of the former were deeply changed, and so were the possibilities for the citizens of interacting with the bureaucracy of the public administration and the same Council of the Town. Thanks to Soveria.it, most of the bureaucratic processes were simplified and the efficiency of the entire public administration increased internally and externally – the latter meaning better services provided to the citizenship. The citizens were allowed to access to access and submit several different categories of documents and certificates to the Municipality through the Soveria.it portal as well as they were allowed to directly interact with officials and propose new activities, programs, and ultimately bills to be discussed at the Council’s level. According to the above-cited survey of the Italian Institute Censis, 70.4% of citizens expressed great appreciation for the information and communication technology-oriented initiatives of the Council in 2003 and in particular for the Technical Office of the Municipality Administration (34.6%) and for the Accounting Office (30%.) This change would have not been possible though without the large effort spent on training activities. Several different people got involved like (e.g.) housewives, retirees, unemployed people but also young students and old traditional school teachers, who then added similar activities into their own programs. If public administration and citizens can now share knowledge and opinions about how to use the public resources of the town, this is possible thanks to the sufficiently high level of practice and confidence in using technological tools like Internet and the e-mail that both, citizens and public officers of Soveria Mannelli gained through the training programs implemented through both, Soveria.it and e-Factory. The training represents thus a key area for the Soveria.it can be considered a pilot experience in Italy. In Table 6 are reported the

The Soveria.it Project

Table 6. Municipalities that organized ICT training activities and personnel attending it in 2004 % of Municipalities

% of Employees attending ICT training

Piemonte

10.1

4.5

Valle d’aosta

6.5

1.3

Lombardia

20.3

13.9

Pr. Aut. di Bolzano

29.3

18.1

Pr. Aut.di Trento

30.6

21.4

Veneto

11.4

9.2

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

27.4

15.2

Liguria

9.5

11.1

Emilia-Romagna

20.8

14.7

Toscana

33.7

10.6

Umbria

36.9

18.5

Marche

31.8

9.7

Lazio

24.1

2.9

Abruzzo

9.6

6.9

Molise

20.8

11.4

Campania

32.5

6.4

Puglia

33.4

9.9

Basilicata

24.5

9.2

→ Calabria

14.6

5.5

Sicilia

18.6

3.5

Sardegna

17.8

4.2

Average

22.1

9.9

Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it)

data about the municipalities organizing specific training activities on information technology in Italy, showing that Calabria was lagging behind the national average in 2004. The adoption of the new technologies brought a deep change into the community’s life of Soveria Mannelli: Tools like e-learning, e-mail, e-forums or e-chats were completely new and far from the day-by-day life of Soveria Mannelli when the project started. This implied two main opportunities for further improvement: One relates to the great interest of people; the other to gains to be obtained from the said change – i.e., Table 7 shows how only half of the population of Soveria was demonstrating a great interest in participating in the project and learn how to use these tools to (e.g.) obtain certificates and public licenses, or follow the Council’s political decisions and indeed only one fifth of the population was participating in Soveria.it in 2003. By gains from change it is here meant the potential for a bureaucracy like that of Soveria Mannelli whose processes were based on very old-fashioned paper-limited technology, to obtain great gains in efficiency even from small changes like using the e-mail systematically. While the project was implemented, two thirds of the population of Soveria were provided with a personal computer while the average in Italy was then only slightly higher than half (i.e., 51.4%).

Table 7. Awareness and participation in the Soveria.it Project Ages less than 24

25-34

35-44

45-54

No, I am not aware of Soveria.it

1.6%

2.1%

3.3%

4.0%

3.8%

11.1%

26.0%

Yes, I am aware of Soveria.it but I am not interested

3.4%

3.3%

3.5%

5.1%

4.0%

5.8%

25.0%

Yes, I am aware of Soveria.it and I am participating

5.0%

5.7%

5.6%

3.7%

1.9%

0.9%

22.8%

Yes, I am aware of Soveria.it and I’d like to participate in it

5.2%

6.3%

5.8%

4.1%

2.5%

2.2%

26.2%

Total

15.2%

17.4%

18.2%

17.0%

12.1%

20.0%

100.0%

55-64

over 65

Tot

Source: Survey Censis (2003)

47

The Soveria.it Project

Back then, individuals over 65 represented almost one fifth of the population and individuals below 14 were almost one sixth., It can be drawn that the use of the personal computer quickly involved the entire population of Soveria Mannelli regardless of any difference in income class or age. To this extent, it is worth pointing that unemployed people were systematically using Internet- and personal computers for job-seeking purposes. To have obtained a more efficient bureaucracy and an easier and direct communication channel between citizens and public administration are not the only relevant aspects of the project though. People from Soveria Mannelli were always interested into the returns of adopting such technologies in terms of economic growth and, namely, into the creation of new jobs. Some results could perhaps be ascribed to the project in terms of employment, which during the period between 1999 and 2004 rose of almost 55%, if considered the firms operating in Soveria Mannelli area – see Table 8 in next page. The project faced though some limits during the phase of introduction of the new technological infrastructure within the public administration. Other limits also came up with respect to the communication campaign. Although the political elite of Soveria Mannelli showed a strong interest in pushing forward the use of information and communication technology since the early 1990s, the implementation of the project was slowed by some typical features of a small town of Southern Italy like (i.e.) limited economic resources and a little knowledge among public officers and employees about non-traditional work tools and technologies. Many were reluctant to accept the organizational changes brought about by the new technologies. In certain cases, the lack of knowledge became lack of trust, leading to low interest and scarce involvement of the personnel and in turn making the new procedures less efficient than expected. In the case of the schools especially, the adoption of the new tools for training purposes like (e.g.)

48

Table 8. Rise in employment from 1999 to 2004 Number of employees in 1999

Number of employees in 2004

Tecnicalluminio

3

3

Centro Infissi

2

2

Gronda universale

2

4

Camillo Sirianni

28

36

Fe.Me.Co.

3

6

Rubbettino

49

81

Artigiana Funghi

5

5

Lanificio Leo

1

1

Cimino International

3

5

Cimino Funghi

3

3

Luna Funghi

2

11

Falegnameria Artig. Sirianni

1

3

Silcantieri Costruzioni

2

4

Magna Grecia Allasia Plant

1

5

Cerra Michele Mulino

1

1

Supermercato Ellemuraca

13

15

Total

119

185

Firms

Source: Stefano Rugiero, “Soveria 2015: La Comunicazione Pubblica al Servizio del Cittadino,” Master’s Thesis, University of Calabria, 2004-5

e-learning and other Internet-based applications took a longer time than expected. The impact of the project was also constrained by some poor organizational capabilities of the Municipality. This probably was not able to not properly manage the implementation of the project. In particular, the communication activities were sometimes not sufficient to maintain a strong interest of the population while the project was implemented. This led some part of the population to feel less strongly involved. At a certain point, a suspect arose that Soveria.it was not useful to address the more serious issues faced by the community like (i.e.) the high level of local unemployment and the extremely slow economic growth. At that time, 84.3% of the population was seriously concerned about any prospect of future employ-

The Soveria.it Project

ment, 61.2% of it was convinced that to start a business in Soveria area was extremely difficult (if ever possible) (Censis, 2004; Stranges, 2008). Overall, main strength of the project was the organizational and technological change of the public administration of the Municipality. This gave a considerable impulse to the implementation of both, e-government and e-democracy. The reluctance of some part of the public officers and employees in accepting such changes was instead its main weakness as well as the weak ability in communicating the concrete impact that Soveria. it was having in terms of job opportunities. In consideration of all this, it can be argued that Soveria.it was perhaps based on a not sufficiently strong knowledge of the social and economic context of the area, and that perhaps too little attention was paid to the adoption of the Internet-oriented technologies by private firms. It can also be argued that the technological complexity of Soveria.it required a specific and constantly available management team in charge of the built infrastructure. The E-Factory project represents a natural follow-up of Soveria.it and should thus be considered just as a second phase of the same initiative.

PRESENT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS As previously said, E-Factory represents a follow-up phase of Soveria.it. Today, this carries further the development of the e-Government and e-Democracy in the town of Soveria Mannelli trying to overcome the drawbacks highlighted in the previous section. Some of the results probably achieved by E-Factory are listed here below.

Building a Better Knowledge about the Social Context Soveria.it was thought and implemented as a top-down initiative. Main goal was that of im-

proving the abilities of citizens, public officers and employees in using the information and communication technologies. However, this led to overlook certain deficiencies affecting the community with respect to people’s abilities in learning how to use the new tools to interact with the public administration structure: To learn and get adapted to the use of the personal computer was slow and hard for many, especially among public officers and employees. This in turn engendered the above-mentioned rejection to the initiative constraining its impact. To make the project more effective it was thus necessary to more firmly anchor it to the basic needs of families and firms of the area. Particularly important to this end was to involve the younger generations to a larger extent though not easy to do in facts. Although young people tend to be more sensitive to the use of new technological tools, they can be very skeptical towards anything looking like an intervention orchestrated by the public authorities. What allowed to make up for such deficiency of the Soveria.it phase was a survey conducted before starting the e-Factory phase. This was better targeted than those conducted before starting Soveria.it and provided a clearer picture of the community’s needs: Habits, expectations, needs of families and firms of Soveria Mannelli were analyzed to design new communication strategies and better involve the entire collectivity. In turn, this allowed to re-focus the training programs and gain thereby a stronger confidence of the community in the possibility that the new information and communication technologies could really impact the society and improve its economic conditions.

Laboratory for the Virtual Community Second main pillar of E-Factory was the creation of a virtual community by implementing the Information Technology Laboratory. This allowed to specifically address two main drawbacks of

49

The Soveria.it Project

Soveria.it: The lack of technical competences to manage the Soveria.it infrastructure within the public administration, and the weak participation of the community due to the lack of communication about the impact on the job creation process and the economic growth. By creating an efficient information channel between the municipality administration and its technicians, the Laboratory led to improve the accuracy of the Municipality’s databases and the quality of the training programs. The former was possible through a more continuous and better process of update; the latter was possible through the continuous and mutual training that involved technicians and public employees – i.e., the former could learn about the bureaucratic procedures to be supported by the info-structure of the laboratory, and latter could learn how to control the procedures now supported by the new computer-based systems. On the other hand, through the Laboratory a more direct assistance was provided to individuals and firms for creating web sites via the Soveria. it portal. This made it easier for everyone to get quickly introduced to the use of Internet trough the community of Soveria.it and at the same time to be better introduced to the political debates via Internet or (i.e.) to the use of the e-democracy tools implemented by Soveria.it. Today, the Laboratory represents not only a reference point for individuals, firms, and the entire municipality administration, but also an access point to the e-Government and the e-Democracy of Soveria Mannelli, and ultimately a way for the young generation to get easily introduced to all the above and, in case, to find new business opportunities based on the promotion of the cultural heritage of Soveria Mannelli Town.

Innovation Management Third and last drawback addressed through EFactory was the lack of technical competences to

50

properly manage the business structure of Soveria. it. To address the problems stemming from the administrative and economic management of Soveria.it, it was necessary to create the publicprivate company called “Soveria Informatica.” In particular, the technological complexity of the infrastructure required larger economic and organizational resources than what the Municipality could afford. Therefore, the technological maintenance and development of the whole infrastructure was out-sourced to the ad-hoc newly created company “Soveria Informatica.” The company was created as a partnership between the Council of Soveria Mannelli and the public administrations of near-by municipalities. Its goal is that of carrying-on Soveria.it and exporting it to other near-by areas, by providing other communities with the same services that are now part of the Soveria Mannellli e-government and e-democracy. By establishing the Soveria Informatica Company it was possible to obtain higher organizational efficiency through private ownership, the possibility of creating scientific partnerships more easily.

A REPLICABLE EXPERIENCE? What is to be taken from the case of Soveria.it? Could this, under any condition, represent a replicable initiative for similar social and economic context? The lesson learned from the Soveria.it is threefold. First, any diversity within the social and economic context matters. Second, the training process has to be specifically tailed on the needs of different types of trainees. Third, the management of a complex technological system requires proper skills and expertise. The conditions under which any attempt to replicate a similar initiative should be conducted follow from here.

The Soveria.it Project

Local Context In the case of Soveria.it, the local context was that of a small town of Southern Italy. Its key social and economic characteristics, it turned out, were high unemployment and little knowledge of information and communication technology among the population and public officers and employees. Neither received sufficient consideration at the start of the project though. The focus was mostly on introducing the use of pc’s and internet among the population and within the public administration of the Municipality without assessing their real level of readiness. Nor was any assessment conducted on the local industries, their level of readiness or their technological necessities. This led to the above-recalled limits or (i.e.) some reluctance in both, public employees and the rest of the population, to learn how to use the new technological tools and to change their behavior accordingly. The lesson offered by Soveria.it on this respect is thus that such an initiative should not be started before carefully surveying people’s needs, the main characteristics of weaker and stronger firms and industries, and finally the learning abilities and necessities of the public focused by the initiative. The economic local context should always represent the starting point of any initiative and economic policy like this (Srivastava, Teo, 2009; Bélanger, Carter, 2008).

Training Programs The importance of the training programs comes from what stated above. Once the necessities of the social context are sufficiently well known, then it is crucial to tailor specific training programs on every single class of citizens involved. In the case of Soveria.it, five main groups of individuals were in principle to be exposed to some training, each requiring a specific program – i.e., officers of the Municipality administration; other public employees like schoolteachers; private firms’ employees; young citizens; elderly. Due to their

different needs, abilities in learning, and potential uses they would have made of the technology, each class needed to be trained in a differentiated manner. However, this became clear only in the final phase of Soveria.it At the start of the project, the emphasis given to a differentiated training was little, leading to a not sufficiently high involvement of either, the population and the public employees. This then required a greater effort to improve the quality of the training during the second phase. It can be drawn from here that to implement differentiated training activities should represent a general rule for any initiative that similarly to Soveria.it might aim at bringing about deep change in the society’s life by new technologies of information and communication.

Management Process To design an ad-hoc organizational structure external to the Municipality’s administration – i.e., Soveria Informatica – was crucial too to manage the entire initiative. More often than not, to introduce new technologies requires very specific technical and management skills. However,these are unlikely available within traditional public administrations that are still heavily relying on old paper-based processes. The absence of such adhoc structures can easily lead to higher costs and lose control of the implementation process of the project. As in the case of Soveria.it, this can likely lead to people’s low interest and participation, which in turn worsens further the implementation of the project – e.g., longer and more expensive training would then become necessary to make up for people’s lack of knowledge. To establish an external ad-hoc organizational structure forces the public administration to establish clear rules for the management of the initiative, which in turn means not only better accountability of the subjects involved into the project but also stronger trust in the population and thereby higher enthusiasm and more will to participate into the project and work out (Srivastava, Teo, 2007; Zhenyu, 2007).

51

The Soveria.it Project

Overall, the Soveria.it project represents a case where the role of the entire society considerably mattered. The possibility of successfully replicating an initiative along these lines lays therefore on the attention paid to the social and economic context. By this it is here meant that specific needs and characteristics of each component of one society have to be kept in account while designing economic policies like the one underpinning the Soveria.it project. The use of new technologies for information and communication can bring into people’s life a change that is cultural. Therefore, particular care is necessary when the application comes to a society that might lag behind in the process of cultural adaptation. The learning-supporting structure realized through the Laboratory during the E-Factory phase was a key for the success of the entire initiative of Soveria. it. It allowed to adapt the training programs to the specific needs of different types of trainees increasing in turn this people’s interest in the project and its potential of positively impacting the economy of the area. Now more than ever, the technologies for the use of information and communication are to be considered as a tool to be tailored on the specific needs and characteristics of its users.

Conditions to Replicate Soveria.it Soveria.it was initiated by the the political elite of Soveria Mannelli believing that promoting the use of advanced technologies in a relatively poor and not technologically advanced area was indeed feasible and would have brought about a general improvement of its economic and social conditions. To a large extent, this was achieved though it took much longer than expected and it needed a new phase of the project. It cannot be merely considered as a technology information project. It was a knowledge-driven project that changed the community’s public life by changing the process through which the local public policies are designed. The possibility granted to any citizen to participate in the Council’s decisions

52

and propose amendments regarding the annual budget goes far beyond the possibility of obtaining a much faster and easier access to electronic certificates. The former requires a huge change in a vision of the political processes as the latter can be deeply rooted in people’s mind. To accept how the modern technology transformed that vision requires a huge effort, which, in the case of Soveria.it, took the form of the initial lack of interest demonstrated by that part of the population who did not welcome the untraditional ways of relating themselves with the Public Administration of the Municipality through these technologies. Employees and officers of the the Municipality demonstrated a certain reluctance to adapt themselves to the new structure of the bureaucracy. Among the population, for many elderly it was difficult to learn how to interact with the Municipality by using the newly available technologies. Finally, it is likely that suspects of uselessness and political distortions rose producing a certain lack of interest among the population and confidence in the expected results of the project. The latter refers to the possibility that any initiative like Soveria.it can be perceived among the population as a pork-barrel project or (i.e.) a public initiative carried out by the political elite in order to channel public funds towards their political allies and private sponsors. As pointed out by Tullock (1967) and Krueger (1974) in principle, any publicly-run initiative like Soveria.it might create room for rent-seeking fueling behaviors that aim at extorting economic and political rent rather than obtaining concrete improvements for the economy as a whole. Basic lessons of this case are therefore the following: (i) Any knowledge-driven project should be grounded into an accurate analysis of the necessities of the entire society and its main social and economic units; (ii) the training programs should be specifically designed in order to meet the learning abilities and the interests of each class of subjects involved into the project; and (iii) the higher is the complexity of the new

The Soveria.it Project

infrastructural systems, the stronger is the necessity of an ad-hoc organizational structures that efficiently manage the follows of the project. In few words, no policy aiming at impacting one society can be successfully implemented without taking in sufficient consideration that this is made of several components, all strongly intertwined to each other. Soveria.it shows that to realize the e-Government and e-Democracy is indeed possible even in a relatively poor and less technologically developed area. It also shows however that it’s easy to be constrained by the limits of a too heavy top-down approach. Crucial to avoid this risk is to make people believe in the potential of a similar project to be successfully implemented. To make it possible it’s necessary in turn to have clear what the real necessities of the community are and what the technology can really achieve, if properly used. Then, it would become necessary to carefully craft specific training activities based on both, people’s abilities to learn and people’s expected use of the technology. That is, it would be necessary to design specific training programs that could lead in an effective manner the people targeted by the project to become able to make a proper use of the technology thereby achieving the improvements in their economic activities that people expect. CONCLUSION After several initiatives aiming at introducing the personal computer and enhancing the use of information and communication technology, in 1998 the Council of Soveria Mannelli started the Soveria.it project. This transformed not only the public administration into a successful and forerunner case of Italian e-Government and e-Democracy; it also initiated a cultural change transforming the society of a less technologically developed town of Southern Italy into a modern Internet-connected community. Immediate outcomes of the projects were: (i) a completely new and technologically advanced infrastructure of the municipality administration; (ii) e-Government services; (iii) e-Democracy

services; and (iv) secondary services like (i.e.) free wireless coverage of the entire urban area of Soveria Mannelli; (iv) a Multimedia System for the on-line access of the cultural and natural heritage of Soveria Mannelli; and free dedicated@ soveria.it e-mail service to the entire population provided free-of-charge. After Soveria.it, a second phase followed, EFactory. This was meant to overcome the Soveria. it’s main limits by better surveying the social and economic context; by establishing a permanent training facility, Information Technology Laboratory; and by establishing a private-public company in charge of the managing the follow-up of Soveria.it (i.e., E-Factory.) Overall, Soveria.it is not only a successful case of e-Government and e-Democracy; it is a benchmark for any policy targeting the economic development of less technologically advanced areas by the adoption of the modern technologies of information and communication.

REFERENCES Annesi, M., & Modica, C. (1992). Intervento pubblico nel Mezzogiorno. Bologna, Italy: CEDAM. Badri, M. A., & Alshare, K. (2008). A path analytic model and measurement of the business value of e-government: An international perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 28(6), 524–535. doi:10.1016/j. ijinfomgt.2006.10.004 Bélanger, F., & Carter, L. (2008). Trust and risk in e-government adoption. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 17(2), 165–176. doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2007.12.002 Caligiuri, M. (2001). Soveria.it: un laboratorio telematico europeo. Soveria Mannelli, Italy: Rubbettino. Censis (2003). 37 Rapporto sulla situazione sociale del Paese, Rome: Italy: Censis

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Censis (2004). Soveria per te. Monitorare il processo d’innovazione ascoltando i bisogni della cittadinanza. Soveria Mannelli, Italy: Città Calabria edizioni (Collana La città delle idee).

Tullock, G. (1967). The Welfare Costs of Tariffs, Monopolies, and Theft. Western Economic Journal, 5(3), 224–232.

Del Monte, F. (1990). Il piano telematico della Calabria. Un esercizio di impiego della domanda pubblica come strumento di sviluppo economico. Milano, Italy: Franco Angeli.

Virili, F. (2001). The Italian e-Government Action Plan: from gaining efficiency to rethinking Government. In Traunmueller, R. (Ed.), Electronic Government, International Conference EGOV 2001, Munich, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Ghapanchi, A., & Albadvi, A., & Zarei, B. (2008). A framework for e-government planning and implementation. Electronic Government, an International Journal, 5 (1), 71-90.

Yildiz, M. (2007). E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, 24(3), 646–665. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2007.01.002

Krueger, A. (1974). The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society. The American Economic Review, 64(3), 291–303.

Zhenyu, H. (2007). A comprehensive analysis of U.S. counties’e-Government portals: development status and functionalities. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(2), 149–164. doi:10.1057/ palgrave.ejis.3000675

Sorrentino, M. (2004). Piano nazionale dell’egovernment: siamo sulla strada giusta? Il ruolo delle tecnologie dell’informazione nel cambiamento del settore pubblico, Working Paper del Dipartimento di studi sociali e politici, Università degli studi di Milano, n. 2. Srivastava, S.C., & Teo, T.S.H. (2007). What facilitates e-government development? A crosscountry analysis. Electronic Government, an International Journal, 4 (4), 365-378. Srivastava, S. C., & Teo, T. S. H. (2009). Citizen Trust Development for E-Government Adoption and Usage: Insights from Young Adults in Singapore. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 25, 31. Available at http:// aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol25/iss1/31. Stranges, M. (2008). Soveria Mannelli: demografia, società, economia. Soveria Mannelli, Italy: Città Calabria edizioni (Collana La città delle idee). Titah, R., & Barki, H. (2008). E-Government Adoption and Acceptance: A Literature Review and Research Framework. In Norris D. (Ed.), EGovernment Research: Policy and Management. IGI Global, 42-97.

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ADDITIONAL READING Berndt, E. R., & Malone, T. W. (1995). Information Technology and the Productivity Paradox: Getting the Question Right. Guest Editor’s Introduction to Special Issue. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 3(3-4), 177–182. doi:10.1080/10438599500000001 Bontis, N. (1999). Managing Organizational Knowledge by Diagnosis Intellectual Capital: Framing and Advancing the State of the Field. International Journal of Technology Management, 8. Brooking, A. (1996). Intellectual Capital: Core Assets for the third millennium enterprise. London: Thomson Business Press. Cohen, W.M., & Levinthal, D.A. (1990). Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (1), Special Issue: Technology, Organizations, and Innovation, 128-152.

The Soveria.it Project

Corrocher, N., & Ordanini, A. (2002). Measuring the Digital Divide: A Framework for Analysis of Cross-Country Differences. Journal of Information Technology, 17(1), 9–19. doi:10.1080/02683960210132061 Melograni, P. (2005). Manifesto della modernità. Soveria Mannelli, Italy: Città Calabria edizioni (Collana La città delle idee). Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge Creating Company. Oxford University Press Review, 68(3), 79–91. Paola, O. A. (2004). Sviluppo e solidarietà. La gestione finanziaria del Comune di Soveria Mannelli 1985-2004. Soveria Mannelli, Italy: Città Calabria edizioni (Collana La città delle idee). Pohjola, M. (2003). The Adoption and Diffusion of ICT Across Countries: Patterns and Determinants. In Jones, D. C. (Ed.), The New Economy Handbook. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Science and Technology Books. Sein, M. K., & Harindranath, G. (2004). Conceptualizing the ICT Artifact: Toward Understanding the Role of ICT in National Development. The Information Society: An International Journal, 20(1), 15–24. Srivastava, S. C., & Teo, T. S. H. (2008). The Relationship between E-Government and National Competitiveness: The Moderating Influence of Environmental Factors. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 23, Article 5. Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol23/ iss1/5

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Economic Development: Generally refers to the increase in the amount of people in a nation’s population with sustained growth from a simple, low-income economy to a modern, high-income

economy; its scope includes the process and policies by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people; e-Democracy: A form of direct democracy that uses information technologies and communication technologies and strategies for political and governance processes; e-Government: The ability for anyone visiting the city website to communicate and/or interact with the city via the Internet in any way more sophisticated than a simple email letter to the generic city (or webmaster) email address provided at the site” to “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees; Information Technology: Includes both hardware and software underlying driver of the “interesting” feature or of the organization’s profitability or productivity; it can include computer modeling, simulation, innovative uses of A.I., automated knowledge discovery, data mining, data warehousing; Organizational Change: It refers to companies that are undergoing or that have undergone a transformation; Social Development: Refers to a process which results in the transformation of social structures in a manner, which improves the capacity of the society to fulfill its aspirations; Technology Change: Term used to describe the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes;

ENDNOTES 1



2



See http://www.cnipa.gov.it/ and www.innovazione.gov.it Soveria Mannelli is located in Calabria, which is considered to be a s.c. European Area Objective One. Objective one regions are (NUTS:2) regions most at need of the regional policy. To qualify for objective one status the GDP per capita for the region must

55

The Soveria.it Project

3



4



56

be below 75% of the EU average. See http:// ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.htm and http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/ objective1/map_en.htm Source: National Institute of Statistic Istat (www.istat.it); see also www.comuniitaliani.it The concept of information society refers to the broad “… European intent to promote the development and dissemination of new information and communication technologies, in accordance with Articles 163 to 172 of the Treaty establishing the European Community …” See Fondazione Censis “Soveria per Te” Censis, Rome (2004); for references about the Information Society see also: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/information_society/index_en.htm

5



6



7



8



Regional Operational Program for the Information amd Communication Society. (i.e., Programma Operativo Regionale – Misura 6.3 – Societa’ dell’Informazione) at: http:// www.regione.calabria.it/calabriaeuropa/ index.php?option=com_content&task=blo gcategory&id=188&Itemid=472&limit=1 0&limitstart=110 To this extent, great emphasis was given on the possibility of tracking any ongoing process or procedures within the public administration not only for the public employees but also for the private citizens. Several training activities were funded by Region’s Department for Education. See: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ technology/2009/10/city-council-votes-toadopt-google-email-system-for-30000-cityemployees.html

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Chapter 4

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao Chang Boon Patrick Lee University of Macau, Macao U Ian Edith Lei The Venetian ® Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macao

ABSTRACT To implement electronic-government (e-government) services successfully, it is important to know the factors that influence their acceptance. In this study, we investigated the influence of trust and compatibility in the context of usage intention of e-government services in Macao. In Macao, government services are easily accessible via government departments and offices. Switching to e-government services would require users’ trust and having the services fit into the users’ way of life. The results of our analyses found that trust and compatibility are positively related to usage intention and that the independent variables accounted for 63 percent of the variance in usage intention. We discussed the implications of the research findings.

INTRODUCTION Governments worldwide are now using the Internet to provide people with more convenient access to information and services. It has become increasDOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch004

ing common for people not to queue at government offices to request for services. Instead, they stay at home or office and use electronic-government (e-government) services to help them browse for information or to conduct online transactions. E-government services, therefore, bring great convenience to the users. They also benefit the

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Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

providers because the services ease the workload of the counter staff and improve their operating efficiency. Many countries are keen to offer e-government services to potential users such as citizens, businesses, and tourists. Lee et al. (2005) documented the development of e-government services in many countries and found that they are in various stages of implementation. They found that in more advanced countries such as America and Canada, e-government services include being able to perform a number of functions – for example, obtaining relevant and up-to-date information, downloading forms, scheduling appointments, and making transactions such as paying tax online. In countries where establishing the Internet infrastructure is still a challenge, it is more difficult to develop such services. A United Nations report has classified countries into five stages of e-government development, vis-à-vis emerging, enhanced, interactive, transactional, and seamless (UNASPA, 2002). Regardless of the stages, it is important to ensure that people are receptive to use e-government services or else investments in these projects may be wasted. In this regard, Swartz (2004) has noted that only 20 percent of people with Internet access use e-government services. To increase usage, we need first to understand the factors that influence its adoption. The objective of this chapter, therefore, was to investigate the factors that might be related to the usage of egovernment services. The research setting for this study was in Macao. Macao is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China and it is located in the Guangdong province, on the western bank of the Pearl River Delta. It was a Portuguese colony for more than 400 years before it was handed over to the Chinese sovereignty in 1999. As at 2008, its population was around half a million and the land size was 27 square kilometres (Macao Yearbook, 2009). Indeed, Macao is a very small

58

and compact place. We conducted the research in Macao because e-government services are relatively new in Macao. Given that people in Macao normally visit government offices when they need help on government matters, it would be useful to determine if people are receptive to using egovernment services. In the current research, we set out to determine the factors that would attract people to use Macao e-government services even though many government departments in Macao are easily accessible. We note that many government offices in Macao provide one-stop services and they have established performance pledges for their customers (Chou, 2004). The Macao government is keen to develop electronic services as an alternative avenue for its services as most residents already have easy access to the Internet (Cheung and Wang, 2004). The vision of the government is to provide government information and services via one portal that connects the government public network and its internal network. The Macao government started providing electronic service more than a decade ago and officially launched its e-government portal in December 2004 (Rong, 2005). To date, however, there are limited studies about e-government services in Macao. This study can help to understand the factors underlying the diffusion of e-government services and can assist the providers to strengthen their strategies to encourage greater adoption among the residents. This chapter is organized as follows. In the next section, we provide the background on the development of e-government services in Macao. Following that, we elaborate on the main focus of the chapter, which is about e-government services adoption in Macao. In this section, we discuss the factors that might influence the adoption of e-government services in Macao and test the factors based on a sample of data gathered from a questionnaire survey. We then go on to future research directions and end with a conclusion.

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

BACKGROUND The Internet was introduced in Macao by a local telecommunication company in 1995. This was about the same time when the Macao government decided to make its presence felt in the Internet. At that time, the primary objective of e-government was related to tourism – to publicize information about Macao. During the initial period, some government departments introduced information about different aspects of Macao, such as its history, economy, culture, and political system. The websites were published by different government agencies and they were not linked or integrated with each other. As time went by, more government agencies launched their websites and more information became available. The government’s web presence turned more professional, and the information became richer. A government network called ‘Infomac’ was established. The objective of ‘Infomac’ was to connect government agencies and provide information on legislation and administrative procedures. By 1997, sixty government agencies were connected to Infomac (Wong, 2006). Infomac became a centralized place in the Internet for people to look for government information. To better manage the e-government project, the Macao government formed an ‘E-government Development Team’ to plan for its overall development and implementation. The team established the Macao SAR Government portal (www.gov. mo), which is currently the most important government website that provides government information and services via one gateway (Rong, 2005). The portal is written in three languages – Chinese (traditional and simplified text), Portuguese, and English. The portal is catered to residents, tourists, and merchants. Under the residents’ section, the contents are grouped into four categories – namely, governance and political model, proclamation, Macao overview, and legislation. The category under governance and political model includes information related to Macao’s political system

and government organization, its policies, and the latest government news. Information in this category is considered comprehensive and detailed enough to satisfy the general needs of Macao residents. The information under the proclamation category includes official bulletin, government tenders, government employment, and public affairs. For the category under Macao overview, there are various types of information such as Macao’s profile, city description, and details on leisure activities. As for the category on legislation, it provides a single access point to different legislation enquiry systems. For example, it is linked to the ‘Macao Law’ portal for users to learn more about legislation. The portal aims to achieve a ‘one-stop’ public service platform for the users. It provides convenient access to a wide range of government online services launched by different government agencies. Services that can be obtained from the portal include forms download, online appointment and application, online query, online contact, online subscription and online tax payment. For example, the portal provides download of forms from different government agencies. It also has online appointment in areas such as application of identity cards, visas, and certification of nocriminal record. Other services include a wide range of online query on information in different service domains, like checking the registration status of government employment, searching for books in government libraries, scheduling of legal cases for courthouse hearing, and checking the status of welfare application. The portal also enables subscription of periodicals from the Macao Economic Services Bureau as well as the Commission Against Corruption.

E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES ADOPTION IN MACAO Layne and Lee (2001) defined e-government as ‘government’s use of technology, particularly

59

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

web-based Internet applications to enhance the access to and delivery of government information and services to citizens, business partners, employees, other agencies, and government entities.’ While e-government can cater to different groups of users, this chapter focused on residents. As mentioned in the introduction, the focus of this chapter was to determine the factors that would influence the adoption of e-government services in Macao, where residents would normally be able to access government services conveniently through government offices. To attract users, e-government services should provide residents with information and services that are more expedient than those available at traditional ‘brick and mortar’ offices. Therefore, to ensure that egovernment services will be used by the people, the government concerned must understand the factors that influence their usage. The Internet is a technological innovation and businesses have used it to enable customers to conduct transactions. In fact, businesses have been much faster in making use of the Internet to conduct business than governments have been in using the Internet to provide e-government services. Since there is already much research on e-commerce adoption, the current study drew on the results obtained from prior research and applied them to the context of the current study on e-government services. As e-government is a technological innovation, we also referenced Rogers’ (1995) theory on diffusion of innovation to help us in this research.

(Pavlou, 2001). For example, it is difficult to verify sellers’ identity in the Internet and therefore sellers may become opportunistic in their behaviour towards their customers. There are reports that some online sellers used customers’ information for unethical purposes. Prior empirical research has shown that trust in e-commerce vendors increases people’s intention to use the vendors’ website (Teo et al., 2007). Based on the same reasoning, people need to trust e-government services before they are willing to use e-government websites. When people trust e-government services, they are likely to have higher intention to use the services (Warkentin et al., 2002). Rogers’ (1995) theory on diffusion of innovation has been used to explain users’ adoption of new technologies. According to the theory, one factor that affects the rate of diffusion of an innovation is compatibility. Compatibility refers to the degree to which an innovation is seen to be compatible with existing values, beliefs, experiences, and needs of adopters. If an innovation is compatible with the users, then it is likely that the innovation will be adopted. Thus, even though there are government offices that people can turn to when they need to interface with the government, if people find that using online services is more compatible with their lifestyle, then they will use e-government services. Carter and Belanger (2005) tested the importance of compatibility in influencing intention to use e-government services in the United States and found that compatibility is indeed a significant factor.

Prior Reference Research

Usage Intention of Macao’s E-Government Services

Prior research on e-commerce adoption has found that trust is an important factor that influences ecommerce behaviour (Chang et al., 2004). Trust refers to expectations that other people would fulfil their expected commitments under conditions of vulnerability and interdependence (Rousseau et al., 1998). Trust is necessary in e-commerce because e-commerce involves many uncertainties

60

E-government services are relatively new in Macao and not many people have used them. This study, therefore, used intention as a proxy for usage. Prior research has established that intention is the best predictor of behaviour (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). We used intention to use Macao e-government services as the dependent

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

variable in this research. Based on the literature reviewed, we proposed that intention to use Macao e-government services is influenced by two factors – namely, trust and compatibility. In this study, trust is defined as the expectation that commitments undertaken by another person or organization will be fulfilled (Rotter, 1971). When users browse the Macao government website, they trust that the information presented is accurate, correct, and timely. Users also trust that when they are required to provide sensitive information like their personal identification numbers to make administrative transactions such as scheduling an appointment, the information they provide will be kept securely. Prior studies have established that trust is important in e-commerce adoption (Chang et al., 2000). We can extrapolate that trust is also an important factor in adoption of e-government services (Warkentin et al., 2002). Hence, the following hypothesis: H1: Trust is positively related to intention to use e-government services. In this research, compatibility refers to the extent that using e-government services fits the way one works and lives. When an individual finds that e-government is compatible with the way he or she works and lives, it will help to foster perception of instrumentality. It increases adoption intention because the individual can adopt with minimal changes. There is little disruption to the way the individual works and lives (Karahanna et al., 2006). If e-government is not compatible, then the individual will find the use of e-government burdensome. The intention to use e-government services is likely to be lower. Hence, the following hypothesis: H2: Compatibility is positively related to intention to use e-government services.

Measurements, Data Collection, and Analysis The items used to operationalize the constructs in this study were adopted from prior research where their reliabilities have been established. Changes were made to the items to reflect the context for the Macao e-government services. Intention was measured using three modified items from Suh and Han (2003). Trust was measured based on an overall assessment and it was also based on five modified items from Suh and Han (2003). Compatibility was measured based on three items from Taylor and Todd (1995). All the items for the measures used a seven-point scale, with anchors of ‘1’ indicating ‘Strongly Disagree’ and ‘7’ indicating ‘Strongly Agree’. Data for the research were collected in August 2006 from a questionnaire survey using the snowballing method (Goodman, 1961). Appendix A shows the questionnaire items. All the items were translated into Chinese to enable those who only understood Chinese to complete the questionnaire. The accuracy of the translation was verified using back translation. The questionnaire was pre-tested in a pilot survey among three university lecturers to determine if there were any ambiguities in the questionnaire items. Based on their feedback, minor changes were made to improve the clarity of the items. The questionnaires were distributed to a sample comprising the authors’ colleagues and friends. Altogether, three hundred questionnaires were distributed. The questionnaire survey also collected demographic information such as age, gender, and frequency of Internet usage. The survey was anonymous and no names were required. All data collected from the survey were keyed into the SPSS software. A factor analysis was first conducted to determine the validity of the constructs. Then, the multivariate regression technique was used to analyse the data. The two independent variables,

61

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

Table 2. Results of factor analysis

Table 1. Demographics of respondents Frequency Gender

Usage of Internet

1

2

3

110

48.7

Female

114

50.4

TRUST3

0.770

0.389

0.224

2

0.9

TRUST5

0.766

-0.12

0.354

10

8.8

TRUST4

0.755

0.257

0.267

21-30

121

53.5

TRUST1

0.713

0.240

0.165

31-40

59

26.1

TRUST2

0.690

0.231

0.196

41-50

14

6.2

INT2

0.264

0.833

0.372

51-60

8

3.5

INT1

0.195

0.825

0.386

No response

4

1.8

INT3

0.295

0.771

0.313

20 or less

5

2.2

CP1

0.295

0.284

0.864

less than 1 hr/wk

17

7.5

CP2

0.240

0.303

0.864

1-3 hrs/wk

23

10.2

CP3

0..260

0.335

0.817

3-7 hrs/wk

36

15.9

7-14 hrs/wk

54

23.9

14-28 hrs/wk

42

18.6

28-56 hrs/wk

35

15.5

More than 56 hrs/ wk

19

8.4

None

trust and compatibility, were regressed on the dependent variable, usage intention.

Results, Recommendations, and Limitations Among the 300 questionnaires distributed, 233 were returned, giving a response rate of about 78 percent. Of the 233 returned, 226 were complete and used in the analysis. Table 1 shows the demographic profile of the respondents. Table 2 shows the results of the factor analysis. The table shows that none of the individual items load more highly on another construct than they do on the constructs they are designed to measure. Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics and the correlation coefficients. The table shows that all the constructs have reliabilities that are 0.90 and higher. Hence, the reliabilities are above the cut off value of 0.70 (Nunnally, 1978). The correlation

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Components

Male No response

Age

Percentage

coefficients show that trust and compatibility are both positively correlated with usage intention. Table 4 presents the results of multivariate regression. The results show that trust and compatibility are in the expected direction and they are significant. The R-square for the regression is 0.632, which is moderately high. Multicollinearity for the regression is not a concern as the VIF for the two independent variables is 1.624, which is within the limit suggested by Hair et al. (1998). The results support the two hypotheses proposed in this research. The results of this research indicate that there are two ways to increase usage intention of egovernment services in Macao. One is for the people to develop trust in e-government services. Developers of the e-government website need to be mindful that users need to trust the e-government website and therefore they must think of ways to develop users’ trust. Second, e-government services should be made compatible with the way users live and work. For example, the government should promote an electronic lifestyle so that the use of e-government services is an extension of that lifestyle. The government should also ensure that information and services provided by e-government are consistent with other

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

Table 3. Descriptive statistics Mean

SD

Alpha

INT

TRUST

(1) INT

4.34

1.30

0.94

(2) TRUST

4.13

1.29

0.90

0.70

(3) CP

3.69

1.20

0.93

0.71

0.62

All correlations are significant at p<0.001.

ways residents have dealt with the government. Accordingly, more users will be encouraged to use e-government services. There are two limitations with regard to the results of this research. One is that this study used a convenience sample and therefore it might lead to a sample bias. We note that the research sample comprised about 90 percent of respondents who were below 41 years of age and most of them used the Internet frequently. Thus, the research results are applicable more specifically to Internet users who are below 41 years of age. Another limitation of this research is that the respondents might have provided a ‘socially desirable’ response. They might have given positive answers to questions such as trust and intention because they thought the researchers desired positive answers. Respondents might also have given desirable answers because they wanted to hide their unfamiliarity with e-government services.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The results obtained in this study show that the mean score for intention to use Macao egovernment services is 4.34 out of a scale of 7. This shows that respondents are generally positive about adoption of Macao’s e-government services. Nevertheless, it also indicates that there is room for improvement. As e-government services develop over the next few years, future research can use actual usage rather than usage intention as an objective measurement to monitor the progress of e-government services in Macao.

Table 4. Results of regression analysis Results Intercept

0.502*

Trust

0.539***

Compatibility

0.461***

R-square

0.632

* p<0.05 *** p<0.001

As reported earlier, trust and compatibility positively influenced usage intention and that the two independent variables accounted for a moderately high percentage of the variance in the dependent variable. These results have implications for research. These results showed that factors influencing e-government services adoption in Macao are consistent with those found in research conducted elsewhere (Carter and Belanger, 2005). Moving forward, future research can investigate how to develop online trust among people. A more detailed study can also model trust and compatibility as multi-dimensional constructs (Gefen et al., 2000; Karahanna et al., 2006) and determine the importance of each dimension in influencing adoption. Furthermore, future research can also determine if there are other factors that might be related to usage intention of e-government services in Macao.

CONCLUSION At the beginning of this chapter, we said that it is important to know the factors that influence users’ adoption of e-government services because this

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Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

knowledge can help developers build systems that people would want to use. We have found through this study that trust and compatibility are two factors that have significant influence on usage intention of e-government services in Macao. The Macao government, therefore, can make use of these results to strategize and improve the adoption of e-government services. This can help the providers and users to reap the benefits of implementing e-government services.

Goodman, L. A. (1961). Snowball sampling. Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 32(2), 148–170. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177705148

REFERENCES

Layne, K., & Lee, J. W. (2001). Developing fully functional e-government: a four stage model. Government Information Quarterly, 18(2), 122–136. doi:10.1016/S0740-624X(01)00066-1

Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Carter, L., & Belanger, F. (2005). The utilization of e-government services: citizen trust, innovation and acceptance factors. Information Systems Journal, 15(1), 5–25. doi:10.1111/j.13652575.2005.00183.x Chang, M. K., Cheung, W. M., & Lai, V. S. (2004). Literature derived reference models for adoption of online shopping. Information & Management, 42(4), 543–559. doi:10.1016/ S0378-7206(04)00051-5 Cheung, W. H., & Wang, U. Statistical survey on the Internet development in Macau SAR (in Chinese). Retrieved October 16, 2008 from http:// www.cnnic.net.cn/html/Dir/2004/02/06/2121. htm Chou, B. K. P. (2004). Public sector reform after the handover, China Perspectives, 52. Retrieved October 27, 2008 from http://chinaperspectives. revues.org/document808.html Gefen, D., Karahanna, E., & Straub, D. W. (2000). Trust and TAM in online shopping: An integrated model. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 27(1), 51–90.

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Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Karahanna, E., Agarwal, R., & Angst, C. M. (2006). Reconceptualizing compatibility beliefs in technology acceptance research. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 30(4), 781–804.

Lee, S. M., Tan, X., & Trimi, S. (2005). Current practices of leading e-government countries. Communications of the ACM, 48(10), 99–104. doi:10.1145/1089107.1089112 Macao Yearbook. (2009). Macao Yearbook 2009. Government Information Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pavlou, P. A. (2001). Integrating trust in electronic commerce with the Technology Acceptance Model – model development and validation, Proceedings of the 2001 Americas Conference in Information Systems, Boston, MA. (pp. 816-822). Retrieved October 18, 2008, from http://aisel.aisnet.org/ cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1598&context=am cis2001 Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations. New York, USA: The Free Press. Rong, K. X. (2005). Development of Macao e-government (in chinese). Journal of Macao Studies, 30(1), 58–66.

Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

Rotter, J. B. (1971). Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. The American Psychologist, 26(3), 443–450. doi:10.1037/h0031464 Rousseau, D. M., Sitkin, S. B., Burt, R. S., & Camerer, C. (1998). Not so different after all: a cross discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 393–404. Suh, B., & Han, I. (2003). The impact of customer trust and perception of security control on the acceptance of electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 7(3), 144–176. Swartz, N. (2004). E-government around the world. Information Management Journal, 38(1), 12. Taylor, S., & Todd, P. A. (1995). Understanding information technology usage: a test of competing models. Information Systems Research, 6(4), 144–176. doi:10.1287/isre.6.2.144 Teo, S. H. T., & Liu, J. (2007). Consumer trust in e-commerce in the United States, Singapore, and China, Omega. The International Journal of Management Science, 35(1), 22–38. UNASPA. (2002). Benchmarking e-government: a global perspective – assessing the UN member states. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://pti. nw.dc.us/links/docs/ASPA_UN_egov_survey.pdf Warkentin, M., Gefen, D., Pavlou, P. A., & Rose, G. M. (2002). Encouraging citizen adoption of e-government by building trust. Electronic Markets, 12(3), 157–162. doi:10.1080/101967802320245929

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Adoption of E-Government Services: It refers to users’ acceptance of services provided through e-government systems. Compatibility: Compatibility in this study refers to the extent that using e-government services fits the way one works and lives. E-Government Services: E-government services are services that are provided through egovernment systems. Examples of e-government services include providing information, scheduling appointments, and downloading forms – all through electronic means such as the web. E-Government: E-government is defined as the government’s use of technology, particularly web-based Internet applications to enhance the access to and delivery of government information and services to citizens, business partners, employees, other agencies, and government entities. Factor Analysis: A statistical procedure used to uncover relationships among many variables. This procedure enables numerous inter-correlated variables to be condensed into dimension(s). It can be used to determine the validity of constructs. Portal: A ‘one-stop’ online service platform for users. It provides users with convenient access to a wide range of services. Snowballing Method: A sampling method based on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects. Trust: Trust is defined as the expectation that commitments undertaken by another person or organization will be fulfilled.

Wong, G. C. (2006). Overview of Macau Information Services and Network (in Chinese). Retrieved October 18, 2008, from http://www.mlima.ctm. net/c/magazine/collect2.htm

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Usage Intention of E-Government Services in Macao

APPENDIX Items Used to Operationalise Constructs Intention INT1

I intend to use Macao e-government in the future

INT2

I expect my use of Macao e-government to continue in future

INT3

I will frequently use Macao e-government in the future

Trust TRUST1

Macao e-government is trustworthy

TRUST2

I trust the benefits of the decision of Macao e-government

TRUST3

Macao e-government keeps its promises and commitments

TRUST4

Macao e-government keeps customers’ best interests in mind

TRUST5

Macao e-government would do the job right even if not monitored

Compatibility Using Macao e-government CP1

fits the way I work

CP2

fits into my work style

CP3

fits with the way I live

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Chapter 5

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India:

A Case Study of E-Gram Suraj (E-Rural Good Governance) Scheme1 Saxena Anupama Guru Ghasidas University, India

ABSTRACT In the present chapter, the author seeks to identify the existing gender gaps in rural e-governance in India and has attempted to explore the factors responsible for these gaps with reference to a rural egovernance scheme in one of the most economically and socially challenged state of India as an illustration to support some of the points sought to be made in the paper. The author argues that in Indian context, where rural women are already less visible in the public sphere due to socio–cultural factors and men already dominate, e-governance is more available and accessible to men. Hence to avoid the emergence of a gender based digital divide in rural governance that would further marginalize the rural women, it is necessary that the potential of ICTs is exploited in such a manner as to address the existing gender issues in rural governance, which are still obstructing women’s way to participate equally in the process. Women’s abilities, needs, perceptions and building women’s capacities to use the ICTs are other important factors that should be given due consideration while planning for rural e- governance to make it meaningful to women.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch005

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

INTRODUCTION India is a country dominated by rural population. But even after sixty years of Independence rural areas are marked by severe poverty, illiteracy, lack of health services, lack of employment opportunities and over all backwardness. The condition of women in rural areas is worse as the gender based discrimination with strong socio cultural roots are entrenched and pervasive. In 1993 the Panchayati Raj2 (Village Level Local Self Governance) System was introduced as an instrument of rural self-governance. Described as a “revolution based on maximum democracy and maximum devolution”, a key feature of the system is that 33 percent of elected seats are reserved for women in some 250,000 local government bodies that function below the district level. Seen another way, this quota means the empowerment of one million women—as India’s Panchayats (Local Self Governance Units) are run by three million elected office bearers. These one million grass root women elected leaders are expected to influence the process of rural governance and rural development in the interest of women. Due to the patriarchal character of the society, ability to participate equally in the process of governance has been a big challenge for the rural women. It has never been easy for them to make multiple trips to far off offices, chase officials, and humor them or to network with them. (Subramanian & Saxena, 2006). The provision of reservation (Article 243D & 243T of Indian Constitution) has given them an opportunity to hold formal positions of power and, in turn, participate in the decision making process. Women have got the opportunity to express their voice and shape policies on issues that matter to them most. In brief, reservation of seats for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions has paved the way for making governance structures gender equitable and gender sensitive. But the question that still

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remains is … whether this numerical strength of women has really brought any qualitative change in the lives of the women? So far, many studies have shown that even with 33% reservation the women Sarpanchas (Head of the Village Level Local Self Government Unit)) have not been able to equally participate in the process of rural governance. So far, this process has been undoubtedly male centric. (Subramanian & Saxena, 2006) Introduction of ICTs is expected to bring in changes in the whole process of rural governance with Sarpanchas being the key persons. What difference this emerging phenomenon of using ICT in rural governance or rural e-governance will be able to make in terms of women’s relations to the realm of rural governance is a pertinent question. In this context the present study seeks to address the following research questions through a gender evaluation of E-Gram Suraj3(Village Good Governance) Scheme of Chhatisgarh State4 of India: 1. Whether rural women Sarpanchas have been able to participate in the e-governance initiatives as equally as their male counterparts? If there is a gender gap what are the factors responsible for this? 2. What impact this e-governance scheme has had from a gender perspective in terms of its outcome for rural women Sarpanchas?

METHODOLOGY Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM)5 for Information Communication Technology for Development Projects is used for conducting the study. A combination of methods was adopted to collect data that included Personal Interviews, story telling and focused group discussions with various groups of informants. A review of the

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

government records is also done to gather relevant information. The questionnaire based survey with 56 Sarpanchas in Dongargaon Block6 of Chhattisgarh state was carried out during 31st May-6th June 2008.The questionnaire contained two sections. The first sections included the information regarding the profile of Sarpanchas. The second section consisted of project related questions, based on six indicators. Information from other informants like technology developers, software developers and government officers is also collected through personal interviews and online discussions. To understand the context and to analyze the data, earlier researches, government policy documents and reports have also been reviewed.

GENDER EVALUATION OF E-GRAM SURAJ SCHEME

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF E-GRAM SURAJ SCHEME

Category

E-Gram Suraj is a flagship rural e- governance project of Indian State Chhattisgarh (one of the states located in most socially and economically challenged regions of India) where Simputers7 are used in Panchayati Raj System to improve its functioning.In this scheme Simputers are provided to Sarpanchas (Village Level heads of Local Self Governance) to enable them to plan their activities scientifically and to enable the rural citizen especially the weaker section such as women to get their rightful share in development using ICT tools as an engine. In Panchayati Raj System, Village Panchayat is the most important body and Sarpanchas as its head are responsible for its working. In E gram suraj project Sarpanchas are primarily responsible for keeping the Simputers and using it. With 33% seats reserved for Women Sarpanchas (and recently the Government of Chhattisgarh has increased this quota to 50%) rural women are getting the Simputers and are entrusted with the responsibility of using them.

Gender Analysis of the Profiles of the Sarpanchas Sex Out of total Sarpanchas that are interviewed, 30.35% are women and 69.65% are men. According to constitutional provisions, 33% of the total seats are reserved for women. The official records show that not a single woman could contest election from an unreserved seat. It clearly shows that without providing reservation for women in rural governance, women would not be able to hold the office.

15.38% male Sarpanchas belong to Scheduled Tribe (ST8), 07.69% to Scheduled Cast (SC9), 64.10% to Other Backward Class (OBC10 and 12.82% to General11 Categories. Among the female Sarpnchas also, the percentage is almost corresponding, 11.76% belong to general, and 23.5% belong to ST, 05.88% to SC, and 58.82% to OBC categories.

Age Maximum number of men (35.89%) and women (58.82%) belong to the age group of 35-44. Minimum numbers of men (2.5%) and women (Nil) belong to the age group of 55- above. It is obvious that the leadership in rural governance is dominated by the youth. The reason for not so substantial gender-gap in the age of the Sarpanchas is quite interesting. Most of the women are wives of the male aspirants for the post of Sarpanchas but because the seat was reserved for women candidate they had to place some female member from the family and all of them preferred their wives.

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

Financial Status This is one indicator where cast based discrimination as well gender based discrimination are clearly visible. 100% General men and women belong to Above Poverty Line (APL12) families. In OBC category, 100% men belong to APL families but only 70% women belong to APL status and remaining 30% belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL13) category. 83.33% ST male and 75% ST female belong to APL category. 16.7% of ST male and 25% ST female belong to BPL category. 66.66% SC Male belong to APL where 100% of SC women belong to BPL category. Over all 94.87% men belong to APL and 05.12% belong to BPL category where as 70.58% women belong to APL category and 29.41% women Sarpanchas belong to BPL category.

Education Total Literacy rate among the surveyed group is 94.64%. Among men it is 97.43% and among women it is 88.23%.. Out of these 11.7% of women and 2.56% of men are illiterate. 25% of ST women and 10% of OBC women are illiterate as compared to 0% illiterates between general and SC women. Illiteracy among men is 0% in all subcategories except in SC category where 2.5% men are illiterate. A total of 20.51% men have received education higher than class 12th. The percentage of women in this category is nil showing a wide gender gap. A total of 17.94% men have received education up to the level of Senior Secondary (12th Pass), the percentage of women in this category is 05.88, less than their male counter parts again showing a wide gender gap. A total of 17.94% men and 29.41% women have received education up to the level of high school (class 10th). A total of 25.64% men and 41.17% have received education only up to class VIIIth.

70

At the primary level of education, men percentage is 15.38 and for women it is 11.76. It is obvious from the data that gender gaps are quite visible. Women of all categories are deprived of receiving higher education.

Marital Status A total of 89.28% Sarpanchas (92.30% men and 82% women) are married and living with their spouses and 05.35% are unmarried. All unmarried are men, constituting 07.92% of total men. All unmarried men are in the age group of 25- 30. 11.76% women are divorced while the number of divorced men is Nil. A total of 05.88% women are widow.

Language Gender gap is quite clear in the command over language. English is considered to be the international language and the content Of the Simputer has many words of English but the skill level of this language among the Sarpanchas is very gloomy. Only 03.57% men are fluent. The number of women in this category is nil. Only 29% of women Sarpanchas have a working knowledge of English whereas more than 66% of men posses this. The content of the Simputer is in Hindi14 (National Language). The percentage of Sarpnachas who are fluent in Hindi is not very encouraging. 82.14% men and 70.40% women are fluent in Hindi. In other words it means that more that 17% of men and almost 30% of women are not even fluent in Hindi. Most of them are fluent in local dialect Chhattisgarhi15.

Earlier Experience with Computer and Internet More than 66% Sarpanchas including 61% men and 76.47% women did not have any earlier experience of Computer or Internet. There is a wide gender gap. This is because women have

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

less outside exposure than the men. All three men who have an exposure belong to APL families, all three are 12th pass, two of them are fluent in English and another one has a working knowledge of English and fluency in other two languages, Hindi and Chhattisgarhi. It is clear that financial status, education and gender plays an important role in having an opportunity to the exposure to technology.

Availability of Mobile Phones 79% men and only 11% (Two) women own a mobile. These two women are those who are divorcees and are actively and independently holding the office of Sarpanchas. Gender issue is quite clear in another data. Male family members of 89% of total women Sarpanchas (who do not own a mobile phone) own a mobile phone. This clearly indicates that the family can afford a mobile phone but women are not considered needy enough to own one even though they are holding a responsible constitutional post. The reason is quite clear: the work related to Sarpancha is performed by the male member of the family, in most of the cases husband, so women in fact do not need the mobile. A few men also do not own mobile phone because that they do not have mobile connectivity in their areas.

Gender Evaluation of the E Governance Scheme Availability of Simputers to Men and Women Sarpanchas All 63 Sarpanchas have received the Simputers, including the women. But there are only 33% women and 67% men who have actually received the Simputer and women are able to receive this because one-third of the Panchayat members are in any case women.

The fact that not a single woman could contest/get elected from the seat other than the seats reserved for women, clearly establishes that if special provisions are not made for women they will not be able to hold the posts and hence the technology will not be available to them. The Simputers had been distributed in Janpad Panchayata16 Office that is located at Dongargaon and all Sarpachas were invited to receive it. Only two women went to receive the Simputers alone, accounting to a total of 11% women whereas more than 35% of men went alone to receive the Simputers. The rest of the 15 women went either with the Sachiv17 or with their husbands. The reasons quoted by men and women for not going alone show the gender dimension of the issue. The men went with some other men only to have a company whereas women went with a man because they were not able to go alone.

Access to Simputers It is obvious from the survey and the observation of the team members that male and female both have unhindered access to Simputers and they can use it as and when they want to use it. But there are a few cases that need attention as this can happen in other blocks as well. Two men are not able to use the Simputers as they are elected in mid-term elections and the earlier Sarpanhas have not handed over the Simputers to them. In the case of two women, Sachivas have taken away the Simputers on some pretext and are not allowing them to use the Simputers

Proposes of Using the Technology by Men and Women Sarpanchas In our study we have divided the uses in two sections Official 32.25% Male Sarpanchas have used the Simputer to download information from it. 09.67% have

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

transferred the data from their Simputers to the computers at Janpad Panchayat office through Pen drive and 16.12% have uploaded the data in their Simputers. Gender gaps are quite visible. Not a single woman has transferred the data. Only one woman has downloaded information. No woman has uploaded the data. Again, the women who are independent and have a working knowledge of English have shown more enthusiasm in using the Simputers. It is sure that a minimum level of education with working knowledge of English and fluency in Hindi is a must. Prior exposure to technology can be very helpful but certainly not a must. Personal Use Gender gap is quite obvious. A large number of Male Sarpanchas are using/ have used Simputers for their personal works like playing games, calculating, listening to songs etc. But only 40% female Sarpanchas have shown any interest in all this.

Barriers in Using the Technology After getting a gloomy picture of use of Simputers by women, it becomes very important to know that why are they not using the Simputers? Language Gender gap is quite visible, as 40% women have found the language very difficult to use where as only 16.12% men have faced this problem. This information correspondence with the earlier data on command over language that is described in detail in the section on profile of Sarpanchas. Usefulness of Content Here again gender gap is visible. Only 13% women and more than 38% men have found the content useful. The reasons for women not finding the content useful include, women’s inability to read/ understand the content and because the content is related to the responsibilities of Sarpanchas

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and women seldom perform that work. The two women who have found the content useful are those who are very actively performing their duties as Sarpanchas. Difficulty in Using the Simputer It is obvious from the profile of the Sarpanchas that for most of them this is the first introduction to the new technologies. Hence the data is collected to know the difficulty level in using the Simputrs. Gender gap is again quite visible in the level of difficulty in using the Simputers. The percentage of male Sarpanchas who have found the Simputers very difficult to use is nil where as more than 26% female Sarpanchas have found it very difficult to use. 45% men have found it very easy to use and only 20% women have found it very easy to use. The importance of training is quite evident as 45% Sarpanchas feel that if proper and adequate training is provided they would be able to use the Simputers more comfortably. Technical Problems Women are experiencing more technical problems than men. Those include, broken parts, problems with software, and discharged batteries.

Access and Use of Support System by Men and Women This is one of the very important aspects. Most of the Sarpanchas have never been exposed to any such technology earlier hence the Support System becomes very important. One component of this system is training and other one is repair facilities. According to the official records three training workshops of one day each have been organized. Our survey shows that a whooping number of Sarpanchas have shown interest in attending the training and there is no gender gap in the number of male and female attending the training. A deeper dig into the matter reveals that the CEO of Janpad Panchayata had issued an official letter to all the Sarpanchas to attend the training. Most

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

of the Sarpanchas attended the first and second training as Simputers were distributed during that. Hence official compulsion and getting a Simputer were the motivating factor to attend the training. Gender relations and women’s lack of independence are the elements very deeply entrenched in the rural society. The data on the number of Sarpanchas attending the training do not show any gender gap but one should not have the impression that there are no gender issues at all. The information on whether male and female Sarpanchas went to attend the training alone or with someone else explicitly describe the actual situation and dependence of women on men. 43% male Sarpanchas went to attend the training alone whereas only 11.76% female Sarpanchas went alone. The two female Sarpanchas who went alone are divorced and act independently. Gender gap is again clear in the reasons quoted by male and female Sarpanchas for going with some one. The reasons are almost the same as are described in the first Indicator “Whether you went alone to receive the Simputers” All Sarpanchas including male and female have shown much interest in attending the training. But the question is that to what extent the training has benefited them. Only 39% of male have found the training useful whereas the percentage of women who have found the training useful is almost double. For most of the women this was the first exposure to any such technology and they felt that this was an achievement that they could touch, hold and work on the Simputer where as many of the male had some exposure to such technology hence they were expecting something more significant. More than 53% of female Sarpanchas faced problems during the training. The problems included the problem of transportation, lunch, language, not any interest etc. Many of the women couldn’t understand anything. Training is one of the most important components while introducing Simputers into the rural setting. The duration of the training should be

sufficient; the language of the training should be suited to the competency level of the user group. It is found that male because of their better exposure to new technologies such as mobile and in some cases computers also, are more comfortable in understanding the functioning of Simputers. More over as they are better educated and better skilled as far as language is concerned it is easier for them to grasp whatever is explained during the sessions. Another advantage with men is that they can learn with fellow men where as women do not have any such chance and training is the only place where they do have a chance to learn the technology. Hence training session should be well planned and be very simple, supported by visuals wherever is necessary. One to one attentions should be paid to women Sarpanchas. The lack of proper training certainly has resulted in lack of interest in using the technology. At present only 17.58% of total Simputers are in working condition. It is a very hopeless situation for such an ambitious scheme. Gender gap is quite clear even in this. 20.5% Simputers owned by male Sarpanchas are in working condition and only 11.76% of Simputers owned by female Sarpanchas are in working condition. Some of the male members are smarter enough to get the Simputers repaired when it started malfunctioning. Sarpanchas are supposed to deposit the Simputers to Janpad Head Quarters for the repair of Simputers. This arrangement is proving more difficult for women. It is obvious from the data. There are more than 47% of women who have not deposited their Simputers for the repair. 35% of Simputers are deposited but are not returned to Sarpanchas. This clearly indicates serious loopholes in the process of repair of Simputers. Further enquiry into the matter reveals that many Sarpanchas have lost interest to use the Simputers due to this reason. More than 50% of total Sarpanchas have faced problems in getting the Simputers repaired. Only 17% Sarpanchas could get it repaired easily. There is a wide gender gap in the percentage of

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

Sarpanchas who have found it difficult to get the Simputers repaired. Female experienced more difficulties in getting it repaired. Only one woman could get it repaired easily where as 23% men did not face any problems in getting it repaired. The difficulties faced by Women Sarpanchas in getting the Simputers repaired are as following: 1. No budget provision for repair 2. Lack of local facilities 3. Couldn’t deposit it to Janapad Panchayata as there was no one who could go. 4. Some did not find it of any use hence did not bother to get it repaired As is clear by the profiles of the Sarpanchas that more than 66% of the total Sarpanchas including 61% men and 76.47% women did not have any earlier experience of Internet or Computers, more over the Simputers are used for such type of projects for the first time in the country. But no support system at the local level has been provided for repair of the Simputers. The only option left to the Sarpanchas at the time of any malfunctioning of the Simputers is to rush to the Janpad Panchayata office that is located more that 30 Kms away from some of the villages. Because of being a new technology and because of the very less exposure of the users to any type of technology and lack of adequate training it is but natural that the Simputers go out of function very frequently.

Perceptions of Men and Women Sarpanchas about the Impact of Technology Actual Impact In the Work of Sarpanchas? The picture is very gloomy. More than 80% of Sarpanchas feel that the Simputer is of no use in any official work at present. More than 94% of women found it of no use.

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Only one woman has found it useful in her work as Sarpancha. She can get the information related to various schemes easily and has found it time saving. In the Personal Life The Sarpanchas have found Simputers more useful at personal level especially for listening music. Most of the Sarpanchas feel that there are no benefits of using Simputers in enhancing their capacities of taking decision as Sarpanchas. Male and Female both believe that this scheme has provided them exposure to technology and it has inculcated a sense of confidence in them that they can also use such type of technology.

Potential Impacts Interesting gender gap are seen when Sarpanchas are asked to tell the potential impacts of using the Simputers. Men and Women both agree that if used properly the use of Simputer can curb corrupt practices in administrative process but most of them, men and women both feel that this potential would be the biggest hurdle in actually ensuring the use of Simputers in rural governance. They do not believe that the government officers can promote anything that would remove corruption. Most of the Sarpanchas, men and women both, themselves want to continue with the corrupt practices. Interestingly women do not appreciate the potential of technology to facilitate the work form their houses or from their villages. For them the necessity to visit the Janpad Panchayat office provides them with an opportunity to get out of their houses and villages and to feel a sense of power while meeting the concerned officers In their offices personally. According to most of the women this potential of Simputer if exploited fully would actually, help the male members to take control of all the work and would actually snatch away even the very little opportunity that

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

women Sarpanchas are getting to get out of their houses and villages. More men and fewer women feel that the Simputers can be useful in providing decisionmaking support to them.. Women feel that they are not able to deliver their duties as Sarpanchas due to social cultural reasons hence and Simputers cannot bring in any change. The male Sarpanchas are aware and optimistic about the future use of Simputers. Their optimism is based on following factors: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

This can help in uploading of accurate information from grass root and thus help in better policy and programme planning and implementation. It can help in providing the financial details online thus encouraging transparency In expenditure at every level of Panchayati Raj System It will help in realizing the ‘deepening the democracy’ sprit of Panchayati Raj System, as it will facilitate direct contact of village community to state level decision makers. Computerization of information can save time and money that is spent in visiting Janapad office. It can help Sarpanchas in many ways like, in preparing the budget of the Gram Panchayatas if decision support software is uploaded for this purpose. Sarpancha will be able to serve people better by providing the status of their applications for various schemes. It can check corruption, as information will be available to all. It will be particular helpful at the time of transfer of powers. Most of the Sarpanchas are of the opinion that they would be able to talk to Chief Minister directly and to make complaints or put demands. It can provide the Sarpanchas an opportunity to connect to the world and share the

•

ideas with each other and to learn from the experiences of each other. It can help in sending e-mails and faxes.

Conclusion It is obvious that women are not able to participate equally in this rural governance initiative neither this scheme has any significant impact on women. The reasons are as following: 1. The scheme is not implemented properly Over the past decade, India has become the world’s test bed for innovations in information and communication technologies (ICTs) serving the rural user (Rafiq Dossani, 2005). This project also is still at experimental level. It has not yet had a significant socio-economic impact or has not even developed a catalytic, replicable approach. The hope that ICT can build rural capacity for e-governance has not been realized. 2. The inferior status of women in the rural society that restricts their equal access to technology and also restricts them to acquire equal competency level to use the technology effectively The latest data of National Family Health Survey (National Family Health Survey India, 200506) clearly indicate that in Chhattisgarh women are far behind from their men counterparts in all development indicators. The scenario is same for the whole of the country. Rural women of India form the most marginalized group of Indian Society. This is clear from the latest data provided by National Family Health Survey in India (National Family Health Survey India, 2005-06) in which it is clear that the rural women are lagging behind their rural male counterparts as well as their female urban counterparts. The data regarding the education, media exposure, empowerment, age

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

of marriage and age of bearing the first child are especially mentionable. 3. Male dominance in the domain of rural governance that restrict women ‘equal participation in rural governance and consequently in e-governance as well. In 1993 the Panchayati Raj System is introduced as an instrument of rural development. It is expected that rural-urban divide can be minimized using Panchayti Raj as an effective catalyst for making villages assertive, self reliant and competitive.(Menon, Sudha Venu,2007) Reservation of seats for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions has paved the way for making governance structures gender equitable and gender sensitive. The reservation is providing lot of opportunity to women but yet there are limitations and Quota may not fully bring about social change (UNDP, IND, 99). There are clear indications that women are getting representation but they are not actively participating in rural governance. They are playing a proxy role for their family members. The representation of women have not automatically led to empowerment of women. After several years, it is a big challenge for women to function in formal spaces, dominated as they are, by men. They still face considerable handicaps to their involvement in politics for example: - inadequate education, the burden of reproductive and productive roles, lack of financial independence or control of assets & the opposition of entrenched cultural & religious views (Vrajlal Sapovadia,99). It is observed that it is mostly men who draw up proposals for development works for submission to the gramsabha (Village Assembly). Pradhan Patis (elected women’s husbands) are also a common phenomenon in the gram Panchyat meetings & reflect the strong hold that patriarchy has over the lives of women. Because of reservation women are forced to fight election but family & community have no confidence in them.

76

During our Survey we could note almost negligible role of women Sarpanchas in rural governance. Husband of one of the woman Sarpanchas successfully avoided our access to his wife. He repeatedly told us over phone that there was no use and no need to meet his wife as she just stayed at home that was far away from the Panchayata she was representing and she never visited the Panchayata and it was HE who performed all the duties of Sarpanchas. He said that the villagers did not have any problem in this arrangement. One of the women Sarpanchas denied meeting us alone. She said that she had not done anything so far without her husband. She was so adamant and so convinced with the righteousness of this stand that she got angry at us when we tried to convince her to talk to us alone in her house and finally she denied talking to us at all and her husband challenged us to publish this incident anywhere and to make any complaints in this regard to anyone. One of the women told us that she was quite interested in actually working as Sarpancha and she felt that she could work well at her own but her husband would never allow her to do so and also that she felt very frustrated because of this. In most of the Villages when we entered the village and asked the villagers “ Who Is the Sarpancha” In most of the cases it was the name of the husband that was told to us and only after asking a second time and insisting on the actual name of Sarpancha the villagers informed about the women Sarpancha. Same thing had happened when we had started contacting Sarpnchas over telephone. In most of the cases it was the husband of the Women Sarpancha who himself told that “Myself Sarpancha speaking” and only after we insisted that according to our official records it should be the seat of a women Sarpancha he accepted that his wife was Sarpancha. Afterwards also they kept on insisting that whatever information we needed should be asked to them, as their wives did not know anything. The family member, the village community, even most of the women all seemed to be most

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

comfortable with the situation. In case of some influential Husbands, even the officers at Janapad Panchayata do not insist upon the presence of women Sarpancha during the official work and let the husbands do all the work. Even in the unofficial gatherings of Sarpanchas, most of the women Sarpanchas are represented by their husbands and a few who attend the meetings and make suggestions are not taken seriously. But there are few women sarpanchas who are working independently and a few, who are, though assisted by their husbands, are active and aware. Some of the Sarpanchas belonging to SC/ST category are eager to work and there are no hurdles from their family member but they themselves do not understand the procedures etc hence they have to depend up on their Sachiv for all the work related to Panchayatas. This problem is however faced by few of the men Sarpanchas as well. 4. The rural e- governance phenomena lack a gender perspective The rural development programmes in India are executed and monitored by the three tier Panchayati Raj Institutions. The objectives of these rural development programmes can be achieved only if the execution and monitoring can be done in more effective manner; in this ICTs can be a great help. The ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India recommended the use of ICT in PRIs during its 7th Round Table conference held from 17-19 December 2004 “Computerization of Panchayati Raj Institutions is a mission mode project” (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, 2007) under the ambitious National eGovernment Plan of the government of India. The ambitious nature of the plan is obvious from the following excerpts of the report: “E Governance will enhance the Sarpanchas’ ability to generate, manage and collect local revenue and automate their own functioning by making available records of the minutes. In-

formation regarding governance structure and decision taken, profiles of elected representatives and their roles, details of NGOs present in the village will help in providing visibility. In turn it would facilitate social audits strengthening the Panchayata based delivery systems, offering the citizen services that have been devolved to them to ensure speedy and transparent transfer of funds, markets, communication with state and central government departments as a mechanism for capacity building. Introduction of ICT at the Panchayat level will also give people immense opportunity to handle technology create larger scale job opportunities at the grass root level as in urban areas in the form of operational services, maintenance and ancillary areas. The initiative would permeate a culture of ICT uses in rural areas to such a magnitude, which probably no other initiative would match.” (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, 2007) There is a possibility that rural women, due to their current inferior status in all development indicators may find themselves more excluded in the emerging information society. Integrating ICTs in rural governance, without integrating gender dimension, may threaten the rural women office bearers finding themselves more marginalized.A few studies done so far have already indicated that the threat of the gender based divide is very real in rural India. A few excerpts from such studies are as following: “In conclusion, ICTs hold great promise for economic development and the empowerment of disadvantaged groups in the global South. Awareness of the gender dimension of access, need and use of information technologies, however, is crucial for an effective deployment of new technologies to ensure that women and men benefit equally from the tremendous potential of the information superhighway.’’(Best & Maier, 2007)

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

“There are some general lessons that one can glean from the Akshaya experience. First, the study reconfirms the view that distributional impacts of supposedly ‘neutral’ projects are not necessarily neutral: that the first step in countering adverse distributional impact of projects like Akshaya is to ensure project designs have built-in monitoring mechanisms to track the gender and class impact of projects, especially in situations where homogeneity of the target population cannot be assumed. It also brings to bear the necessity of keeping in mind that sensible efforts at correcting gender imbalances on the ground need a blending of different kinds of knowledge, insights and expertise.” (Mukhopadhyay & Nandi 2007) A surprising factor is that taking into consideration the inferior status of women in rural society and their resultant inability to participate equally in the process of rural government, 33% reservation of seats and in Chhattisgarh 50% reservation of seats is provided to rural women in three tier Panchayati Raj Institutions but while planning and implementing the use of ICTs to rural governance the inferior status of women has not been given any consideration. It is assumed that men and women will be able to use ICTs equally and it will impact men and women equally.

CONCLUSION One thing is very clear that despite its current failure the whole of the e-gram suraj scheme especially with the use of Simputer has an important potential to actually achieve the claimed impacts, provided: •

78

It should be very clear to all those who are responsible for the planning and implementation of the project that what is the aim of using the technology. What are the expected impacts?

•

•

•

•

Special care should be taken to ensure that the users should know and feel that the use of technology is of immediate use to him or her. The question that whose empowerment is actually sought by the use of technology is very important. Here in this case it seems that in the disguise of “citizen Empowerment” it is the administration whose empowerment is the focus of the project by provide them with increased control over the planning process and monitoring process? The empowerment of citizen especially the women –this concept should be very clear. What do the planners mean by empowerment through technology and how the digital literacy and availability of technology will contribute to the empowerment of various sections of the population? Need of complementary reforms in government administration and policies, and most importantly a change in the mindset of administrative people are must. E-governance aims at people centric governance but with a bureaucracy with a colonial mindset, e- governance initiative will remain limited to the experiments of using the ICTs, without any impacts on the process of governance itself. Adoption of technology for empowerment of rural people requires an administrative culture. To ensure that the e-governance projects achieve the expected impacts, the project designs should have a built-in monitoring mechanism to track the impact of the project. Its true that e-governance is a comparatively new phenomena in the sphere of Public Administration and some space should be provided for new experiments and innovations but complete lack of accountability in the name of experiments and pilot projects should not be granted. The rural users must feel that the technology is really useful in their professional

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

•

•

lives and in their personal lives. We could gather the information that each of the surveyed village has more than 100 mobile phones and 50-60 Dish TVs. Considering the fact that villages have a population between 700-2000 it is a good number. People informed us that the young boys and girls are even stealing money for buying mobile phones. It proves that if technology is useful people will adopt it and if it is not useful they will discard it even if it is given to them for free as has happened in the case of Simputers. Integration of social-cultural dimension into all e-governance projects should be mandatory. Currently the e-governance projects are considered technological domain only. A participatory approach at all levels of decision-making on e-governance project is a must.

Rural women in India are still struggling to have an equal share in the rural governance. The current scenario of absence of women’s angle from the agenda of rural e-governance will certainly worsen the situation. We conclude that gender issues in rural egovernance have mainly two folds. First, ensuring the equal participation of women in the rural governance and Second, using the potential of ICTs for addressing the existing gender issues in rural governance, which are still obstructing women’s way to participate equally in the process of rural governance. For this following measures need to be taken: •

•

Ensuring availability of technology to women: The present study clearly indicates that in the absence of special provisions the technology will not be available to rural women. Encouraging women to use the technology: This study shows that the new gen-

•

•

•

eration of rural women is quite interested in using the technology but the content of ICT is more useful for men. The content needs of the women should be taken into consideration to sustain their curiosity and interest in the use of ICTs. Taking into consideration women’s ability and Building Women’s Capacities to use the ICT: Are other important factors. The ability depends significantly upon literacy level, earlier exposure to such technologies and command over language. Because of their inferior status in the society and their confinement within the home, the rural women are deprived of gaining the capacities that are needed to use the ICTs. Hence while developing and using the technology and the software the capacity level of women should be taken into consideration and adequate training facilities should be provided. While Introducing e-governance to rural areas and specially when women are supposed to be the users of ICTs, one very important factors that needs attention is, the lack of maintenance and repair facilities in rural areas and women’s inability to go out to urban areas to access these facilities, in case there is a technological problem. The ICTs is something very new to women and technological problems will be frequent. If the repair and maintenance facilities are not available it may result in loss of interest in using the technology. Hence while selecting the technology, and the software, the locally available facilities should be assessed and required measures regarding the capacity building should be ensured. Providing repair training to a group of women and equipping them with a mobile vehicle would be a good idea. Taking into account the perspectives of users is very important: We have found that many of the Sarpanchas are not willing

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

•

•

80

to use the Simputers as they do not want a transparent and corruption free rural governance mechanism and women Sarpanchas are not exceptions. Inclusion of a gender perspective in rural e-governance agenda, from policy to programmes, is very important. Perceptions of women on the potential use and impacts of technology needs to be taken into consideration as one of the women is not keen to use the Simputers because she prefers to visit the Janpad Panchayata office frequently to get out of her village and home to have a feeling of freedom, exposure and fun. While planning the rural e-governance initiatives, the use of ICT should not be limited to “providing good governance” to improvising the existing public service delivery system. Undoubtedly, transparency and efficiency in the administration improvise the implementation and monitoring of the government schemes that benefit the male and the female. But in a rural setting most of the activities covered under public service delivery system are male domain hence if ICTs is used to provide a time and cost effective hassle free service delivery system to the rural people, it actually benefits the male not the female. The ICTs has an unprecedented potential of changing the lives of the rural women. But to achieve this, the needs of women, their problems and the issues that are responsible for their inferior status in the society should be taken into consideration and the use of ICTs should be planned in such a way as to address those issues also. Empowerment of women and changing the existing gender relations should be integrated in the whole agenda of use of ICTs for rural governance. Only then rural e-governance will have significant meaning for women.

REFERENCES Best, M. L., & Maier, S. G. (2007). Gender, Culture and ICT Use in Rural South India. Gender, Technology and Development, 11(2), 137–155. doi:10.1177/097185240701100201 Dossani, R. (2005, November 4). Enabling ICT for Rural India. Karmyog. Retrieved from http:// www.karmayog.org/ruraldevelopment/ruraldevelopment_4961.htm Menon, S. V. (2007). Grass root democracy and empowerment of people: evaluation of Panchayati Raj in India. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, MPRA Paper No. 3839 (pp-1- 13). Retrieved from http://mpra.ub.uni- muenchen.de/3839/1/ MPRA_paper_3839.pdf Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India. (2008, January, 17). Stage set for e-governance at grass roots; quarter million panchayats proposed to be computerised & connected in next three years. Retrieved from http://www.pib.nic.in/release/ rel_print_page1.asp?relid=34720 Mukhopadhyay, S., & Nandi, R. (2007). Unpacking the Assumption of Gender Neutrality: Akshaya Project of the Kerala IT Mission in India. Gender, Technology and Development, 11, 75–95. doi:10.1177/097185240601100104 National Family Health Survey India. (2005-06). NFHS-3, State Fact Sheet, Chhattisgarh. Retrieved from http://www.nfhsindia.org/pdf/CH.pdf Sapovadia, V. (2007, January 5). Decentralisation and Gender Balancing by Doctrine of Equity: Empowering Women Through PRIs in India. Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers. cfm?abstract_id=953651 Subramanian, M., & Saxena, A. (2006). EGovernance Initiatives in an Indian State: Some Observations from a Gender Perspective. In EGovernment: Micro Issues (pp. 130-140).

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

UNDP. IND/99/543 (n.d.). Capacity Building of Elected Women Representatives and Functionaries of PRIs. Retrieved from http://data.undp.org.in/ pa/dg/PRI-WIG.pdf

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS E-Governance: “E” government or electronic government refers to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by government agencies for any or all of the following reasons: (1) Exchange of information with citizens, businesses or other government departments; (2) Speedier and more efficient delivery of public services; (3) Improving internal efficiency; (4) Reducing costs or increasing revenue; and (5) Re-structuring of administrative processes. Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM): GEM is an evaluation methodology that integrates a gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social change. It provides a means for determining whether ICTs are worsening or really improving women’s lives and gender relations, as well as for promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community and broader social levels. Gender: The term indicates the relations between men and women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men, but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principle of societies, and often governs the processes of production and reproduction, consumption and distribution. Panchayati Raj: Village Level Self Governance in India, The Panchayat is a South Asian political system. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages. Modern

Indian government has decentralised several administrative functions to the village level, empowering elected gram panchayats Now Its A constitutional Entity in India. Simputer: The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man.

ENDNOTES 1



2



5 6 3 4

7 8



This work is supported in part by Association For Progressive Communication, Women Network Support Programme (APCWNSP). Village Level Self Governance in India, The Panchayat is a South Asian political system. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages. Modern Indian government has decentralised several administrative functions to the village level, empowering elected gram panchayats Now Its A constitutional Entity in India. http://chips.gov.in/content/projects.htm. http://chhattisgarh.nic.in/. http://www.apcwomen.org/gemkit. Dongargaon is a block in Rjnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh State of India.It has an area of 471.82 Kilometers and a population of ninety-nine thousand one hundred and seventy four people. The whole Block is a rural area and is represented by the Chief Minister of the State Dr. Raman Singh, in the state legislative assembly. For location in India please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Dongargaon. http://www.simputer.org/. Scheduled Tribe (ST): Forest dweller communities of India that are accorded special status by the constitution of India.

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Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

9



10



11



12



13



82

Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are Indian communities that are explicitly recognized by the Constitution of India as requiring special support to overcome centuries of discrimination by mainstream Hindu society. SCs/STs together comprise over 24% of India’s population, with SC at over 16% and ST over 8% as per the 2001 Census. Other Backward Class (OBC): The Other Backward Classes and Minority communities are Socially, Economically and Educationally lagging behind the general category in the country. In order to bring them at par with the advanced section of the society in the country In the Indian constitution, special provisions are made for them. Those who do not fall in ST, SC or OBC categories. Those who are not included in Below Poverty Line (BPL) Category. The poverty line in India measures only the most basic calorie intake, recording not nutrition but only the satiation of hunger. At present the poverty line stands at Rs 368 and Rs 559 per person per month for rural and urban areas, just about enough to buy 650 grams of foodgrains every day. A

14



15



16



17



nutritious diet itself would cost around Rs 573 per capita per month, let alone the cost of securing other basic needs. When such an inclusive measure of poverty is used, as many as 68-84% of Indians would qualify as poor. http://infochangeindia.org/200610195662/ Agenda/Hunger-Has-Fallen-Off-The-Map/ The-poverty-line-is-a-starvation-line.html. Official National Language of India and Official State Language of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarhi is official State Language of Chhattisgarh along with Hindi is an IndoAryan language spoken in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh which has approximately 11.5 million speakers. For details please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhattisgarhi_language. Block Level Local Self-Governance Unit, Second Tire in the Three Tire Local Self Governance in India. The state government or a prescribed authority appoints the Sachiv(Secretary) who can service a Gram Panchayata or a group of two or more Gram Panchayata. The secretary is responsible for maintenance of the records of Gram Panchayat and is administratively responsible to the Chief Officer of Janpad Panchayata.

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Chapter 6

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government Walter Castelnovo University of Insubria, Italy

ABSTRACT Partnering is often claimed to represent a solution small local government organizations (SLGOs) can resort to in order to manage innovation. However, especially when private partners are involved, resources and specialized competencies need to be allocated on the management of the partnership in order to guarantee that it will deliver a public value. SLGOs often lack such resources and this can make it difficult for them to benefit from Public-Private Partnerships. In the chapter a solution to this problem will be suggested based on the concept of Integrated System of Local Government, that represents a form of strategic and long term partnership for the sharing of resources and specialized competences among SLGOs. More specifically, it will be argued that if the partnership with the private partners is established directly by the integrated system, on behalf of its members, this can guarantee a better governance of the partnership even when the public sector organizations involved are SLGOs.

INTRODUCTION According to a broad definition, “E-Governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch006

citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective” (UNESCO, 2008). The experience of the past years, both at the local and the global level, shows that these results cannot be achieved simply through the use of ICTs as technologies for the informatization and the automation of the administrative processes. Rather, in

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 1. The dimensions of innovation Type of innovation

Example

Product innovation

new products (e.g. new instrumentation in hospitals)

Service innovation

new ways in which services are provided to users (e.g. on-line tax forms)

Process innovation

new ways in which organisational processes are designed (e.g. administrative reorganisation into front- and back-office processes; process mapping leading to new approaches)

Position innovation

new contexts or ‘customers’ (e.g. the Connexions service for young people in England)

Strategic innovation

new goals or purposes of the organisation (e.g. community policing; foundation hospitals)

Governance innovation

new forms of citizen engagement, and democratic institutions (e.g. area forums; devolved government)

Rhetorical innovation

new language and new concepts (e.g. the concept of congestion charging for London, or a carbon tax)

order to achieve the goals of E-Governance, what is needed is a deep innovation process leading to a radical transformation of Public Administration, especially at the cultural and organizational level (CIO 2005). Starting from a systematic analysis of the academic literature on innovation, the following classification of different types of innovation has been introduced in (Hartley, 2005, 2006) (Table 1) Since they aim at the transformation of Public Administration, the innovation processes entailed by E-Governance involve all the dimensions of innovation listed in the table. This makes such processes particularly complex to manage: they require technological innovation to be integrated with other kinds of innovation processes. As a matter of fact, E-Governance entails a redefinition of all the activity areas of Public Administration: the redefinition of the relations of constituency and participation (E-Democracy); the assumption of a citizen centric view in the delivery of high quality services to citizens and enterprises using different and innovative channels (E-Services); the re-organization of the back-office of the government organizations in order to make them more effective, efficient and accountable (E-Administration). The management of such complex innovation processes requires the availability of resources and specialized competencies that the Government Organizations often lack. This makes the trans-

84

formation of the system of Government entailed by E-Governance difficult to achieve, especially at the level of Local Government that, nevertheless, represents the first and more frequent point of contact between Public Administration and citizens (and enterprises). The lack of resources in Local Government organizations mainly depends on the administrative fragmentation that often affects the systems of Local Government. This appears to be particularly evident in the countries of the European Union, as shown in Table 2 (CEMR, 2009). Such a high administrative fragmentation determines, as a direct consequence, the presence in these countries of a large number of Small Local Government Organizations (SLGOs - municipalities with less than 5.000 inhabitants). Just as an example, consider that in Italy 72% of the 8101 municipalities have less than 5.000 inhabitants. Administrative fragmentation not only makes innovation processes difficult to manage in SLGOs; it also makes it difficult for SLGOs to simply maintain the level of the services already delivered; this could happen when, for instance, a municipality lacks a human resource, also on a temporary basis. In such a situation it is more likely for SLGOs to focalize their resources on the management of the ordinary administrative processes, instead of entering complex innovation processes such as those required by E-Governance.

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 2. The system of local government in the countries of the Europe of 27 (CEMR, 2009) Austria Federal states

Unitary states

1st tier

2nd tier

2357

9

3rd tier

Belgium

589

10

6

Germany

12339

301

16

Bulgaria

264

Cyprus

524

Czech Republic

6249

14

Denmark

98

5

Estonia

227

Finland

348

2

France

36682

100

Greece

1034

54

Hungary

3175

19

Ireland

114

8

Italy

8101

103

Latvia

118

Lithuania

60

Luxembourg

116

Malta

68

Netherlands

441

12

Poland

2478

379

Portugal

308

2

Romania

3180

42

Slovakia

2891

8

26

20

16

Slovenia

210

Spain

8115

50

17

Sweden

290

18

2

United Kingdom Total EU 27

From this point of view, due to the dispersion of resources it determines, administrative fragmentation represents a serious problem for the achievement of high qualitative levels in the services Local Government can deliver to citizens and enterprises. One of the possibilities to reduce the administrative fragmentation of Local Government is through the (forced) merger of municipalities. However, such a possibility does not always rep-

406

28

3

90782

1171

106

resent a viable solution due to cultural, historical and even constitutional constraints (Council of Europe, 2007; Hulst & van Montfort, 2007). In these cases, partnering represents an alternative solution SLGOs can resort to in order to overcome the problem of the lack of resources, without rising the problems usually related to the forced merger of municipalities. In what follows I will discuss in more details partnering as a possible solution for the problems

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determined by administrative fragmentation. In the next section I will introduce the concept of Public-Private Partnership (PPP). More specifically, by considering the requirements for a good management of the partnership, I will discuss the problems that face a SLGO that decides to enter in a PPP and show how such problems are mainly related to the management of risk on the public side of the partnership. It will result that, quite paradoxically, the management of a PPP requires the availability of the resources and the competencies whose lack induces SLGOs to enter the partnership. In the following section I will discuss PublicPublic Partnership (PUP). After considering the properties of PUP that make it different from a PPP, inter-municipal cooperation will be discussed as a particular form of PUP. The conditions that allow an aggregation of municipalities to systematically cooperate in a PUP will be considered and the concept of Integrated System of Local Government (ISLG) will be introduced. Moreover, it will be shown how the conditions defining an ISLG can help maintaining the partners’ involvement in the partnership. Finally, in the last section I will consider the possibility of defining a form of PPP in which the partnership with the private partners is established directly by the ISLG, on behalf of its members. Such a solution guarantees a better governance of the partnership when the public sector organizations involved are small Local Government organizations.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS In broad terms, partnering can be defined as “the creation of sustainable, collaborative relationships with suppliers in the public, private, social enterprise and voluntary sectors to deliver services, carry out major projects or acquire supplies and equipment.” (DCLG, 2006a, p. 8)

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Table 3. Financed PPP projects by sector Sector

% of total

Roads and Motorways

39%

Tunnels and Bridges

22%

Urban Development, Renovation and Transport

17%

Airports

7%

Traditional and High Speed Trains

6%

Social Infrastructure (Education and Health)

5%

Drinking and Water, Water Treatment

2%

Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution

2%

This definition is general enough to include all the cases in which a public sector organization defines a collaborative relationship with other organizations, be they public sector organizations, private organizations or third sector organizations. Depending on the legal status of the partners, such a relationship can be classified as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) or a Public-Public Partnership (PUP). Partnering is more usually considered as an option government organizations can resort to in order to share with other subjects main investments necessary for complex and expensive infrastructures. This seems to be particularly apparent when considering the case of PPP. Table 3 below shows the incidence of different sectors on the PPP projects financed by the European Investment Bank in the EU-25 (EIB, 2004). Such data are substantially confirmed also by the data concerning other geographic areas, as shown in (OECD, 2008). In this work partnering will be considered more generally as one of the possible modalities Local Government Organizations can resort to for delivering services to citizens and enterprises, even in those cases in which no relevant infrastructural element is involved. The involvement of private partners within activities that are typical of Public Administration

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Figure 1. Risk allocation in PPP

can help achieve some important results, such as (European Commission, 2003): •

•

•

•

•

•

•

Acceleration of infrastructure provision, since PPPs allow the public sector projects to proceed even when the availability of public capital may be constrained. Faster implementation, since the payment mechanism linked to the availability of a service, provides significant incentives for the private sector to implement projects within shorter timeframes. Reduced whole life costs, since PPP projects provide the private sector with strong incentives to minimise costs over the whole life of a project. Better risk allocation, since in a PPP the risk is allocated to the party best able to manage it at least cost. Better incentives to perform, since a private partner is incentivised to improve its management and performance on any given project. Improved quality of services, due to a better integration of services with supporting assets, improved economies of scale, the introduction of innovation in service delivery, the use of performance incentives. Generation of additional revenues, since the private partner may be able to generate additional revenues from third parties through the use of spare capacity or the disposal of surplus assets.

•

Enhanced public management, since by transferring responsibility for providing services to the private partner public managers can focus upon service planning and performance monitoring rather than on the management of the day to day delivery of services.

All these results represent particular aspects of the more general and fundamental objective of PPP: improving value for money (VFM). However, VFM can be achieved also by means of other forms of involvement of the private sector in public activities: most notably outsourcing (when it is based on a classical procurement contract), concession and privatization. What makes a true PPP different from each of these forms of publicprivate relationship is the balance of risk allocation among the public and the private sector, as shown in Figure 1 adapted from (OECD, 2008): The allocation of risk to the private partner, that characterizes PPPs, is considered as a fundamental driver for VFM improvement (Arthur Andersen & Enterprise LSE, 2000; Grimsey & Lewis, 2005). More specifically, by defining risk as the probability that the actual outcome will deviate from the expected outcome, it is usually assumed that the allocation of risk to the party that can best manage it is positively related to efficiency (Fourie & Burger, 2000). In a PPP many different types of risk can be involved, as shown in Figure 2 (adapted from (OECD 2008)). Only for some of these risks, the

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Figure 2. Different categories of risk in PPP

so called “commercial risks”, the transferring to the private partner makes sense. Generally, a private sector organization is better equipped to deal with commercial risk. Since a private partner is usually expected to operate more efficiently than a government organization, the transferring of the commercial risks to the private partner can reduce them, thus allowing to improve efficiency, and consequently VFM. The only category of risk that appears to be non-transferable to the private partner is the category of legal and political risk. Actually, legal and political risk represents a form of exogenous risk the private partner is not equipped to deal with. Even in case the private partner accepted it, the allocation of such risk to it could not determine an increasing in the efficiency of the partnership. However, besides efficiency, in the delivery of services the organizations of Local Government should aim at effectiveness as well. As observed by Fourie and Burger, the simultaneous achievement of efficiency and effectiveness could be often problematic: efficiency in its widest sense also implies that consumer preferences are served optimally, and

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effectiveness implies that social goals are maximally served. However, not in all cases can both efficiency and effectiveness be maximised simultaneously. Their interrelationship can be complex, and trade-offs may have to be considered. (Fourie & Burger, 2000, p. 306) The delivery of services to citizens and enterprises is a way to deliver a value to them. Such a value is much more than value for money: it is public value. In a broad sense, public value refers to the value created by government through services, law regulations and other actions. Public value provides a broader measure than that conventionally used within the new public management literature, covering outcomes, the means used to deliver them as well as trust and legitimacy. It addresses issues such as equity, ethos and accountability (Kelly, Mulgan & Muers, 2002). In a public value approach, cost is only one of the determinants, and not even the most important one, of the quality of services. This means that in order to improve the quality of services and to achieve the expected outcomes, costs could rise, at least at a reasonable level, without affecting the value perceived by the users.

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 4. A PPP life cycle PHASES

DESCRIPTION

Scoping

Understanding the challenge; gathering information; consulting with stakeholders and with potential external resource providers; building a vision of/for the partnership

Identifying

Identifying potential partners and – if suitable - securing their involvement; motivating them and encouraging them to work together

Building

Partners build their working relationship through agreeing the goals, objectives and core principles that will underpin their partnership

Planning

Partners plan programme of activities and begin to outline a coherent project

Managing

Partners explore structure and management of their partnership medium to long-term

Resourcing

Partners (and other supporters) identify and mobilise cash and non-cash resources

Implementing

Once resources are in place and project details agreed, the implementation process starts - working to a pre-agreed timetable and (ideally) to specific deliverables

Measuring

Measuring and reporting on impact and effectiveness - outputs and outcomes. Is the partnership achieving its goals?

Reviewing

Reviewing the partnership: what is the impact of the partnership on partner organisations? Is it time for some partners to leave and/or new partners to join?

Revising

Revising the partnership, programme(s) or project(s) in the light of experience

Institutionalising

Building appropriate structures and mechanisms for the partnership to ensure longer-term commitment and continuity

Sustaining or terminating

Building sustainability or agreeing an appropriate conclusion

Pursuing public value could lead to a conflict with the requirement of simple cost saving. As (Kearns, 2004, 39) observes with respect to procurement, “despite many protestations to the contrary, decisions on value for money in the procurement process too often come down to assessments of cost rather than assessments of the wider public value which might be delivered from any particular procurement”. Since it is quite obvious that the private partner is less interested in non-cost related value than the public partner is, in a PPP a conflict could rise between the public partner requirements, defined in terms of public value generation, and the private partner requirements, defined in terms of cost saving. Such a potential conflict represents a relevant factor of risk for PPPs. Since it concerns public value, this risk must be considered as a form of political risk. However, different from other forms of legal and political risk, this factor of risk is not exogenous; rather, since it concerns directly

the relation between public and private partners within a PPP, it has to be considered as a form of endogenous risk. As such it is a risk that can affect both the extent to which the actual outcome of the PPP deviates from its expected outcome and the existence of the partnership. Since it is directly related to the definition and the measurement of public value, this kind of political risk cannot be transferred to the private partner and has to be dealt with by the public subject. The public partner can minimize the potential risk of a conflict between the public value he aims to and the “private” value the private partner aims to through a careful management of the partnership in all the phases of its life cycle. This includes (Tennyson, 2003, 4) (Tabel 4) Each of the phases in the partnership life-cycle requires the execution of some activities that necessitate specific competences. Such competences include those necessary to manage, at least, the following activities (OECD, 2008):

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

• • • • • •

• •

Development of legal and regulatory framework. Project initiation and solicitation. Program management and evaluation. Attracting potential partners and investors. Trust building and building goodwill with private partners. PPP monitoring and evaluation (with respect to both public value and value for money). Political risk management. Project management, performance monitoring, and contract management.

From this point of view, the competences that are necessary to manage a PPP efficiently and effectively are specialized competences (accounting, economics, law as well as technical skills in specific sectors to assess VFM and public value) that are difficult to find within Local Government Organizations (and especially in SLGOs). This rises a serious problem that has been clearly identified in (OECD, 2008): Though complexity and the asymmetric availability of skills and capacity in the private and public sectors serve as incentives to go the PPP route, the lack of skills in government may also give rise to a principle-agent problem. This problem may occur not because the principle (i.e. government) does not possess the same information as the agent (i.e. the private partner), but because the government does not have enough expertise to monitor and regulate the contract once construction and delivery starts. […] Lack of skills in government also means that government is at a disadvantage if aspects of the PPP contract are renegotiated after the conclusion of the contract. Malone (2005, 426-7) argues that the lack of skills explains the large amounts that governments spend on advisors when negotiating PPP contracts. These costs may at times even inhibit government to go the PPP route. Hence, there is a real need for governments

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to develop the necessary skills and capacity to deal with PPP contracts. (OECD, 2008, p. 37) Thus a paradox seems to arise. On the one hand, SLGOs could resort to a public-private partnership in order to avoid the problem of the lack of resources and specialized competences that possibly affects them. On the other hand, in order to assure that the partnership will generate a public value, SLGOs need the availability of resources and specialized competencies to devote to the management of the partnership.

PUBLIC-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS A Public-Public Partnership (PUP) is a partnership between local authorities, between a local authority and other public bodies or between a local authority and a third-sector organization. Both PPP and PUP represent possible solutions SLGOs can resort to in order to overcome the problem of the lack of resources related to administrative fragmentation. Moreover, PPP and PUP share some relevant properties, that are the properties that differentiate partnership for service delivery (be it a PPP or a PUP) from other kinds of inter-organizational relationships. More specifically, a partnership differs from a simple procurement contract since it (DCLG, 2006b, 20): • • •

• • • •

demonstrates alignment of goals between partners; emphasises the importance of relationships; involves the delivery of services by one body on behalf of another or through joint working; aspires to deliver more value than a traditional contract; incorporates sharing of risk and reward; expects a change in behaviours from partners; intends to be flexible and able to change in scope and nature over its lifetime;

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

• • •

• •

•

demonstrates trust and good communication; focuses on outcomes rather than outputs; demonstrates joint working (planning, monitoring, problem-solving and decisionmaking through a joint strategic board) and sharing of ideas and resources; is based on openness and honesty (e.g. open-book accounting); supports continuous improvement in service delivery over its lifetime and captures corporate learning; provides mutual benefit to all partners.

In the case of a PUP, especially when the partnership concerns only public sector organizations, the partners share the same legal and regulation framework; this makes them less heterogeneous than the partners of a PPP. This characteristic determines some relevant differences between PUP and PPP, particularly with respect to (Lobina & Hall, 2006): •

•

•

•

•

underlying objectives and motivations, since within a PUP no partner aims at a purely business goal accountability requirements, since within a PUP all the partners share the same accountability rules allocation of risk among the parties, since within a PUP the types of risk usually transferred to the private partner (“commercial risk”) has to be shared among the partners, neither of which is particularly equipped for dealing with them in an efficient way knowledge transfer and capacity building, since within a PUP there is no need to consider a partner’s knowledge and knowhow as an asset that needs to be defended against potential competitors promotion and implementation of institutional change, since the spread at the local level of the model of PUP can determine, as a possible outcome, a transformation of

the whole system of Local Government based on cooperation The sharing of the same legal and regulation framework among the partners of a PUP makes easier (at least potentially) the management of the problems that could arise along the different phases of the life-cycle of the partnership. These problems can be of many different types, as shown in Table 5 (Semeijn, Heng, & Derksen, 1998). The arising of such problems can lead even to the failure of the partnership; quite paradoxically, this can happen even when the partnership shows positive results in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness. One possibility that can be resorted to in order to reduce the risk of conflict among the partners of a PUP consists in the adoption of a shared cooperation environment that determines the conditions for the inter-organizational cooperation and for the sharing of resources among the partners. In an inter-organizational cooperation, the resources that can be shared are of various kinds; depending on the objectives of the partnership, such resources can be: financial resources, technological resources, information, services, as well as human resources. Given the variety of the resources that can be shared, there is not a unique way to manage the cooperation (Castelnovo, 2007). To manage the sharing of information among different organizations is, in fact, quite different from managing the sharing of human resources and specialized competencies. Actually, the conditions that enable the integration of the information exchanged between two organizations in their respective information systems are different from those necessary to guarantee the integration of specialized competencies within a joint working team. In general terms, different organizations define a partnership in order to cooperate for achieving a shared objective. However, to cooperate efficiently and effectively the organizations involved in the cooperation should show some form of

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 5. Main problems in partnership Problems in the basic values of partnerships

Insufficient level of trust among the partners Scarce commitment of the partners toward the partnership Insufficient collaboration among the partners Opportunistic behaviour of the partners

Problems with underlying intentions

Changes that occur and make the initial intentions of the partnership obsolete Presence of second thoughts about the partnership Conflicting interests among the partners

Problems with the cooperative relation

Insufficient management of the relationship Inter-personal problems among people from different organizations Cultural misunderstandings

Problems with power

Lack of balance of power in the relation Overdependence of one partner on the others Loss of competences within the partner organizations or loss of control over the available competences

Problems with the external relation of the partnership

Involvement in other contradictory partnerships

Problems in connecting partners

Heterogeneity of the partners’ technological infrastructures

Involvement in the same partnership of organization that are tied by an independent client-supplier relationship Incompatibility of culture and management style Wrong control mechanisms to manage the interdependence between the partners

Problems in finance

Inadequate mechanisms for capital infusions, transfer pricing, licensing fees, compensation levels and management fees Inadequate performance measuring methods and reward systems

organizational compatibility that involves technological, managerial, political, strategic and, more generally, cultural aspects. All these aspects can be integrated in the definition of a cooperation environment that includes compatibility attributes referring to different domains, as shown in Table 6 (Castelnovo & Simonetta, 2007). Depending on their more or less restrictive character, the conditions characterizing a cooperative environment lead to more or less strict forms of partnership among different organizations, similar to the integration levels described in (C4ISR, 1998) and (Clark, & Jones, 1999), up to the definition of a system of organizations that seen from the outside appear essentially as if they were a unique organization. When the partnership, as it happens in the case of PPP, involves members that are highly heterogeneous and do not share the same legal

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and regulation framework, it is not likely for the partners (especially the private partners) to agree on the sharing of a cooperation environment that forces them to satisfy quite stringent constraints. On the contrary, in the case of a PUP the lesser degree of heterogeneity among the partners makes it possible for them to achieve higher level of compatibility, up to the transformation of the partnership in an Integrated System of Local Government (ISLG), as described in (Castelnovo & Simonetta, 2006; 2007). An ISLG is a system of SLGOs sharing a cooperative environment that makes them strictly interoperable not only on the technological but also on the organizational level, up to cooperability (Gompert & Nerlich, 2000). Cooperability represents a form of non-technical interoperability (Stewart, Clarke, Goillau, Verrall & Widdowson, 2004; Tolk, 2003) which

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 6. Conditions defining the cooperation environment Technological compatibility

conditions concerning the sharing of infrastructures (virtual or physical) for network communication conditions defining the standards for communication and for information systems interoperability conditions for the definition and the sharing of security policies for the access to information resources and for their use

Operational compatibility

conditions concerning the standardization of the processes conditions concerning the definition of the operational standards conditions for the sharing of the resources (physical resources, information and knowledge) within the network

Organizational compatibility

conditions for the monitoring of the activity of the partners conditions concerning the creation of shared managerial styles conditions for the creation of a shared organizational culture

Regulative compatibility

conditions concerning the definition of a shared system of values conditions for the definition of shared strategies and policies conditions concerning the adoption of a uniform and standardized language for process description conditions concerning the definition of a shared organizational ontology and a shared terminology conditions concerning the definition of a shared enterprise model

can be defined on the basis of four attributes which summarize different aspects characterizing interorganizational cooperation (Clark, & Jones, 1999): •

•

•

•

Preparedness: this attribute describes the preparedness of the organization to interoperate. It is made up of doctrine, experience and training. Understanding: the understanding attribute measures the amount of communication and sharing of knowledge and information within the organization and how the information is used. Command Style: this is the attribute that describes the management and command style of the organization - how decisions are made and how roles and responsibilities are allocated/delegated. Ethos: the ethos attribute concerns the culture and value systems of the organization and its goals and aspiration.

The cooperability attributes allow to describe different levels of cooperability, characterized by a

growing degree of integration among the partners, as summarized in Table 7. The activation of an ISLG can be considered as the result of a combined process of technological and organizational innovation, as it should be in all the innovation processes typical of EGovernment and E-Governance. More specifically, the process through which different organizations reach a level of full cooperability (the unified level of Table 7), up to appear as indistinguishable seen from the outside, can be considered as a learning process, in which partners engage in a series of iterative and interactive learning cycles over time, typically characterized by greater and greater trust and adaptive flexibility, as well as the willingness to make increasing and irreversible commitments (Doz, 1996). ISLG members are not, strictly speaking, integrated in the system, as that would imply an overcoming of their individuality; actually, the implementation of an ISLG simply amounts to the adoption of a shared technological and organizational platform, which makes inter-organizational cooperation easier. In these terms, the integration among the partners within an ISLG is only

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

Table 7. Summary of the cooperability reference model LEVELS OF COOPERABILITY

ATTRIBUTES Preparedness

Understanding

Command style

Ethos

Unified

Complete, normal day-to-day working

Shared

Homogeneous

Uniform

Combined

Detailed doctrine and experience in using it

Shared communications and shared knowledge

One chain of command and interaction with home organizations

Shared ethos but with influence from home organizations

Collaborative

General doctrine in place and some past experience

Shared communications and shared knowledge about specific topics

Separate reporting lines of responsibility overlaid with a single command chain

Shared purpose; goals and value system significantly influenced by home organizations

Ad hoc

General guidelines

Electronic communications and shared information

Separate reporting lines of responsibility

Shared purpose

Independent

No preparedness

Communication via phone, etc.

No interaction

Limited shared purpose

virtual. This has some particularly important consequences: •

•

each member of the ISLG keeps its autonomy, though it agrees to coordinate its activity with that of its partners and to systematically share resources (of various sorts) with them; as the integration is exclusively determined by the adoption of a shared cooperation environment, the activation of an ISLG does not necessarily require the definition of new levels of government (as it happens in the case of institutionalized forms of integration, such the Unions of Communes and the Mountain Communities (Council of Europe, 2007)

Sharing a cooperation environment means to adhere to all the conditions of technological, operative, organizational and regulative interoperability that define it. This imposes long term obligations to the partners of the cooperation and requires specific investments in the relation, related to the adoption of the cooperation environment. In turn, this can mitigate the opportunistic behaviour of

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the partners (which is one of the main causes of failure of the cooperation) and, therefore, can force the stability of a PUP that evolves into an ISLG. Thanks to these characteristics, the implementation of an ISLG, can represent a solution to the need to overcome administrative fragmentation, in order to achieve the rationalization, the simplification and the reduction of the costs of the system of Local Government through partnering.

PUBLIC/PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Usually, the setting up of a Public-Public Partnership is meant to allow the partners to share the investments necessary to realize an infrastructure or to improve the quality of the services delivered to citizens and enterprises. However, by considering the possibility that a PUP evolves in a long term strategic cooperation among municipalities (up to the activation of an ISLG), the model of PUP can be considered as a general model for the reorganization of Local Government, as well. As observed, such a model amounts to the virtual integration of municipalities as a way

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

to reduce administrative fragmentation through cooperation. Since the members of an ISLG act towards the external environment as if they were a unique organization, it is possible for the ISLG itself to enter, on behalf of its members, into all the relationships in which municipalities are usually involved. This includes the possibility for an ISLG to act as the public subject in a PPP, thus performing on behalf of its members all the activities that a public partner has to manage along the whole life cycle of the partnership. In this case the setting up of a Public-Private Partnership can be based on a previously established Public-Public Partnership; this particular form of partnering could be defined as Public/Public-Private Partnership (PUP-PP). A system of co-operable partners is a system of partners that are highly standardized, not only at the level of the technology subsystem, but also at the levels of the process subsystem and of the human subsystem, as well. Such a standardization of the members of an ISLG could make the relationship with private partners easier to define and to manage. Moreover, it can rise the value both the public and private partners can expect from the partnership. In a public-private relationship in which the public partner is an aggregation of municipalities that are virtually integrated within an ISLG, the management of the relationship appears to be simplified and all the subjects involved can expect a higher value from the relationship. This holds also in the case of a simple supply contract stipulated in the form of a classical contract, that is even without resorting to a partnering relationship. Actually, in the case of a jointly procured contract the standardization of the public subjects, determined by the cooperation environment they share within the ISLG, allows the private subject to obtain more value from the relationship, in terms of: •

lower transaction costs, since it has to interact with only one contracting part instead of a multiplicity of heterogeneous

•

subjects with respect to which define specific contractual agreements lower differentiation and customization costs, since the supply concerns standardized elements.

Similarly, the public subjects adhering to the ISLG can obtain a higher value from the relationship, in terms of: •

•

higher control in the relationship with the private contractor, since through the sharing of the resources the members of the ISLG can acquire the specialized competencies necessary for the optimal management of the procurement contract achievement of economies of scale, since the supply concerns standardized elements shared by all the members of the ISLG.

The setting up of a PUP-PP whose public part is represented by an ISLG simplifies the management of the relationship also when it is more complex than a simple procurement relation. In a system of Local Government affected by the problem of administrative fragmentation the management of the public-private relationship can be problematic both for the public and the private partner. On the one hand, as observed, on the part of the public partners the problem amounts essentially to the limited control they can exercise on the relationship, due to the lack of specialized competencies to devote to its management. This is critical because the possible lack of public control could allow the private partner to act opportunistically in pursuing its private value, thus preventing the partnership to produce the expected public value. On the other hand, the private partners could encounter relevant difficulties in managing a multiplicity of relationships with public subjects that could be highly heterogeneous with respect to the availability of resources and infrastructures, the managerial culture, the capacity of plan,

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The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

implement and manage the relationship with the private partner. The need for Local Government organizations to develop the necessary skills and capacity to deal with PPP contracts has already been stressed above. It is a well known problem for which some solutions have been suggested. Among these, an increasingly common way to provide the required capacities to Government organizations is to establish PPP units (World Bank, 2006; ADB, 2007; OECD, 2008). Although PPP units are usually established at national level, as new agency or within a ministry such as the finance ministry, the idea of establishing bodies having the capacity required to organize, manage and implement a PPP process can be implemented at the local level too. Given the type of activities that are necessary to manage a PPP efficiently and effectively, a PPP unit should provide “transaction advisors and/ or specialist advisors such as lawyers, financial analysts, financiers, economists, sociologists, and sector specialists” (ADB, 2007, 55). Such competencies could be recruited from outside or, if there are no resources for the recruitment, they could be developed internally, by training internal personnel. In both cases, it is not likely for a single SLGO to be able to procure the necessary skills. On the contrary, the sharing of resources within an ISLG would make it possible to procure and share the competencies required for the establishment of an appropriate PPP unit. Establishing a shared PPP unit within an ISLG gives the public partners the competencies necessary for managing and controlling the partnership, thus raising the possibility of obtaining a higher public value through it. However, also the private partners would take advantage from this solution. As observed in (OECD, 2008), quoting (Ahadzi & Bowles, 2004): A dedicated PPP unit that serves as a centre of expertise also increases the confidence of potential

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private sector partners. In this respect Ahadzi and Bowles (2004: 976) note: “…it is not surprising that the private sector is more concerned to see an established PPP unit within the client organisation. A PPP unit suggests an experienced and able client team that has the power and authority necessary for an effective negotiation process. The absence of such a team may raise concerns about the public sector’s project management strengths. This will be particularly pertinent where the functions of the public sector client are fragmented across a number of departments.” (OECD, 2008, p. 63) In general terms, a PUP-PP could be considered as the result of a particular form of inter-municipal cooperation in which the object of the cooperation agreement is the management of the relationship with private partners through the establishment of a shared PPP unit. As defined by the European Council, “intermunicipal cooperation institutionalise cooperation between municipalities, and other local authorities close to the community, allowing them to jointly manage certain important services.” (Council of Europe, 2007, 7) In broad terms, inter-municipal cooperation may be defined as an arrangement between two or more government organizations for accomplishing common goals, providing a service, or solving a mutual problem: “the chief motive for inter-municipal cooperation may be a desire for management effectiveness so that to ensure that local structures are realistic and relevant as far as the exercise of competencies is concerned” (Council of Europe, 2007, 12). From this point of view, an aggregation of municipalities could establish an inter-municipal cooperation even to achieve an immediate result, without this requiring a deeper involvement of the partners in the cooperation than that required to achieve that particular result. In any case, as observed above, if the cooperation requires the sharing of resources belonging to different

The Governance of Partnerships in Local Government

members of the cooperation, or even requires the implementation of some form of inter-organizational workflow, the municipalities involved in the cooperation have to be, at least, interoperable. However, when the object of the cooperation is the management of a PPP, a much stricter form of cooperation is necessary among the municipalities involved. Actually, in order to allow an efficient and effective governance of the partnership with the private partners, the cooperation should be based on a stricter integration among the public partners. As argued above, such a stricter integration could be provided by an ISLG, without necessarily requiring a real organizational integration of the partners. Administrative fragmentation not only constraints the possibility for SLGOs to carry out innovation processes in order to achieve higher levels of quality in the services delivered to citizens and enterprises; it also constraints the possibility for SLGOs to achieve higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness through partnering with private sector partners. The concept of ISLG and its implementation in Local Government can help reducing the administrative fragmentation, without resorting to the forced merger of municipalities. Through the virtual integration of its members within an ISLG (whose establishment is based on a strategic public-public partnership), an aggregation of SLGOs can enter in a public-private partnership without suffering from the asymmetric availability of skills and capacity with respect to the private partner. This allows all the members of the ISLG to share the benefits resulting from the partnership with private partners, while maintaining their autonomy and their capacity of sustaining the needs of the local communities they represent.

CONCLUSION Partnering represents a solution that more and more frequently government organizations resort to in order to improve their efficiency and effec-

tiveness. This result can be achieved through the transferring of risk to private sector partners, since they are expected to be in a better position to deal with it than government organizations can do. Partnering is becoming a pervasive phenomenon, spreading from central government bodies to Local Government organizations. In countries in which the system of Local Government is characterized by a high administrative fragmentation and the prevalence of small local government organizations, partnering can represent a solution small municipalities can resort to in order to access resources and competencies they often lack. To make a public-private partnership effectively generate and deliver public value to citizens, the partnership has to be governed by the public partner. However, to manage and control the partnership, the public partner should devote to these activities resources and specialized competencies. Thus a sort of paradox arises; in order to effectively benefit from partnering, the public partner should govern the relationship, but this requires the availability of the resources and the competencies whose lack induces it to enter the partnership. In the chapter I argue that this paradox can be solved if the public subject establishing the public-private partnership is not a single municipality, but an aggregation of municipalities that define a cooperation agreement with the aim of establishing and governing a partnership with private subjects. This means that, for small local government organizations the establishment of a public-private partnership should be based on the preliminary establishment of a public-public partnership. However, in order to guarantee the governance of a public-private partnership, the cooperation among municipalities should take the form of a long term strategic partnership whose members share objectives, strategies, culture as well as organizational and operational modalities. The concept of Integrated System of Local Government, that has been introduced independently as a model for the reduction of administra-

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tive fragmentation in Local Government, exactly describes such a long term strategic partnership among small local government organizations. From this point of view, the possibility arises for small municipalities to enter in public-private partnerships not as single organizations but as members of an Integrated System of Local Government. This could help solving the problem of the asymmetric availability of skills and capacity in the private and public sectors that often affects the governance of public-private partnerships. In general terms, this means that the involvement of private partners should not be considered as a way of transforming Local Government. Rather, it is the transformation of Local Government, through strategic public-public partnerships (such as the establishment of an ISLG), that can make the involvement of private partners in government activities productive as a way to increase the public value delivered to citizens.

REFERENCES C4ISR (1998). Levels of Information Systems Interoperability (LISI), C4ISR Interoperability Working Group, Washington, D.C., USA: Department of Defense. ADB. (2007). Public-Private Partnership Handbook, Asian Development Bank. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.adb.org. Ahadzi, M., & Bowles, G. (2004). Public-private partnerships and contract negotiations: an empirical study. Construction Management and Economics, 22, 967–978. doi:10.1080/0144619042000241471 Arthur Andersen & Enterprise LSE. (2000). Value for Money Drivers in the Private Finance Initiative. London, UK: The Treasury Taskforce.

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Castelnovo, W. (2007). Interorganizational cooperation and cooperability, Proceedings of the EGov Interop 2007 Conference, Paris. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://80.14.185.155/egovinterop/ www.egovinterop.net/Res/10/T10C.pdf Castelnovo, W., & Simonetta, M. (2006). Networks of SLGOs: from systems interoperability to organizational cooperability”, Proceedings of The 6th European Conference on E-Government (pp. 47-56). Reading: Academic Conferences. Castelnovo, W., & Simonetta, M. (2007). Reducing Administrative Fragmentation Through E-Government. In Cunningham, P., & Cunningham, M. (Eds.), Expanding the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications and Case Studies (pp. 311–318). Amsterdam: IOS Press. CEMR. (2009). EU Subnational Government – 2008 Key Figures, 2009/2010 Edition, Council of European Municipalities and Regions. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.ccre.org/docs/ nuancier_2009_en.pdf CIO. (2005). Transformational Government: Enabled by Technology, Chief Information Officer Council, London, UK: UK Government. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.cabinetoffice. gov.uk Clark, T., & Jones, R. (1999). Organisational Interoperability Maturity Model for C2, Proceedings of the Command and Control Research and Tecnology Symposium, Newport. Retrieved March 5, 2010 from http://www.dodccrp.org/ events/1999_CCRTS/pdf_files/track_5/049clark. pdf Council of Europe. (2007). Draft Report on InterMunicipal Cooperation, LR-FS(2007)4. Directorate General I - Legal Affairs, Directorate of Cooperation for Local and Regional Democracy, Council of Europe. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from www.coe.int.

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DCLG. (2006a). Structures for Collaboration and Shared Services – Technical Notes, Department for Communities and Local Government Publications. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/ structurescollaboration DCLG. (2006b). Rethinking Service Delivery, Volume Three - Shared Service and Public/Public Partnerships, Department for Communities and Local Government. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/ localgovernment/rethinkingservicedelivery3 Doz, Y. L. (1996). The Evolution of Cooperation in Strategic Alliances: Initial Conditions or Learning Processes? Strategic Management Journal, 17, 55–83. doi:10.1002/smj.4250171006 EIB. (2004), The EIB’s role in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), European Investments Bank. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.bei. europa.eu/projects/publications/the-eibs-role-inpublic-private-partnerships-ppps.htm European Commission. (2003). Guidelines for Successful Public-Private Partnerships, Directorate General Regional Policy. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/ sources/docgener/guides/ppp_en.pdf Fourie, F., Cv, N., & Burger, P. (2000). An Economic Analysis and Assessment of Public private Partnerships (PPPs). The South African Journal of Economics, 68(4), 305–316. doi:10.1111/j.1813-6982.2000.tb01274.x Gompert, D. C., & Nerlich, U. (2000). Shoulder to Shoulder - The Road to U.S. European Military Cooperability. A German American Analysis. RAND Corporation. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1575/

Grimsey, D., & Lewis, M. K. (2005). Are Public Private Partnerships value for money? Evaluating alternative approaches and comparing academic and practitioner views. Accounting Forum, 29, 345–378. doi:10.1016/j.accfor.2005.01.001 Hartley, J. (2005). Innovation in governance and public services: Past and present. Public Money and Management, 2(5), 27–34. Hartley, J. (2006). Innovation and its Contribution to Improvement - A Review for Policy-makers, Policy Advisers, Managers and Researchers, Institute of Governance and Public Management (IGPM), Warwick Business School. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.communities. gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/innovationits Hulst, R., & van Montfort, A. (2007). Intermunicipal Cooperation in Europe. Dordrecht: Springer. doi:10.1007/1-4020-5379-7 Kearns, I. (2004). Public Value and E-Government. Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). Retrieved March 5, 2010, from https://www.ippr. org/uploadedFiles/projects/Kearns_PublicValueandeGovenrment_ippr.pdf Kelly, G., Mulgan, G., & Muers, S. (2002). Creating Public Value: An Analytical Framework for Public Service Reform. Discussion paper prepared by the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, London, United Kingdom. Lobina, E., & Hall, D. (2006). Public-Public Partnerships as a catalyst for capacity building and institutional development: Lessons from Stockholm Vatten’s experience in the Baltic region. Paper presented at the IRC and UNESCO-IHE Symposium on Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation: Strengthening Capacity for Local Governance Delft, the Netherlands.

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Malone, N. (2005). The evolution of private financing of government infrastructure in Australia – 2005 and beyond. The Australian Economic Review, 38(4), 420–430. doi:10.1111/j.14678462.2005.00385.x OECD. (2008). Public-Private Partnerships: in Pursuit of Risk Sharing and Value for Money. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, GOV/PGC/SBO(2008)1. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.oecd.org/document/27/ 0,3343,en_2649_33735_40757595_1_1_1_1,00. html Semeijn, M., Heng, M. S. H., & Derksen, F. (1998). The Information Dimension of Inter-Organizational Integration. Serie Research Memoranda, Ulteit der Economische Wetenschappen en Econometrie, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Stewart, K., Clarke, H., Goillau, P., Verrall, N., & Widdowson, W. (2004). Non-technical Interoperability in Multinational Forces, Paper presented at the 9th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium – The Power of Information Age Technologies, Copenhagen. Tennyson, R. (2003). The Partnering Toolbook, The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http:// www.iblf.org/resources/general.jsp?id=49 Tolk, A. (2003). Beyond Technical Interoperability - Introducing a Reference Model for Measures of Merit for Coalition Interoperability, Paper presented at the 8th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (ICCRTS), Washington DC. UNESCO. (2008). UNESCO E-Governance Capacity Building. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from http://portal.unesco.org.

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World Bank. (2006). Public-Private Partnership Units. The World Bank Group. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from http://www.irfnet.ch/files-upload/ knowledges/WB_VP_PPPUnits_November2006. pdf

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Administrative Fragmentation: Situation in which the system of Local Government is characterized by a high number of municipalities, most of which are small municipalities; administrative fragmentation can affect the efficiency and effectiveness of Local Government. Cooperability: A form of non-technical interoperability that allows the successful bridging between partners of differences in vision, organization, operational processes, and culture. Integrated System of Local Government: An aggregation of Small Local Government Organizations that, on the basis of a preliminary sharing of interests jointly define systematic forms of cooperation based on a strict form of interoperability, up to cooperability. Intermunicipal Cooperation: Cooperative or contractual arrangement between two or more municipalities for the sharing of resources and/or the delivery of services. Public/Public-Private Partnership: A form of Public-Private Partnership in which the public partners establish a Public-Public Partnership before entering a partnership with a private partner. This allows the public partners a higher contractual power toward the private partner and a better control over the partnership as well. Public-Private Partnership: Long term cooperation between private organizations and public sector organizations in which the private party provides a public service or project and assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risk in the management of the service/project.

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Public-Public Partnership: A long term cooperation between public sector organizations; the partnership can be established also for reducing the information asymmetry between the public and the private partners within a Public-Private Partnership.

Small Local Government Organizations: Municipalities with less than 5000 inhabitants; Small Local Government Organizations often lack the resources and the specialized competencies required to manage innovation.

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Chapter 7

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies: Method and Experience

Adegboyega Ojo United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China Tomasz Janowski United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology, Macao SAR, China

ABSTRACT Better integration of Electronic Government (EGOV) and Public Administration Reform (PAR) strategies has been identified by global EGOV benchmark reports as one of the contemporary issues to address in improving the outcomes of EGOV programs. This chapter presents a technique for aligning EGOV and PAR strategies based on the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) of Henderson and Venkatraman. By treating EGOV and PAR strategies as two different alignment domains, similar to organizational and technological domains respectively, we re-frame the original SAM to address our specific alignment needs. Our model provides a procedure and metrics for analyzing: (1) alignment between a pair of EGOV and PAR strategies and (2) the internal coherency of an EGOV strategy. We discuss our experience in applying this approach in Macao and conclude with how it may be used in aligning EGOV with other strategies such as those related to governance and development. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch007

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

INTRODUCTION Improving coordination mechanisms between EGOV and related programs is one of the defining features of the new generation of EGOV programs - a response to the pressures for better governance and development outcomes, and for obtaining concrete value from technology-related investments in government (WASEDA, 2009) (UNDESA, 2009). Technically, the challenge of aligning EGOV and other strategies, particularly those related to PAR, is being tackled by various complementary approaches spanning three perspectives: •

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Organizational: In this perspective, EGOV initiatives are increasingly conceived by governments as part of their PAR programs. A major reason for integrating EGOV and PAR initiatives is to ensure that technology investments in government produce concrete value by supporting reform objectives. The alignment of EGOV and PAR goals is analogous to the traditional organization-IT alignment challenge faced by businesses and IT executives in the private sector and increasingly by the Chief Information Officers and managers in the public sector. Institutional: In this perspective, better outcomes from the EGOV programs rely on the integration of these programs with existing structures, politics and policies, as well as the roles and relationships of formal institutions embodied in laws, regulations, budget processes, and those of informal institutions comprising networks, norms and trust (Fountain, 2007). Developmental: In this perspective, EGOV is expected to explicitly consider governance outcomes such as strategic vision, transparency, responsiveness, political freedom and participation, as well as social outcomes of empowerment and

sustainable livelihood of citizens and other member of the society (Abrahams & Newton-Reid, 2008) (De, 2006). Despite the availability of these approaches, policy makers, program managers and EGOV practitioners have found operationalizing the knowledge codified in analytical and conceptual frameworks difficult. For instance, in the case of development-oriented approaches, alignment is normally carried out a-posteriori as part of impact assessment exercises. This chapter addresses this concern by providing an organization-oriented and modelbased process, with supporting instruments and tools, to assist practitioners in aligning EGOV programs with PAR and other related programs. Our approach is based on the concept of strategic alignment; which is expected to assist any organization in three ways (Avison, Jones, Powell, & Wilson, 2004): maximizing return on IT investment, helping to achieve competitive advantage through Information Systems, and providing direction and flexibility to leverage new opportunities. Therefore, in the context of EGOV and PAR programs, strategic alignment will aim at ensuring that PAR goals are effectively supported by EGOV strategies and infrastructures, and that the PAR programs are flexible enough to exploit available EGOV strategies, infrastructures and IT processes available at government agencies. Significant literature exists on strategic alignment and the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) of Henderson and Venkatraman for analyzing and achieving organization-IT alignment (Avison, Jones, Powell, & Wilson, 2004) (Lines, 2005) (Luftman J. N., 1993) (Coleman & Papp, 2006) (Tallon, 2003) (Bleistein, Cox, & Verner, 2006) (Luftman, 1996). Most of the work on strategic alignment and SAM in particular is centered on surveys and investigating perceptions of business and IT managers on the relationships between organizational-IT alignment and organizational performance. Substantially less information is

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available on how to directly apply the SAM model in analyzing organizational and IT strategies. By considering EGOV and PAR strategies as two different alignment domains, analogous to technological and organizational domains respectively, we adapt the original strategic alignment model to address our specific alignment needs. Our model provides a procedure and metrics for analyzing alignment between a pair of EGOV and PAR strategies and internal coherency of an EGOV strategy. We discuss our experience in applying this method in Macao SAR, China and describe how our approach may be used in aligning EGOV and other related strategies, such as those related to governance and development programs. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. The next section provides a background to the problem by presenting the basic elements of the EGOV and PAR programs and how these programs can be linked conceptually. This is followed by the presentation of our alignment method, and subsequently the experience of applying this method in Macao. The final section includes a discussion and outlines future work.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM AND ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE The section presents the basic elements of the EGOV and PAR programs, and how these programs can be conceptually linked.

Public Administration Reform Programs Public Administration refers to the aggregate machinery - policies, rules, procedures, systems, organizational structures, personnel, etc. funded by the state budget, in charge of the management and direction of the affairs of the executive government, and its interactions with other stakeholders in the state, society and abroad (UNDP, 2002). It could be also described as the management of the

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whole set of government activities dealing with the implementation of laws and regulations, making and implementation of policies and decisions, and the provision of public services. For public administration to be effective, it must continue to respond to the pressures from the global economy, dissatisfied citizens, fiscal deficits, changing needs and preferences of stakeholders, etc. (Stauffacher, 2002) (OED, 2001). Such responses come in the form of changes and transformations in government. Public Administration Reform (PAR) involves planning and effecting major transformations required to create the necessary structures and capacities for good public management and high government performance (Cheung, 1992). PAR essentially dislodges the public administration system from sub-optimal equilibrium states and re-forms or re-organizes it within governance structures that provide stronger incentives to perform. PAR aims at better results and performance in the areas including organizational structures, decentralization, personnel management, public finance, results-based management and regulations (UNDP, 2002). Most PAR programs are driven by the principles and philosophies of New Public Management (NPM), structural adjustment reform and transition from the centralized to market-based economy. The most dominant PAR framework with Anglo-Saxon (UK, New Zealand, Australia, United States and Canada) origins, NPM is a set of administrative doctrines consisting of private sector-originating innovations: a shift from the issues of policy to the issues of management; emphasis on quantifiable methods of performance appraisal and efficiency criteria; disaggregation of the public sector by breaking up traditional public bureaucratic structures into quasi-autonomous corporatized units; increase in competition in public service provision by surrogate markets and public tendering; emphasis on cost-cutting; and the introduction of management practices with preference for measurable output targets,

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

monetized incentives and managerial freedom (Cheung, 1992). Most PAR programs follow NPM. Major PAR programs by developing, transition and developed states commenced in the 1980s and continue to date. Most of them have similar goals including (Stauffacher, 2002): decentralization of authority within government units and devolution of responsibilities to lower levels of government; re-examination of what government should both do and pay for, what it should pay for but not do, and what it should neither do, nor pay for; down-sizing public services and the privatization and corporatization of activities; more effective ways of delivering services - out-sourcing, market mechanisms and user charges; customer orientation including explicit quality standards for public services; benchmarking and measuring performance; and simplifying regulations and reducing costs. Many international and UN organizations as well as regional governments have developed guidelines for member states on designing PAR programs. Among these are the frameworks from UNDP (UNDP, 2002) and the World Bank (OED, 2001) (Manning & Parison, 2004). UNDP identifies four aspects of PAR programs (UNDP, 2002): 1. Civil Service Reform: concerned with issues on human resources in the public sector including capacity, wages and conditions of service. Major focus is creating a government workforce of the right size and skill-mix, and with the right motivation, professional ethos, customer focus and accountability. 2. Increasing Efficiency and Responsiveness of Policy-Making: creating mechanisms for horizontal coordination around policymaking and implementation, developing a process for setting the policy-making agenda, designing a system to ensure that draft policies are based on appropriate analysis, and creating systems to disseminate policy decisions and monitor implementation.

3. Reforming the Government Machinery: concerned with the rules, institutions and structures of administration as necessary to carry out government policies. It also covers review of functions and roles of government in different sectors, and identification of inconsistencies in legal frameworks. In addition, new tools for public administration, notably EGOV are covered here. 4. Reforming Public Sector Revenue and Expenditure Management: concerned with aligning government spending with what is affordable over the medium term, and subsequently with the annual budget, and ensuring that such spending is appropriately allocated to match policy priorities and that spending produces its intended results at the least cost. The World Bank articulates four goals characterizing good public management (OED, 2001): (1) credible policymaking and planning; (2) adequate and predictable resource flows; (3) flexible delivery arrangements featuring de-centralization and de-monopolization; and (4) enforceable regulation including checking arbitrariness and management of inputs and continuous improvement through benchmarking of outputs. Two types of conditions to facilitate the attainment of these goals are: •

Structural Conditions: These include formal incentives, external checks and balances, and availability of timely information. Formal incentives include wage remuneration competitive with the private sector, and job classification and grading systems consistent with internal tasks. External checks and balances include participation and competition to bring customer feedback and put pressure on agencies, limiting the discretion of bureaucrats and providing credible threats of exit by citizens opting for alternative suppliers, all encouraging agencies to perform better. In addition, dis-

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•

seminating information on performance can increase demand for accountability. Capacity Conditions: Such conditions require that public organizations operating within governance structures have the required level of know-how, skill and equipment such as software, hardware, etc. to fulfill their objectives. However, it is recognized that capacity building without appropriate structural conditions will not be effective.

Country-specific PAR programs are largely aligned to the PAR models outlined above. Kuwait, for instance, emphasizes (Stauffacher, 2002): (i) performance improvement – strengthening development planning and analysis, management system based on performance, strategy for information dissemination, public service excellence awards and process improvements; (ii) functional change – government departments and agencies becoming more like policy bodies, with service delivery alternatives introduced using various cost effectiveness criteria; (iii) structural change – overlapping responsibilities and gaps in policy coverage to be sorted out, structures aligned with new functional responsibilities and units consolidated along sectoral lines; and (iv) building civic responsibilities – strengthening the national identity and devolving authority to local community institutions. The Government of New Zealand, on the other hand, identifies the following major components in its PAR program (Holmes & Wileman, 1995): decentralization and commercialization, corporatization, restructuring, fundamental revision of management structures, and financial management reform. More cases of PAR programs are documented in (Manning & Parison, 2004). The investigated PAR models and cases reveal four core areas for PAR programming: (1) personnel management and civil service reform; (2) policy-making from resolution to implementation; (3) machinery of government - functional review,

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policy load, service delivery and technology; and (4) revenue and public expenditure management. The depth of the reform initiatives in these areas largely depends on specific needs of countries. In some cases, additional reform efforts are undertaken in specific sectors like e.g. education, health or environment.

Electronic Government Programs Electronic Government (EGOV) refers to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet to achieve better government (OECD, 2003). It may also refer to the use by government agencies of information technologies such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing, that have the ability to transform the relationships between government agencies and citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. Effective EGOV programs are expected to: enhance the efficiency of public administrations, improve service delivery through additional channels and integration of government back-offices, support specific policy outcomes, contribute to broad policy objectives, and help establish trust between governments and citizens. It involves strategic applications of ICT to transform the internal workings of public administrations and their relationships with various stakeholders such as citizens, businesses, and other government agencies and entities. The transformational effect of EGOV largely relies on organizational transformations efforts that are part of PAR programs. Successful EGOV requires strong vision and political will, adoption of common frameworks and cooperation, partnership building with academia and businesses, and customer focus (Manning & Parison, 2004). There are various models, though very similar, for characterizing the maturity of EGOV programs, provided by Gartner, Accenture, UNDESA and OECD. All these models specify different stages of development: information, interaction,

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

transaction and transformation. At the information stage, governments establish their presence on the Internet, characterized by the availability of numerous government websites with largely static content. At the interaction stage, authorized users can download contents (e.g. application forms for obtaining licenses) from government websites and send emails to government. At the transaction stage, users can engage in complete transactions, including secured payments on government websites. At the transformation stage, back offices of different government agencies are linked, allowing for seamless delivery of services. The UNDESA model divides the first phase into further two phases – emerging and enhanced; while the emerging phase is the same as the information phase, the enhanced phase expects the contents on government websites to be updated regularly. The maturity stages described above are not exclusive; countries are profiled on all four phases simultaneously to assess their online presence. Presently, almost all countries have some form of online presence and a number of ongoing EGOV initiatives. While the design of EGOV programs is complex and specific to different government contexts, good practice guidelines and frameworks are available to guide EGOV development. According to (UNESCO, 2005), major elements of typical EGOV programs include: 1. E-Readiness Assessment: Assessing the existing capacity and prevailing conditions in the areas of political leadership, regulatory frameworks, organization, human and culture, communication, technology infrastructure, and data and information systems. 2. Creating Leadership: Groups of people to champion the development of EGOV at the political and executive (department and agency) levels must be established to mobilize necessary support and address resistance and legacies. 3. Regulatory Framework: The revision of existing laws and regulations is required to

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enable: data integration and sharing between agencies, recognition of digital exchanges and transactions, and protection of privacy and security of citizen’s data. Human Capacity Development: Public Administration personnel must be equipped with specific skill-sets to successfully implement EGOV programs. Organizational Change: This is a critical component of an EGOV program that ensures that the necessary coordination and organizational conditions are put in place to carry out the required changes to the government structures and processes, in order to make them more amenable to ICT support. This aspect connects with the overall PAR program. Infrastructure Development: This element includes significant investment in hardware and software infrastructure like e.g. public service networks to support the information systems, electronic public services and interagency data exchange. Partnership Development: The EGOV development requires the involvement of different stakeholders such as the private sector, politicians, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and associations. Data Provision and Information System Development: The availability of baseline information on citizens and businesses is required to support most forms of electronic services or transactions, e.g. the information about identity of citizens and businesses. Information systems are also required to support service delivery and satisfy general information needs, particularly at the agency back offices. Portal and Electronic Public Service Development: The government’s online presence marks the official commencement of its EGOV implementation, with the maturity of government websites measured by

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the number and sophistication of electronic public services provided through them. 10. Communication: Awareness must be continuously created to gain buy-in from the stakeholders. Awareness programs include promotion of e-services and raising demand for more services. 11. Monitoring and Evaluation: A system to measure progress based on the agreed strategic goals. These elements can be grouped into four categories of actions: (i) Strategy – providing the necessary information and knowledge for the development of comprehensive strategies and plans to develop the other three areas; (ii) Organizational Transformation – covering leadershipbuilding, regulatory frameworks, organizational change, human capacity building, partnership development and communication; (iii) Technology support – including infrastructure development, data provision and information system development, and development of portals and electronic public services (EPS); and (iv) Monitoring and Evaluation – obtaining feedback from the EGOV program and ensuring progress as planned. Organizational Transformation is imperative and critical for any successful EGOV program and must be developed at least at the same rate as the Technology support area. The desired outcomes from the investments in the technology area, particularly covering infrastructure and EPS, can only be realized when the necessary organizational conditions have been created.

Linking EGOV and PAR Programs EGOV is increasingly conceived as an instrument for PAR – an enabler for transforming public service delivery. The UNDP PAR model captures EGOV as part of the machinery of government, while in the World Bank model, EGOV enables flexible delivery arrangements. The UK Government views EGOV as part of its govern-

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ment modernization program which simply aims at making life better for citizens. The Danish Government applies EGOV to support service delivery to businesses and citizens, and enable dialog and engagement. The Dutch Government considers EGOV as an enabler for service delivery and business process redesign in implementation networks – supporting the sharing of information between different levels of government to improve public service delivery and to enhance the enforcement of laws and regulations (Snellen & Thaens, 2008). Whether EGOV is conceived as part of a larger PAR program or as part of a more general IT strategy for development, the relationship between EGOV and PAR programs can be analyzed using an organization-IT alignment framework. In this framework, IT is expected to support relevant organizational strategies and provide opportunities for IT-enabled innovation. Indeed, all four aspects of the PAR programs could be supported by EGOV, with policy-making and service delivery benefitting in particular from technology-based innovation. The next section presents the strategic alignment approach and its adaptation to the alignment of EGOV and PAR programs.

A MODEL FOR INTEGRATING EGOV AND PAR PROGRAMS Strategic Alignment Strategy There are a number of ideological standpoints regarding the meaning of strategy and the nature of the strategy process. A unifying perspective in organizational theory defines an organizational strategy (strategy) as a coherent and integrative pattern of decisions that determines and reveals the organizational purpose in terms of longterm objectives, action programs and resource allocation priorities (Hax & Majluf, 1986). An

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

organizational strategy is the force that mediates between the organization and its environment (Bergeron, Raymond, & Rivard, 2004) specifying decisions on: service and product offerings, distinctive competencies and governance. An IT Strategy specifies how information-related resources can be developed and exploited in support of an organizational strategy including (Luftman J. N., 1996): critical technologies that support the organizational strategy, unique capabilities that lead to the creation of new organizational strategies or support existing ones, and the nature of alliances or relationships required to deliver the required capability. The implementation of an IT strategy should result in an IT architecture that is dynamic, flexible and adaptable to changes in the organization or its environment (Walters & Tang, 2006).

Structure While strategies address the interactions between the organization and its environment, structures provide the necessary internal machinery and support for strategy implementation. Elements of a typical organizational structure include: administrative structures, critical business processes such as product and service delivery and customer services, and acquisition and development of human resource skills (Luftman J. N., 1996). Technological or IT structure comprises decisions related to: IT architecture, applications, hardware, software, communication and data; IT and work processes central to the operations of the IT organization; and IT skills pertaining to the acquisition, training and development of knowledge and capabilities required to effectively manage the operations of the IT organization.

Aligning Strategy and Structure Strategic alignment aims at creating a fit between the strategies (external domains) and structures (internal domains) to achieve the optimal organi-

zational performance. Therefore, alignment seeks to evolve decisions in the strategy and structure domains to maximize organizational performance, linking the external domain with the corresponding internal domains (e.g. organizational strategy with organizational infrastructure) and linking decisions made in the IT and organizational domains (e.g. decisions about organizational infrastructure with IT infrastructure). Specific alignment methods identify a number of alignment perspectives. These perspectives either adopt organizational strategy as the driver or consider IT strategy as the enabler. Processes for analyzing strategic alignment are tied to specific models. For instance, (Tallon, 2003) measures alignment in terms of IT-Shortfall - the degree to which IT fails to support organizational strategy, and IT-Underutilization - the degree to which the organizational strategy fails to leverage existing IT resources. The Strategic Alignment Model (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993) and its extensions (Coleman & Papp, 2006) are the majority of techniques used for strategic alignment today.

The Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) SAM is conceptualized in terms of two fundamental characteristics of strategic management: Strategic Fit - interrelationship between external and internal domains, and Functional Integration – integration between organizational and technology domains (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993), (Avison, Jones, Powell, & Wilson, 2004). Two pairs of external and internal domains are formally associated with the SAM model: (i) Organizational Strategy and Organizational Infrastructure, and (ii) IT Strategy and IT Infrastructure. Figure 1 below presents the four alignment domains and their corresponding elements. Consequently, achieving alignment entails obtaining a balance of choices across these four domains. These patterns of decisions across the domains are called alignment perspectives. Four dominant

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Figure 1. Strategic alignment model – Domains and perspectives (Adapted from Avison, Jones, Powell, & Wilson, 2004))

alignment perspectives were identified in the work of Henderson and Venkatraman and reinforced in other literature (Baina S., Ansias, Petit, & Castiaux, 2008): Strategy Execution, Technology Potential, Competitive Potential and Service Level (see Figure 1). Each perspective specifies Anchor Domain, Pivot Domain and Impacted Domain. Anchor Domain is the enabler of the perspective; the most recently addressed area, it provides a strong position to drive the planning process. Pivot Domain is the area that presents challenges to address or opportunities to exploit. Impacted Domain is the domain affected by changes to the Pivot Domain. For example, a decision to deliver seamless services as part of the organizational strategy (Anchor Domain) could require process reengineering in organizational infrastructure (Pivot Domain) which is likely to impact on workflows or business process management systems in the IT infrastructure (Impacted Domain). These four SAM perspectives are explained below (Baina, Ansias, & Petit, 2008): 1. Strategy Execution: A typical hierarchical view of strategic management where organizational strategy drives both orga-

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nizational design choices and the logic of the IT Infrastructure. Top management formulates the strategy and IT management is considered the implementer of the organizational strategy. The Anchor Domain is the organizational strategy, the Pivot Domain is the organizational infrastructure and the Impacted Domain is the IT infrastructure. 2. Technology Potential: It considers the organizational strategy as the driver, as before, but includes the formulation of an IT strategy to support selected organizational strategies and the corresponding specification of the required IT infrastructure and processes. Top management provides the technology vision to articulate the logic and choices pertaining to IT strategy to best support organizational strategy. The IT management serves as the technology architect that ensures the provision of an efficient and effective IT infrastructure to support the IT strategy. For this perspective, the Anchor Domain is the organizational strategy, IT strategy is the Pivot Domain and the Impacted Domain is the IT infrastructure.

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

3. Competitive Potential: Addresses the exploitation of emerging IT capabilities to create new products and services, influence key attributes of the strategy and develop new forms of relationships. This perspective allows the modification of organizational strategy through emerging IT capabilities. The IT Strategy domain is the Anchor Domain, organizational strategy is the Pivot Domain and organizational infrastructure is the Impacted Domain. 4. Service Level: Focuses on how to build a world-class IT organization within the main organization. Strategic management here decides on how to respond to the needs of customers through prioritization. The prioritization provides a balance between short-term customer needs and long-term investment in the infrastructure. Anchor Domain is the IT strategy, Pivot Domain is the IT infrastructure and Impacted Domain is the organizational infrastructure. While only four dominant perspectives are presented here for the SAM model, additional alignment perspectives may be defined (Coleman & Papp, 2006), (Luftman J. N., 1996). A common feature to these four perspectives is the use of external domains (organizational and IT strategy) as the drivers of change. However, it has been observed that internal domains (organizational infrastructure and IT infrastructure) could also drive changes in the external domains. These additional perspectives include (Luftman J. N., 1996): Organizational IT Infrastructure; IT Infrastructure Strategy; IT Organizational Infrastructure, and Organizational Infrastructure Strategy.

Adapting SAM for EGOV and PAR Programs Model and Process The traditional four domains of SAM - Organization Strategy, Organizational Infrastructure and

Processes, IT Strategy, and IT Infrastructure and Processes are mapped into four corresponding domains: PAR External Strategy, PAR Internal Strategy, EGOV External Strategy and EGOV Internal Strategy. The mapping simply provides a rough classification of the strategies and initiatives in the two domains (PAR and EGOV) into internal and external strategies. All strategies and initiatives directly related to interaction with third-party stakeholders, particularly government customers but not including government itself and its intermediaries and suppliers, are included in the external strategy domains. Strategies and initiatives related to internal government issues, such as capacity development, infrastructure and processes required to implement the external strategies are included in the internal strategy domains. The corresponding mapped domains are as follows: 1. PAR External Strategy: Includes PAR strategies and initiatives that directly address the task of transforming the relationships with the public. This might cover the policy reform and public service delivery areas. 2. PAR Internal Strategy: Includes all structural and capacity-building-related strategies and initiatives to enable the implementation of the PAR External Strategy. Five categories of goals are considered in this domain: organizational system reform, functional and structural reorganization, raising quality of civil service personnel, promotion of efficient use of finance and materials, and improving work and interdependence processes. 3. EGOV External Strategy: Similar to the PAR External Strategy, it only considers the strategies and initiatives that address external relationships with stakeholders. It consists of the provision and promotion of Electronic Public Services, with corresponding policies. 4. EGOV Internal Strategy: Consists of the strategies and initiatives to build the neces-

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sary IT human capacity, and IT processes and infrastructure to support the implementation of the EGOV External Strategy. The domain consists of four categories of goals – modernization of laws and policies, administrative optimization and restructuring, e-services for government internal operations, and enhancement of the government information architecture. The traditional four strategic perspectives are mapped to the following perspectives in the context of the EGOV and PAR strategies: PAR Strategy Execution, EGOV Potential, EGOV-driven PAR, and EGOV Support. These perspectives are explained below: 1. PAR Strategy Execution: This perspective ensures that the PAR external strategies and initiatives are strategically aligned with the PAR internal strategies, and directly supported by the EGOV infrastructure and processes (EGOV Internal Strategy). The Anchor Domain is the PAR External Strategy, with PAR Internal Strategy and EGOV Internal Strategy as the Pivot and Impacted Domains respectively. We assume here for context reasons, but without any loss of generality, that this alignment perspective has the highest priority. See Figure 2 - PAR Strategy Execution. 2. EGOV Potentials: This perspective seeks to obtain the necessary support for the PAR program from the EGOV program at the strategic, rather than operational level. The goal of alignment is to ensure that the PAR External Strategy is directly supported by the EGOV External Strategy, and consequently by the EGOV infrastructure and processes. The Anchor Domain is the PAR External Strategy, the Pivot Domain is EGOV External Strategy, and the Impacted Domain is the EGOV Internal Strategy. For context reasons, this perspective is consid-

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ered second in priority after the PAR strategy support perspective. See Figure 2 – EGOV Potentials. 3. EGOV-Driven PAR: This perspective seeks to exploit the opportunities created by the EGOV programs in the design of PAR programs. Alignment seeks to ensure that the PAR External Strategy and consequently the PAR infrastructure and processes (PAR Internal Strategy) leverage the opportunities created by the EGOV External Strategy. The Anchor Domain is the EGOV External Strategy, the Pivot Domain is the PAR External Strategy and the Impacted Domain is the PAR Internal Strategy. See Figure 2 EGOV Driven PAR Strategy. 4. EGOV Support: This perspective ensures that the EGOV strategy, infrastructure and processes directly support the PAR infrastructure and processes. Specifically, alignment aims at ensuring that the EGOV External and Internal Strategies support the PAR Internal Strategy. The Anchor Domain is the EGOV External Strategy, the Pivot Domain is the EGOV Internal Strategy and the Impacted Domain is the PAR Internal Strategy. See Figure 2 - EGOV Support Level. Each of the four alignment perspectives consists of one strategic alignment and one functional alignment step. For instance, the PAR Strategy Execution consists of: (i) strategic alignment of the PAR External Strategy and the PAR Internal Strategy domains and (ii) functional alignment of the PAR Internal Strategy and the EGOV Internal Strategy domains. Strategic alignment in the PAR domain is not considered in the scope of this chapter, therefore we assume that the PAR External and Internal Strategies are aligned. In this analysis, we only consider the EGOV Strategic and Functional fits, since the evaluation of the PAR Strategic fit is beyond the scope of the chapter.

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

Figure 2. EGOV-PAR alignment perspectives

From the above, given four major strategic alignment perspectives and considering the priority levels attached to each of these perspectives, we prescribe the process for aligning the PAR and EGOV programs as shown in Figure 3. The process consists of four steps invoking different alignment perspectives. The alignment at each step takes a set of inputs in the order of: Anchor Domain, Pivot Domain and Impacted Domain, and updates the Pivot and Impacted Domains. In the first step, the EGOV Internal

Strategy is aligned with the PAR Internal Strategy, requiring the PAR External Strategy (PES) as the Anchor Domain, the PAR Internal Strategy (PIS) as the Pivot Domain and the EGOV Internal Strategy (ITIS) as the Impacted Domain. The triple (PES, PIS, ITIS) represents the input to the “PAR Strategy Execution” step in Figure 3. As output, the step updates: (i) the PAR Internal Strategy and (ii) the EGOV Internal Strategy. The alignment proceeds to other steps with updated

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Figure 3. EGOV-PAR alignment process

After the last action, a comprehensive alignment between EGOV and PAR would have been obtained. Note that we assumed here the dominance of the Strategy Execution perspective over other alignment perspectives based on the problem context. In general, any of the four perspectives could be selected as dominant and any order of alignment steps could be taken based on the specific context for the alignment exercise. In fact, it is expected that the dominant alignment perspective could vary over time as alignment domains evolve due to the progress in implementing specific strategies. Once decisions on the dominance and order are made, the alignment actions in Table 1 can be easily recomputed. Also note that alignment steps and actions do not have to cover all defined perspectives; in practice, selective alignment could in fact produce better results.

Metrics versions of the strategies, denoted by primed names (i.e. the updated version of PES is PES’). Operationally, each alignment step involves: 1. determining the elements of the Anchor Domain (A) not supported by the elements in the Pivot Domain (P) and the elements in the Pivot Domain not supported by the Impacted Domain (I); and 2. recommending appropriate strategies and suitable choices to account for the shortfall in P with respect to A, and the shortfall in I with respect to P’ (the updated version of P). Table 1 shows the eight sub-steps or actions involved in the complete alignment of the two programs, noting that each of the alignment step in Figure 3 actually involves two actions – one strategic and one functional alignment actions.

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To assess the alignment between domains, we define two metrics: •

•

To measure the degree of alignment between two domains - the degree of alignment between the domains X and Y (degree(X,Y)) is the ratio of the elements (strategies or initiatives) of X that are supported by the elements (strategies or initiatives) of Y to the total number of elements in X. For example, degree(PIS,ITIS) represents the degree to which the EGOV Internal Strategy supports the PAR Internal Strategy. To provide a measure of alignment within a perspective - the degree of alignment within a given strategic perspective is the average of the degree to which the Pivot Domain P is aligned with the Anchor Domain A, and the degree to which the Impacted Domain I is aligned with the Pivot Domain P, i.e. (degree(A,P) + degree(P,I))/2. For

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

Table 1. Alignment actions STEP

INPUT

OUTPUT

COMMENT

A - PAR Strategy Execution Alignment Process (PES, PIS, ITIS) 1

align (PES, PIS)

PIS’

The PAR Internal Strategy is updated, assuming alignment between these two domains.

2

align (PIS’, ITIS)

ITIS’

The EGOV Internal Strategy is updated based on the revised PAR Internal Strategy in step 1.

B - EGOV Potential Alignment Process (PES, ITES, ITIS’) 3

align (PES, ITES)

ITES’

The EGOV External Strategy is updated to fully support the PAR program.

4

align (ITES’, ITIS’)

ITIS’’

The EGOV Internal Strategy is updated for a second time to support the EGOV External Strategy and indirectly support the PAR program.

C - EGOV-Driven PAR Alignment Process (ITES’, PES, PIS’) 5

align (ITES’, PES)

PES’

The PAR External Strategy is updated to leverage EGOV-based opportunities for innovation.

6

align (PES’, PIS’)

PIS’’

The PAR Internal Strategy is updated for the second time to align with the PAR External Strategies, indirectly leveraging EGOV opportunities.

D - EGOV Support Alignment Process (ITES’, ITIS’’, PIS’’) 7

align (ITES’, ITIS’’)

ITIS’’’

The EGOV Internal Strategy is updated to support the EGOV External Strategy. However, since there has been no update to ITES since the last update of ITIS, this step is redundant.

8

align (ITIS’’’, PIS’’)

PIS’’’

The PAR Internal Strategy is updated based on the EGOV Internal Strategy.

Table 2. Measuring alignment in strategic perspectives NO

PERSPECTIVE

MEASURE

1

PAR Strategy Execution

(degree(PES, PIS) + degree(PIS, ITIS))/2

2

EGOV Potential

(degree(PES, ITES) + degree(ITES, ITIS))/2

3

EGOV-Driven PAR

(degree(ITES, PES) + degree(PES, PIS))/2

4

EGOV Support

(degree(ITES, ITIS) + degree(ITIS, PIS))/2

example, the degree of alignment in the PAR Strategy Execution perspective is (degree(PES,PIS) + degree(PIS,ITIS))/2. These measures provide quick insights into the current orientation of an organization in context. In fact, through the measures we can determine the inherent strategy or orientation of the organization in terms of the linkage between the PAR and EGOV Programs. Table 2 shows the measures for the degree of alignment of the four perspectives.

CASE STUDY Macao PAR Roadmap The Macao SAR Government (MSARG) PAR program consists of (MSARG, 2007): (1) the Policy Process Reform and (2) the Internal Management Reform. The Policy Process Reform in turn comprises Policy Consultation and Policy Execution, while the Internal Management Reform consists of five sub-areas: Organization System, Organization Structure, Processes and Technol-

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Figure 4. PAR and EGOV programs goal models for Macao SAR

ogy, Personnel Management, and Finance and Materials. See Figure 4. The analysis of the MSARG PAR roadmap shows that its elements can be easily mapped to the four components of the PAR model presented earlier as follows: Policy Reform can be mapped to the Policy-Making Reform in the generic model; Personnel Management can be mapped to Personnel Management and Civil Service Reform; Finance and Materials can be mapped to Revenue and Public Expenditure Management; and Organizational System, Organizational Structure and

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Process and Technology can be mapped to the Machinery of Government.

Macao EGOV Program The MSARG EGOV program (MSARG, 2005) identifies six major areas for intervention: 1. Modernization of Laws and Policies: Aims at removing legal and regulatory barriers to developing and using electronic services, ensuring effective protection of personal

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2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

data and privacy, and providing information security. Administrative Optimization and Restructuring: Restructuring administrative processes that underpin public services and eliminating information islands through better coordination, organizational interoperability and governance frameworks. Electronic Services within Internal Operations of Government: Developing an effective internal IT infrastructure to support information sharing, as well as Government-to-Government (G2G) and Government-to-Employee (G2E) services. Electronic Public Services: Providing Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Citizen (G2C) services in an integrated, seamless environment, with priority given to the services in highest demand by businesses and citizens, including mobile services. Enhancement of Government Information Infrastructures: Streamlining and integrating government information infrastructure, for instance through technical and managerial standards and use of shared components in the development of agency portals or electronic public services. Promotion, Publicity and Communication: Promoting the use of e-services to major stakeholders such as the public, legislative assembly, principal officials, and agency leadership and chiefs, and regularly collecting opinions on public expectations.

Policy areas 1, 2 and 6 fall under the organizational transformation activity, while policy areas 3, 4 and 5 under technology support. A comprehensive readiness assessment was carried out by the e-Macao Project in 2004. The results from this assessment informed 27 policy elements specified under the six areas above. The corresponding goal model for the EGOV strategy is provided in Figure 4.

Analyzing EGOV-PAR Alignment Gaps Considering the PAR and EGOV strategies described above, our goal is to apply our alignment procedure to answer the set of research questions below. Q1. What is the degree of strategic fit between the EGOV External and Internal Strategies? Q2. What is the degree to which the EGOV program is aligned with the PAR roadmap? Q2.1. degree to which the PAR Internal Strategy is supported by EGOV Internal Strategy Q2.2. degree to which the PAR External Strategy is supported by EGOV External Strategy Q3. What is the degree to which the PAR roadmap is aligned with the EGOV program? Q3.1. degree to which the EGOV External Strategy is leveraging the PAR External Strategy Q3.2. degree to which the PAR Internal Strategy is leveraging the EGOV Internal Strategy In applying the alignment process, comments and recommendation are provided for each pair of cross-referenced EGOV-PAR strategy items. Figure 5 shows the traces of the analysis.

Results and Findings After executing all alignment actions (see Table 1) we obtained the following results.

Alignment Status of the EGOV and PAR Programs Analysis of the alignment between the EGOV and PAR program shows EGOV Support as the strongest perspective; see Figure 6. This shows the possibility of the optimal use of available EGOV

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Figure 5. Exemplar comments for an alignment action

infrastructure and processes by the PAR program. The same figure shows that the remaining three alignment perspectives are almost equal (about 60%) in terms of alignment strength, with the EGOV-Enabled perspective marginally stronger than the PAR Strategy and the EGOV Potential perspectives. Overall, the results in Figure 6 show that the EGOV program offers relevant technology strategies, and in particular IT infrastructure and processes, that can be exploited by the PAR program. It also shows that while the current EGOV strategy and infrastructure provide significant support to the PAR initiatives, there are opportunities for stronger strategic support by the EGOV program.

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Strategic Fit within the EGOV Domain The strategic fit with the EGOV domain provides some measure of the internal consistency and completeness of the EGOV program, as presented in the EGOV strategy document. Since our analysis does not consider extensions to the SAM model, the IT Infrastructure Strategy perspective is dropped from the analysis. The result is that 78% of the initiatives related to the EGOV External Strategies were supported by the planned technology architecture, infrastructure and processes. Consequently, to implement all specified EGOV strategies, there is a need to provide supporting technological infrastructure

Integrating Electronic Government and Public Administration Reform Strategies

Figure 6. Degree of alignment for perspectives

and processes for those strategic initiatives that are not currently supported.

Alignment of the EGOV with the PAR Program The degree to which the EGOV program is aligned with the PAR program indicates the strength of the support directly provided by the EGOV strategies and infrastructure to the PAR initiatives. The analysis indicated that 59% of the PAR initiatives were directly supported by the EGOV initiatives. Specifically, it showed that: (1) 60% of the PAR Internal Strategies are supported by the EGOV Internal Strategies; and (2) 33% of the PAR External Strategies i.e. the initiatives related to policy consultation, resolution, evaluation and execution, are supported by the EGOV External Strategies i.e. the polices on the provision and promotion of Electronic Public Services. These figures indicate the need to develop EGOV initiatives that would directly support strategic PAR initiatives.

well the planned EGOV initiatives can be exploited by the PAR program. From existing information: (1) 62% of the EGOV External Strategies could be leveraged by the PAR External Strategies; and (2) 100% of the planned EGOV infrastructure and processes could be leveraged by the PAR infrastructure and processes, provided the PAR Internal Strategies are slightly modified. These findings show that there are several EGOV initiatives that could be leveraged by the PAR program support.

Summary of Findings The results generally show the need for more EGOV initiatives to provide improved strategic support for the PAR program. This could be attributed to the relative development times of the two programs – the EGOV program was launched in 2005, while the PAR roadmap was initiated in 2007. The results also show a huge potential provided by the EGOV program with respect to the PAR program.

Alignment of the PAR with the EGOV Program

DISCUSSION

The degree to which the PAR initiatives are aligned with the EGOV initiatives is measured by how

The premise of our approach rested on the argument that the problem of aligning EGOV and

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PAR strategies is conceptually equivalent to that of aligning technology and organizational domains in general. In our conceptualization, both EGOV and PAR strategy documents provide concrete specifications of both the “strategy” and “structure” elements of the conceptual “EGOV organization” (similar to an IT organization) and “PAR organization” respectively. Our rule for splitting the strategy documents into external (strategy) and internal (structure) domains of the SAM model entails mapping all externally-oriented strategy statements - those directly impacting on citizens, businesses and other external stakeholders, into the strategy domain; and all strategy statements related to processes and internal working of government into the structure domain. Our method has been validated by the usefulness of the results produced from the associated alignment process - revelation of the gaps in the strategy documents and opportunities in the specification of EGOV and PAR programs. In the context of the case study, the comments generated from the process were analyzed to provide recommendations for updating EGOV and PAR strategies. In terms of the efforts involved in the alignment process, our experience shows that managing alignment relationships is laborious, data intensive, iterative, and requires good traceability support. This makes computing support highly desirable. In fact, this has motivated the project team to develop the alignment management tool to provide baseline support for alignment management. However, it should be noted that alignment covers both strategy and implementation of specified initiatives, since strategic alignment is only realized when the initiatives related to strategies are implemented. While we have adopted an organizationaloriented approach to alignment of the EGOV programs, alternative approaches are also beginning to emerge particularly from the development community. Under development frameworks,

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aligning EGOV programs with development strategies entails ensuring that the EGOV programs will impact upon or lead to the necessary social changes in terms of sustainability, livelihood and freedom (De, 2006) and (Abrahams & Newton-Reid, 2008). Another dimension to the EGOV alignment is the institutional one (Fountain, 2007). However, our view is that developmental and institutional perspectives to alignment are complementary to the presented organizational approach. Our ongoing work entails integrating these perspectives.

CONCLUSION The aim of this chapter was to present a process model and supporting metrics for aligning EGOV and PAR programs, based on the classical Strategic Alignment Model, and to report on our experience in applying this process in the context of a concrete government-wide project in Macao SAR, China. Specifically, we presented the underlying SAM model and described a comprehensive approach to aligning a pair of EGOV and PAR strategies. The major contribution of this chapter is the successful adaptation and operationalization of the SAM model for aligning EGOV programs - an important consideration in the new generation of EGOV strategies. We also developed a toolkit and a software system to support the use of our approach by practitioners. Our current efforts are centered on integrating institutional and developmental issues with organizational factors in the alignment of EGOV programs.

REFERENCES Abrahams, L., & Newton-Reid, L. (2008). eGovernance for Social and Local Economic Development: Gauteng City Region perspective. Link, South-Africa.

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ADB/OECD. Anti Corruption Reform under the Action Plan’s 3rd Implementation Cycle (2006 – 2008) – Macao SAR China.

De, R. (2006). Evaluation of E-Government Systems: Project Assessment vs Development Assessment. EGOV 2006 (. LNCS, 4084, 317–328.

Avison, D., Jones, J., Powell, P., & Wilson, D. (2004). Using and Validating the strategic alignment model. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 13, 223–246. doi:10.1016/j. jsis.2004.08.002

Fountain, J. (2007). Bureacratic reform and E-Government in the United States: An institutional Perspective. National Center for Digital Government.

Baina, S., Ansias, P., Petit, M., & Castiaux, A. A. (2008). Strategic Business/IT Alignment using Goal Models. Proceedings of BUSITAL. Baina, S., Ansias, P., & Petit, M. A. (2008). Strategic Business/IT Alignment using Goal Models. Proceedings of BUSITAL. Baina, S., Ansias, P.-Y., Petit, M., & Castiaux, A. (2008). Strategic Business/IT Alignment using Goal Models. In Proceedings of BUSITAL. Bergeron, F., Raymond, L., & Rivard, S. (2004). Ideal Patterns of Strategic Alignment and Business Performance. Information & Management, 41, 1003–1020. doi:10.1016/j.im.2003.10.004 Bleistein, S. J., Cox, K., & Verner, J. (2006). Validating strategic alignment of organizational IT requirements using goal modeling and problem diagrams. Journal of Systems and Software, 79, 362–378. doi:10.1016/j.jss.2005.04.033 Cheung, A. B. (1992). Public Sector Reform in Hong Kong: Perspectives and Problems. Asia Journal of Public Administration, 14(2), 115–148. Chou, B. K. P. (n.d.). Public Sector Reform in Macao after Handover. Retrieved from China Perspectives, March-April 2004: http://chinaperspectives.revues. org/document808.html Coleman, P., & Papp, R. (2006). Strategic Alignment: Analysis of Perspectives. In Proceedings of the 2006 Southern Association for Information Systems Conference (pp. 242–250).

Hax, A. C., & Majluf, S. N. (1986). Strategy and the Strategy Formation Process. Working Paper, Sloan School of Management, MIT. Henderson, J., & Venkatraman, N. (1993). Strategic Alignment: Leveraging Information Technology for Transforming organizations. IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), 472–484. doi:10.1147/sj.382.0472 Holmes, J. W., & Wileman, T. (1995). Towards Better Governance – Public Service Reform in New Zealand (1984 – 94) and its Relevance to Canada. Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Janowski, T., Ojo, A., Estevez, E., & Tou, C. M. (2008). Building E-Government in Macao. Retrieved from FutureGov: http://www.futuregov. net/articles/2008/sep/30/building-egov-macao/ King, M., Cragg, P. B., & Hussin, H. (2000). IT Alignment and Organisational Performance in Small Firms. In B. M. Hansen HR (Ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth European Conference on Information Systems (pp. 723-729). Vienna. Kiragu, K. (2002). Improving Service Delivery through Public Service Reform – Lessons of Experience from Select Sub-Saharan African Countries. Second Meeting of the DAC Network on Good Governance and Capacity Development (pp. 14-15). OECD Headquarters. Lines, K. (2005). MIS and the Problem of Decoupling in E-Government Reform. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 17(2), 107–132.

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Lines, K. (2005). MIS and the Problem of Decoupling in E-Government Reform. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 17(2), 107–132. Luftman, J. N. (1993). Transforming the enterprise: The alignment of business and information strategies. IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), 198–221. doi:10.1147/sj.321.0198 Luftman. (1996). Competing in the Information Age – Strategic Alignment in Practice. New York: Oxford University Press. Macao, S. A. R. (2007). Government - China. Public Administration Reform Roadmap. Manning, N., & Parison, N. (2004). International Public Administration Reform, Implications for the Russian Federation. The World Bank. MSARG. (2005). Electronic Government Development Program (2005 - 2009). Macao: Macao SAR Government, China. MSARG. (2007). Public Administration Reform Roadmap of the Macao SAR Government. Niven, P. R. (2003). Balanced Scorecard for Government and Nonprofit Agencies. John Wiley & Sons. OECD. (2003). The E-Government Imperative. Policy Briefs. OECD. OED. (2001). Evaluating Public Sector Reform – Guidelines for Assessing Country-Level impact of Structural reform and Capacity Building in the Public Sector (W. Bank, Ed.) Retrieved from World Bank Operations Evaluation Department unpan1. un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN002283.pdf Pliny Han. (2007, June 21). Macao Launches “New Route” for Public Administration Reform. Retrieved from Chinese Government’s Official Web Portal: http://english.gov.cn/2007-06/21/ content_656868.htm

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Snellen, I., & Thaens, M. (2008). From eGovernment to m-Government: Towards a New Paradigm in Public Administration. Bologna: Ricerca Gianni-Formez II Fase. Stauffacher, G. (2002). E-Government as an Instrument of Public Management Reform (pp. 22–24). Second E-Government Conference, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Tallon, P. P., & Kraemer, K. (2002). Investigating the Relationship between Strategic Alignment and IT Business Value: The Discovery of a Paradox. In Shin, N. (Ed.), Creating business value with information technology: Challenges and solutions (pp. 1–22). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. UNDESA. (2009). 2008 E-Government Survey From E-Government to Connected Governance. UNDP. (2002). Public Administration Reform – Practice Note. Retrieved from Bureau for Development Policy, democratic Governance Group, United Nations Development Program (UNDP): http://www.undp.org/ governance/docs/ PARPN_English.pdf UNESCO. (2005). E-Government Toolkit for Developing Countries. Walters, B. A., & Tang, Z. (2006). IT-Enabled Strategic Management - Increasing Return for the organization. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc. WASEDA. (2009). The 2009 Waseda University International e-Government Ranking. Japan: Institute of e-Government, Waseda University.

ADDITIONAL READING ADB/OECD. Anti Corruption Reform under the Action Plan’s 3rd Implementation Cycle (2006 – 2008), Macao SAR China.

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Baina, S., Ansias, P.-Y., Petit, M., & Castiaux, A. (2008). Strategic Business/IT Alignment Using Goal Models. In Proceedings of BUSITAL. Chou, B. K. P. (n.d.). Public Sector Reform in Macao after Handover. Retrieved from China Perspectives, March-April 2004: http://chinaperspectives.revues. org/document808.html Han, P. (2007). Macao Launches “New Route” for Public Administration Reform. Retrieved from Chinese Government’s Official Web Portal: http:// english.gov.cn/2007-06/21/content_656868.htm Janowski, T., Ojo, A., Estevez, E., & Tou, C. M. (2008). Building E-Government in Macao. Retrieved from FutureGov: http://www.futuregov. net/articles/2008/sep/30/building-egov-macao/ King, M., Cragg, P. B., & Hussin, H. (2000). IT Alignment and Organizational Performance in Small Firms. In B. M. Hansen HR (Ed.), Proceedings of the Eighth European Conference on Information Systems, (pp. 723-729). Vienna. Kiragu, K. (2002). Improving Service Delivery through Public Service Reform – Lessons of Experience from Select Sub-Saharan African Countries. Second Meeting of the DAC Network on Good Governance and Capacity Development, (pp. 14-15). OECD Headquarters. Macao, S. A. R. (2007). Government. Public Administration Reform Roadmap. Niven, P. R. (2003). Balanced Scorecard for Government and Nonprofit Agencies. John Wiley & Sons.

Stauffacher, G. (2002). E-Government as an Instrument of Public Management Reform. In Second E-Government Conference (pp. 22–24). Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Aligning Electronic Government: Ensuring that an Electronic Government program effectively supports and enables related public administration and development programs. E-Government in Macao: All programs related to e-government development in Macao SAR. E-Government Strategy: A document specifying the overall vision and goals for an EGOV program and major decisions on how the same EGOV program will be developed. Public Administration Reform: The set of transformations required to create the necessary structures and capacities for good public management. Strategic Alignment Method: The alignment technique developed by Henderson and Venkatraman. Strategic Alignment Metrics: Concrete measures for estimating the degree of alignment with respect to a set of perspectives. Strategic Alignment: Creating a fit between the strategies and structures of an organization to achieve the optimal organizational performance.

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Chapter 8

From the City of Bits to E-Topia: Space, Citizenship and Community as Global Strategy in the Governance of the Digitally-Inclusive Regeneration Thesis Mark Deakin Edinburgh Napier University, UK

ABSTRACT Mitchell’s book on the City of Bits, sets out a vision of urban life literally done to bits, left fragmented and in danger of coming unstuck. His next book e-topia, provides the counter-point to this vision of urban life as ungovernable and scenario where the city is no longer left in bits and pieces, but a place where it ‘all comes together’. As Mitchell states in Me++: the Cyborg Self and the Networked City, all this ‘coming together’ is now possible because the trial separation of bits and atoms is over and the dissolution of the boundaries between virtual and physical space makes citizenship worth playing for. The landscape which this chapter uncovers is different for the reason it reveals the middle ground between the ‘high-level’ issues surrounding e-topia and those lying at the ‘grass roots’ level of me ++ the cyborg-self. For it is here with the likes of Graham and Marvin, Laclau and Mouffe and Zizek, that questions about the (radical) liberal democracy underlying the ‘city of bits’ and supporting the global strategy of ‘e-topia’ as the ‘me++ of the cyborg self’, get ‘bottomed out’ as the citizenship, community and governance of the digitally-inclusive regeneration thesis. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch008

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From the City of Bits to E-Topia

INTRODUCTION Given the growing significance of Mitchell’s (1995, 1999, 2001, 2003) work on the transformative capacities of information technology (IT), this chapter shall reflect on the transition from the City of Bits to e-topia and concerns Graham and Marvin’s (2001)Splintering Urbanism reveals about the status of this thesis. Reflecting on these concerns, it shall uncover what the critiques of Graham and Marvin (2001), Laclau and Mouffe (2001) and Zizek (1997, 2006a, 2006b) reveals about e-topia and go on to expose what this chapter’s reworking of the thesis tells us about space, citizenship and community. The critical nature of these insights is then used to take this investigation further. This is done by offering an outline of urban life as those spaces we shall come to know it by. That is as places where the embedded intelligence: semantics, syntax, vocabulary and notion of citizenship, not only have a sense of community, but global strategy for governing the digitally-inclusive regeneration which everything is subject to. The focus of the paper is theoretical. This is not to suggest the thesis has no practical relevance as this would not be true. For major software developers like Microsoft, Cisco, Hewlett Packard and Siemens, are all currently in the process of developing a global strategy for the governance of their digitally-inclusive regeneration plans. 1234 However, as the object of this chapter is to put theory before practice, what follows shall take the opportunity this examination of the thesis offers to uncover the critical role space, citizenship and community play in the global strategy multinational organisations are currently developing to govern their digitally-inclusive regeneration programmes.

FROM THE CITY OF BITS TO E-TOPIA Mitchell’s (1995) book on the City of Bits, sets out a vision of urban life that is literally coming unstuck, broken up into a series of fragmented experiences and ‘done to bits’. Mitchell’s (1999) next book e-topia, provides the counter-point to this vision of urban life and scenario whereby the city is no longer left in bits and pieces, but a place where it ‘all comes together’. For Mitchell (1999)e-topia offers the prospect of just such a future: urban life in a city no longer ‘done to bits’ and in danger of coming unstuck, but a place where it ‘all comes together’. In particular, as a place which makes it possible for cities to be creative in ‘piecing together’ spaces that allow for a notion of citizenship and sense of community. It is for this reason e-topia culminates in an examination of: ‘where it all comes together’. Where the notion of citizenship and sense of community comes together as a global strategy strong (lean, mean and green) enough and sufficiently resilient for the governance of any ‘digitally-inclusive regeneration’ to keep everything stuck together. As Mitchell (2003) goes on to state in his more recent book: Me++: the Cyborg-self and the Networked City, all this ‘coming together’ is now possible because: “The trial separation of bits and atoms is now over. In the early day of the digital revolution it seemed useful to pry these elementary units of materiality and information apart. The virtual and physical were imagined as separate realms – cyberspace and meatspace, as William Gibson’s insouciantly in-your-face formulation put it. They seemed a welcome release from the stubborn constraints of tangibility – until the dot-com bubble burst, at least. Now, thought, the boundary between them is dissolving” (2003, p. 3).

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It is the prospective future which such a “digital revolution” opens up for urban planners, architects, engineers and surveyors to construct, that Mitchell (1999, 2001, 2003) draws attention to. For, while he acknowledges that ‘a lot is at stake’ with this vision of urban life, Mitchell suggests it is the ‘post-AD 2000’ dissolution of the boundaries between the virtual and physical which “makes it all worth playing for”.

CONCERNS WITH THE GLOBAL STRATEGY OF E-TOPIA While the idea about the post AD dissolution of the boundaries between the virtual and physical is both compelling and full of prospect, it has to be recognised there are a number of concerns surrounding Mitchell’s thesis. The first rests with the ability of the thesis to cope with what Mitchell refers to as: ‘ancient concerns’ about the ecology, equity and sustainability of urban development. In particular those about the ecology and equity of the citizenship and community the thesis advances. Here the concern is not so much with the utopian legacy of the citizenship and community the thesis advances, but the tendency it has to ‘repeat the mistakes of the past’. Repeat them by failing to acknowledge that techno-topian solutions to all the ills of urban life tend to leave cities without the means by which to deal with the ecology and equity of urban development. This tendency to repeat the mistakes of the past is unfortunate for another reason and because it leaves the material basis of the thesis ambiguous. That is not clear as to whether the technological component of the thesis which Mitchell advances is utopian, or if it is dystopian. Either founded on the imaginary scenarios of the ‘best dreams’ that surround the notion of citizenship, or forged from the ‘worst nightmares’ which surface from the sense of community. Mitchell’s response to such accusations is, of course, tactical and astute. For while clearly

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locked into the environmental determinism of a techno-topian legacy, his response manages to side-step these issues by asserting the late modern experience of urban life is something which shall be neither utopian, nor dystopian but e-topian. While clever in managing to side-step many of the issues not only concerning the thesis’ utopian past, but surrounding its dystopian future, this is only achieved by representing e-topia as a ‘stateof-being’, whose existence is not burdened by the dead weight of the past, but a space light and agile enough to keep moving forwards, towards a future able to reconcile the ancient concerns of ecology, equity and sustainability. The way the thesis proposes to achieve this is instructive and reveals a lot about its ultimate objective. That is of ‘breaking with the past’, dis-embedding insitu practices, ‘churning’ everything up and turning the spaces which the ‘e-topic’ attributes of this alternate future creates, around the notion of citizenship and sense of community.

WHAT THE EMERGING CRITIQUE REVEALS Unfortunately, while the thesis may stress the physicality of all the dis-embedding, churn and dis-placement wrapped up in the creation of such spaces is virtuous, it has neither the foundation nor superstructure to give this claim any more substance than the force of words it utters them with. For all the thesis has is the idea of an end to the trial separation of bits and atoms and call from architects, planners, engineers and the like, to respond in a way never before thought possible. The problem here rests with the tendency e-topia has to shout hard and loud about the need for such a response, but remain silent on the methodology. Remain silent on the matter of how to respond and be constructive in creating the recombinant spaces whose notion of citizenship offers just such a sense of community.

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These concerns are noticeable for the reason they tend to bring Mitchell’s representation of e-topia as a global strategy where ‘it all comes together’ into question and because of this, cast doubt on the vision of urban life the thesis sets out. What the emerging critique reveals is that: if the thesis is to grasp the opportunity e-topia offers to be reconciliatory, it first of all needs to lose the environmental determinism the thesis is associated with and secondly; find out whether the technological legacy which e-topia embodies does not overhang the notion of citizenship and sense of community advanced. To do this a global strategy and model of governance with the potential to be constructive is needed. This in turn needs to be capable of meeting the legitimate concerns building around the ecology, equity and sustainability of urban development. Meeting these requirements is a tall order, because putting any questions about the global strategy of this governance model aside, the ICTs currently available to materialise them are all too neo-traditional, conservative and backwards looking to service a digitally-inclusive regeneration. This comes through loud and clear from Mitchell’s (2001) own discussion of e-topia found in: High Technology in Low income Communities. Here attention is drawn to the architects of New Urbanism’s, ‘high-tec and low-income’ solution. Architects like Calthorpe (1993) and Katz (1993) and those Horan (2000) contends allow the notion of citizenship and sense of community New Urbanism advance to be constructive. Not only in piecing together a global strategy, or bringing together the means to govern it, but in assembling a platform of ICTs capable of supporting the kind of ‘high-tec and low income’ regeneration drawn attention to. In many ways what the architects of New Urbanism offer to achieve such a ‘digital-inclusive regeneration’, is nothing less than a mirror image of Mitchell’s thesis on e-topia. For they too go a considerable way to side-step many of the ques-

tions raised about the ecological-integrity and social equity of the citizenship, community and global strategy governing the digitally-inclusive nature of the regeneration process in question. The problem with their representation of the thesis however, rests not so much with the notion of citizenship, or sense of community it advances, as with the methodological gap this leaves for the urban planning, architecture, engineering and surveying professions to fill. For in its current state, the thesis leaves them without the material needed to fill this gap.

THE SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES: SPACE, CITIZENSHIP, COMMUNITY AND THE GLOBALSTRATEGY OF GOVERNANCE While problems in themselves, if these difficulties were only methodological, they might perhaps be manageable. The problem is they run much deeper than the technical domains which they relate to and refer to substantive issues that surround the trajectory of Mitchell’s thesis. They relate to whether the response from the professional bodies in question can be constructive in creating the types of spaces whereby the notion of citizenship and sense of community have sufficient global reach to be strategic. Have sufficient global reach to be strategic and allow the global strategy this generates to be constructive in creating the types of spaces capable of reconciling one (citizenship) with the other (community) as part of their governance. This is an important point to stress, because if the trajectory is not in the direction of citizenship, community, global strategy and governance, then the question of whether e-topia can be seen as a progressive force for change, or a thesis for merely reproducing the ‘agonistic hegemony’ of the current situation also surfaces. This matter arises because of what Graham and Marvin (2001) have referred to as the tendency

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towards ‘Splintering Urbanism’. That vision of the future which for Graham and Marvin is the direct opposite of the reconciliation that Mitchell proposes and a situation which merely ends-up being destructive, doing little more than building the capacity for citizenship to be played out in dys-functionally separated communities. This representation of ‘splintering urbanism’ provides what can only be referred to as the antithesis of Mitchell’s e-topia. For this account of what is euphemistically referred to as the fragmentation of ‘urban places as electronic spaces’, goes some considerable way to suggest the problems encountered with Mitchell’s thesis on e-topia are as much substantive as methodological, the former holding the key to unlocking the latter. The key thing to bear in mind with all of this is that everything i.e. e-topia, or splintering urbanism, hangs on cities being able to: balance the needs of citizens against the material requirements of their communal existence and match their demands for ecological integrity and social equity with the governance of that digitally-inclusive regeneration which stands in as the measure of just such a possibility. So, in that sense Mitchell is right, there is everything still to play for and the risk of not being able to match one with the other is too great to contemplate. For if no action is taken e-topia will remain little more than a speculative vision of urban life, incapable of representing either the citizenship, or community it is wrapped up in. That is left with a global strategy whose governance is at best only able to reproduce the status-quo, or at worst be digitally-inclusive in ‘generating’ an even greater level of ecological dis-integration and social inequity. Accepting this, the question that emerges is not about whether to work with the global strategy etopia sets out, or abandon it, but how best to meet the criticisms which splintering urbanism levels at it. However, in accepting this, we subsequently come up against a challenge of some magnitude. This is because here there is not only the question of how to meet the criticisms levelled at the

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thesis, but draw a line under them, move on and in effect do what others have as yet been unable to. Others, of course, have tried to do just this and come up against not e-topia, but what Brockleman (2003) refers to as the “vestiges of utopia”. Those early modern visions of future states that have tended to pre-occupy social reformers and revolutionaries alike and whose failures have resulted in them turning attention away from the totalising images which they create. As Brockleman makes clear, the problem with these attempts to capture the possibility of an alternative future rests with the tendency they have to be overshadowed by the totalising logic that surrounds the administration of the welfare state as some universal ideal and for which their neo-liberal counter-part is found in the exchange of the market economy. However, as Brockleman stresses, it is the critical encounters between Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) and Zizek (1997, 2006a, 2006b) that provide a way out of any impasse between utopia as an aesthetic representation of the present and an e-topia which is based on the technical possibilities of an alternate future. For Laclau and Mouffe, this alternative takes the form of a radical democratic emancipation from the hegemony of the present. Zizek takes this radical democratic emancipation further by drawing attention to the possibility of a political subjectivity that divests itself of the aesthetics which surrounds the utopian impulse and advances a global strategy able to clear the way for the governance of an e-topian future. The position Zizek takes is particularly useful because, while it offers a critical insight into the ideology of the Cartesian logic underlying Mitchell’s post-human cyborg-self, it also provides the opportunity to not only get over the communitarian-based critique of Graham and Marvin, but past the radical democratic emancipation Laclau and Mouffe’s advance as an alternative. This is achieved by adopting what Zizek (2006a) refers to as a parallax view of the post-human communitarian critique and radical democratic emancipation of society

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offered by Graham and Marvin and Laclau and Mouffe alike. Zizek’s (2006a) ‘parallax view’ of the future is of e-topia as a universal exception to the hegemony the others represent. In particular, that exception in which one: the ideology underlying the post-human cyborg-self, acts to short-circuit an over-determination of the other as a virtual community. An over-determination of the cyborg-self as a virtual community whose globalisation is in turn strategic in governing the technological progress of the very radical democratic emancipation everyone concerned is seeking. For as is stated: “while cyberspace ideologists can dream about the next evolutionary step in which we will no longer be mechanically interacting ‘cartesian’ individuals,, in which each person will cut their substantial link to their body and conceive of themselves as part of a new holistic Mind that lives and acts through them, what is obfuscated by such a direct ‘naturalisation’ of the world wide web, or market is the set of power relations – of political decisions, of institutional conditions, that organisms like the internet need in order to survive” (2006a, p. 161). Furthermore, Zizek goes on to suggest that dispensing with such idealisations of society and studying the real politics of their institutional i.e. civic and communal conditions responsible for this over-determination is: “ far more interesting than bemoaning the disintegration of community life through the impact of new technologies [because it allows us] to analyse the way which technological progress itself gives rise to new communities which gradually naturalise themselves – like virtual communities” (ibid: 175). Here Zizek does something quite clever. For not only does he offer a meta-critique of both Mitchell, Graham, Marvin, Laclau and Mouffe,

but build upon the critical insights which they offer without alienating either one of them. This going some considerable way to keep all of them firmly in tow: the liberalism that underlies Mitchell’s radical naturalisation, Graham and Marvin’s egalitarianism and the democratic emancipation which is called for by Laclau and Mouffe. That radical naturalisation, egalitarianism and democratic emancipation, which is called for by Mitchell, Graham, Marvin, Laclau and Mouffe alike and Zizek responds to by grounding what they all mean in a materialisation of the cyborg-self as the civitas of virtual communities. The rest of this chapter shall set out how attempts to overcome the challenges such a materialisation poses can be met. In particular how they can be met by way of and through a critical reworking of the spaces created to naturalise the egalitarianism of the civic and communal. That is by way of their materialisation which manifests itself through the global strategy embodied in the governance of a digitally-inclusive regeneration.

CRITICAL REWORKING(S) Mitchell’s account of how the cyborg-self of virtual communities develop a global strategy for governing a digitally-inclusive regeneration appears in a statement about the ‘materiality’ of their “embedded intelligence”. This is set out in Me++: The Cyborg-self and the Networked City. As is stated: “Networked intelligence is being embedded everywhere, in kinds of physical systems - both natural and artificial. Routinely, events in cyberspace are being reflected in physical space, and visa-versa. Electronic commerce is not, as it turns out, the replacement of bricks and mortar with servers and telecommunications, but the sophisticated integration of digital networks with physical supply chains. Increasingly we are living out our lives at the points where electronic information

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flows, mobile bodies and physical spaces interact in engaging ways. These points are becoming the occasions for a characteristically new architecture of the twenty-first century” (2003, p. 4). Here Mitchell suggests in civic society it is not virtual versus physical, nor cyber versus meat space that is significant, but the “networked intelligence being embedded everywhere”, which is the critical factor. This is because he suggests that here the relationship between citizenship and community is no longer being lived out in accordance with the laws of some essentialist logic, but in relation to the agonistic hegemony of a radical democratic emancipation which aligns with the politicisation of their inter-subjectivity. That inter-subjectivity which occurs: “where electronic information flows, mobile bodies and physical spaces interact in engaging ways” (ibid). Again, however, precisely what all this means is not clear. For it appears the object of focusing attention on networked intelligence is to highlight the political subjectivity of urban life experienced by the cyborg-self as members of virtual communities. That point of inter-section where what Mitchell refers to as: the agonistics of the cyborgself emerge as connecting creatures with extended limbs and channelled flows of augmented senses, permeating the body through the distributed minds of multiple memory. That distributed mind of multiple memory which he suggests make the individual, indefinite and post-human. Indefinite and post-human in the sense such multitude is now founded on the sensibilities of silicon-based prosthetic extensions embedding themselves in the intelligence of knowledge-based agents. If, however, we contrast this account of the cyborg-self as the knowledge-base agents of virtual communities, with the position taken by Mitchell (2005), what all of this means becomes even more problematic. For here Mitchell goes

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on to suggest the political subjectivity of any such cyborg community is not defined by either the limb-like extension, or sensory augmentation of any programmable code, but their virtualisation as a global strategy governed by way of and through the context-specific language of social capital. Unlike Mitchell’s initial declaration about the trial separation of atoms and bits being over, it appears that here, in Placing Words, their materiality is still very much in the process of being brought back together, so what their coupling means in social and technical terms, can be put on trial in the citizenship of communities. That is in the atomistic, bitty, fragmented, fragile, anxious and insecure encounters which citizens enter into as part of their communal existence.

RECASTING THE CRITICAL CHALLENGE The critical challenge all of the aforesaid poses is theoretical and relates to the way Mitchell uses the likes of Brecht, Benjamin and McLuhen to underpin and lend support to his thesis. For in the City of Bits he uses them to begin building the aesthetics of his cultural theory and deploy this as both the digital technology of e-topia and the Me++ of the cyborg-self. The connection all of this has with Braudrillard (1975), Laclau & Mouffe (2001) and Zizek (1997, 2006a, 2006b) is indirect and only linked together though critical reflection. That is to say, through critical reflection on Braudillard’s (1976, 2006) discourse about the utopian impulse of such aesthetics and critical inflection on the social, not as a harmonious relationship underlying the art and science of civil society, but as the agonistics of the radical democratic hegemony supporting the politics of the ‘cyborg-self’. That is as political subjects which not only underpin the ‘agonies of the cyborg-self’, but support the civitas responsible for their virtualisation as communities. This is why rather than celebrating the rise of citizenship

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and bemoaning the loss of community (in the way Marvin and Graham and Laclau and Mouffe seem to), Zizek proposes we should see the object of such developments - the virtualisation of communities - as not only real, but ‘full of potential’. Unable to acknowledge the political subjectivity of the cyborg-self, or the virtualisation of communities, the danger Graham and Marvin’s splintering urbanism and Laclau and Mouffe’s social hegemony face is the realisation their insights can only be gained by looking backwards i.e. from the vantage point of the present and not forwards. That is by reflecting on the past, rather than looking forwards towards a radical (liberal) democratic state-of-affairs, where the emancipatory qualities of the cyborg-self (as the civitas of virtual communities) can be seen as a progressive force for change. Recasting the critical challenge all of this poses in such terms goes some way to explain Mitchell’s (2002, 2005) change of tact from Me++ and the Cyborg-self to Placing Words. For in the latter the emphasis is not on the cyborg-self of the civitas, or critical reflections on the ‘communitarian-ism’ of any radical democratic emancipation, but the global strategy of their ‘self-organising’ governance. Having said this, the explanation given for this change should in no way be seen as a way of excusing the position taken. For in switching attention to the capacities of self-organising governance, the text’s liberalism becomes traditional, less radical and more neo-conservative. So much so the underlying presumptions about the virtues of self-organising governance tend to revert Placing Words back to information society. Back to some kind of harmonious relationship that works to undermine the significance of the bio-cybernetic (the cyborg-self as the civitas of virtual communities) which ought to be seen as the critical other supporting the political subjectivity of a radical democratic emancipation. Graham and Marvin’s critique, strong as it is, also misses this. This is because their reflection fails to recognise informatics are no longer the

significant other of critique, or any social hegemony, but in information society this now rests with the cybernetics of bit-space and atoms. That condition, which it is important to note, underlies the cyborg-self and provides an insight into how any virtualisation of communities may be more than an exercise in the ideology of civic symbolism and a progressive force for real change. How in that sense, the bio-cybernetics of the cyborg-self as the constituents of virtual communities, may become a positive civic force by which radical democratic change doesn’t so much serve to merely reproduce, as undermine the agonistic experiences of any such hegemony. Undermine it by way of and through a global strategy for governing their transformation in ways hitherto unknown. Hitherto unknown in the sense that: being a universal exception i.e. exception to the rule, such a subjectivity does not merely re-produce the agony of any hegemonic exclusion, but instead offers a global strategy for governing their transformation into something else. Into something else deemed good because the transformation in question is digitally-inclusive and for this reason offers a multitude of regenerative opportunities. Using Laclau and Mouffe and Zizek, it is still possible to do what Mitchell and Graham and Marvin ask of e-topia. That is deploy the radical democratic emancipation such a social hegemony offers up as a platform to not just examine, but foreground (bring into view) the political subjectivity underlying the very emergence of the cyborg-self as the civics of a virtualisation supporting those communities which are otherwise excluded. This is because armed with their critical insights into the agonistic nature of any radical democratic emancipation, it becomes possible to explain why attempts to use high-tech and low income solutions as a global strategy for governing such a digitally-inclusive regeneration is so contested. For if e-topia is really serious about achieving just such a digitally-inclusive regeneration, it is necessary to let any social and technical aspirations the thesis harbours towards the citizenship

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of community go and allow the cyborg-self to virtualise the civic virtues of the communitarianism this ushers in as a political subject capable of forcing a radical democratic emancipation. For Zizek all of this is particularly important for the reason it is the excluded and poor of deprived areas who become the political subject. The subject whose exclusion, poverty and area-based deprivation is seen as not merely local, but global. Not merely local, but global and because of this, a symptom, rather than cause of their ungovernable nature. That is an exception whose symptom needs to be understood as a cause of and underlying reason for the global strategies which are emerging to govern the digitally-inclusive regeneration everything about this transformation is subject to. This is why for Zizek the loss of community is not to be bemoaned as some negative index of ‘governability’, but celebrated because this particular dissolution of the boundaries between the ‘atoms of meat space’ and ‘information of bit space’ is exceptional. Not because (as Mitchell would also put it) the carbon kernel and silicon member of their ‘limb-like prosthetic extensions, multiplied memory and infinite mind’, raises particular ‘cause for concern’, but for the reason the tribe-like culture and nomadicity of such wireless bi-peds’, asks we celebrate, come to terms with, acknowledge and understand, not so much the ‘post-human’, but the more extraordinarily ‘all-too human nature’ of what the cyborg-civics’ virtualisation of community is the harbinger of.

TOWARDS DIGITALLY-INCLUSIVE REGENERATION PLATFORMS The landscape the rest of this chapter seeks to usher in (be the harbinger of, as Zizek would have it), is the middle ground between the ‘highlevel’ agonies of the democratic emancipation and those presently found at the ‘grass roots’ of their political subjectivity (Mitchell’s space, Graham and Marvin’s place and Laclau and Mouffe’s

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radical democratisation of them). This is because it is here in the electronic spaces of urban places where ‘what all this means’ (i.e. as the embedded intelligence of networked cities) gets ‘bottomed out’ as part of the emerging radical democratic discourse on the global strategy of what is deemed good governance. That discourse on good governance which is represented as a debate on the basic values (for example; the social equity and ecological integrity) of ‘low level’ actions (i.e. of urban planning, property development, design and construction) supported by a platform of ICTs. Approaching the question over the viability of coupling governance and ICTs together in this way also makes it possible to overcome the social exclusion of the ‘lumpen proletariat’ and begin allowing the emergent citizenship of this community to not only run vertically, by digging deep into the social equity and ecological integrity of urban life, but also flow horizontally into the (technologies surrounding the) planning, development and design of cities. That is run vertically and flow horizontally by using the ‘vertiginous’ qualities such global strategies offer to organise their governance in ways which offer the social equity and ecological-integrity needed for urban planning, property development and design to be capable of meeting these requirements. The outcome of this is a platform of eCitizenship services with the institutional depth virtual communities need for this multi-scalar resizing to be constructive. As such it offers citizens the types of communal spaces which this paper argues are of particular concern to the ‘political body’ of civil society and the public’s call not for what has somewhat euphemistically become known as cyber, or meat-space, but a greater, more extensive and higher level of participation in the organisation of those strategies that govern the material basis of urban life. That material basis of urban life which is: •

greater for the reason such participation is not just limited to urban land-use planning,

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•

•

but extends through the policy cycle into property development, design, construction, operation and use of buildings; more extensive because the participation in question is not limited to the use of urban land, but ’scaled-up’ and ‘resized’, using the step-wise logic of planning, property development, design and construction. That step-wise logic, which, when ‘scaledup’ and ‘resized’ as global is strategic in the way it raises governance to a new level. raised to a level not limited by the social. Not limited but in excess of the social for the reason the global strategies governing the dissolution of the boundaries between physical and cyber-space develops the capacity to extend beyond them. Extend beyond them by using the fixed and mobile technologies underpinning this ‘augmentation’ to reach out, capture and include, both the hard and software applications of those regeneration platforms supporting the ‘consultations’ taking place between citizens. Those consultations taking place between citizens, either by way of personal computers, or through mobile devices, but irrespective of this, via deliberations with fellow members of their community and over environmental matters of particular concern to them.

TAKING THE THESIS FULL CIRCLE From this vantage point, it becomes possible to point towards what all of this means. This takes the investigation full circle and answers many of the questions the thesis poses about the radical democratic emancipation of society and emerging political subjectivity of citizenship. These questions will be answered by letting what follows outline urban life (as Mitchell would say) as citizens shall come to know it! That is to say, as a virtual community whose governance is for

all intents and purposes a model of participative democracy. That model of participatory democracy which manages to sustain urban life: firstly; by way of the planning, property development, design and construction i.e. creation of spaces for citizens and communities alike and secondly; through the global strategy that in turn governs over the social equity and ecological integrity of the villages, neighbourhoods and districts of cities which make up the democratic renewal of this digitally-inclusive regeneration. This search for a governance which is social and technical and in that sense the very antithesis of any environmentally deterministic representation, does what Williamson et.al (2003) asks of it by giving civic institutions a role in Making a Place for [Low-income] Communities. This also has the effect of turning attention away from ‘good governance’ per-se and towards the role of ICTs as forms of social capital. Forms of social capital that not only underlie the collaborative platforms, consensus building, social equity and ecological integrity supporting the aforesaid, but which also serve the process of democratic renewal this ushers in. This achieves what Mitchell makes clear is needed in his reference to Brecht’s comments on the role of The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication. It meets the need for the type of two-way information flow and multi-channeled communication that he believes to be the basis of the collaborative platforms, consensus building, social equity, ecological integrity and democratic renewal which is required to represent the recombinant spaces of urban life. Furthermore, such a representation is also said to provide the civic and communal experiences of what Mitchell refers to as: “a.. strategy that draws upon the lessons of the internet [which], is to think of [the platform] as a communal resource, like the old village commons, or the land available to the squatter community.

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[Because this means] anyone can use it as long as they follow a few rules….” (2005, p. 56). The lesson learnt here being to build such platforms from what Mitchell calls: “The viral propagation of web links and email lists to support a grass root campaigning which is not constrained by distance. Blogs and online forum which substitute highly interactive discussion for the broadcasting of packaged messages” (ibid: p.74). While this points towards a strategy for the development of a collaborative platform, the lack of focus it offers on the ICTs underlying all of this, means the statement on the multi-scalar resizing of citizenship and communities as the recombinant spaces of urban life are mainly environmental, not concerned with the social equity, or ecological integrity of networked intelligence. Questions about equal access to and distribution of the opportunities such platforms offer to secure such services appear once again to be side-stepped. This is difficult because it means Mitchell’s statement on the “strategic response” tends to give out the wrong message. For while it suggests this is a relatively simple platform to construct and build as a set of user-centric services, experience suggests this is anything but the case. Anything but the case for the simple reason Graham and Marvin tell us, the digital divide persists and because of this, the radical democratic emancipation offered by Laclau and Mouffe is still antagonistic. Still divided and antagonistic - as Zizek informs us because the politicisation of such a subjectivity also tells us that access to the ICTs which are capable of governing any such transformation and turning it into a progressive force for change, are still not available. The problem here is that like everyone else, Zizek is also unable to say how this politicisation of subjects lying outside and excluded from the mainstream is able to avoid the zero-sum game

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of doing little more than ‘treating the symptom’. That is merely reproducing the inequalities and ecologically dis-integrating tendencies of the agnostic hegemony which the cyborg-civics of virtual communities are understood as being capable of reconciling. This is because Zizek is only able to suggest any such reconciliation needs to be based on a global strategy capable of governing what he refers to as the transformation of the lumpen proletariat (the excluded of low-income communities) as the symbolic class (the cyborgcivics) of the cultural sector. As Amin and Cohendet (2004, 2005) suggest, however, such an account of the alliances underlying any such transformation tends to oversimplify matters and underestimate the complex nature of the ‘events’ they seek to gain knowledge of. For as Asheim, Coenen and Vang (2007) also go some way to make clear, given such knowledge is more than symbolic, the analytic and synthetic are also needed to embed the intelligence of networked cities into their very symbolic representation. That is link them all together in a way which meets the requirement for all of this connectivity to be sufficiently meaningful. So it would appear that if we adopt the citizenship, community and global strategy of the governance offered by the digitally-inclusive regeneration thesis, the urban poor and dispossessed shall remain sidelined. That is left out and systematically excluded from both the social, political and civic experiences (be they physical, or virtual) of the community-based resizing which is currently taking place in the villages, neighbourhoods and districts of cities: this in turn producing not only no-go areas, but no-flow environments to boot! That is because here the question is not so much about the social objects, or political subjectivities of the excluded, situated within the divided and antagonistic hegemony of cyborg-civics within virtual communities, but the cognitive distance which there is between them. That distance which it is critical to span because the gap between them makes any approximate

From the City of Bits to E-Topia

recognition of the policies, visions and scenarios needed for a global strategy to govern them, the very measure of what is known about them. For here the question is about the emergence of policies and global strategies capable of approximating the embedded intelligence that is needed not to be left behind, but be right in there at the centre of those organisations whose global strategies assemble the materials which are required to govern their participation in any such knowledge-based transformation. The point here being that in low income communities the challenge any such materialisation faces is even greater. Even greater because citizens start such ventures not just from such a low base-line, but from communities which are also excluded from the mainstream insofar they do not have access to the embedded intelligence needed for them to meet the requirements of such a transformation. That very materialisation which, while outlined by Mitchell, is not set out as those multi-scalar recombinant spaces capable of putting an end to the environmental determinism Graham and Marvin note thesis’ of this kind all too often slip into. Which they all too often slip into and that works to undermine any attempts – analytical, synthetic, or otherwise - made to be constructive. To be constructive in advising how it is possible for the emerging citizenship of communities to overcome the divided antagonisms of the excluded by using ICTs as (plat)forms of social capital. Overcome them – it might well be added - by bridging the divisions upon which the political subjectivities of the cyborg-self and as the civics of virtual communities rest. Where they rest not as the mere symbols of such a bridge, but for the reason they have the content i.e. embedded intelligence networked cities need to build digitally-inclusive regeneration platforms with the capacity required to be both analytical and synthetic. With the capacity required for them to be both analytic and synthetic in bridging the social divisions upon which the political subjec-

tivities of the cyborg-self and their virtualisation of communities in turn rest. The advantage of this platform being, here; •

•

•

the strategies developed to govern this digitally-inclusive regeneration don’t end up as merely symbolic gestures, offering little more than props to support low income communities undergoing any such multiscalar resizing; they are not merely symbolic, but analytic, synthetic and symbolic in the sense which the cyborg civics of virtual communities and global strategy governing this digital inclusion, don’t just end up building props, but creating stages which underpin the planning of any such multi-scalar resizing and support the recombination of them as property development strategies and design codes both socially equitable and ecologically-integral; such strategies are both socially equitable and ecologically-integral in the sense which this process of governance is strong enough to resist any pressure the prevailing hegemony places on them to acquiesce and instead seize the opportunity that all of this offers to actively participate in such a democratic renewal.

An instructive account of how a semantic-web based learning platform and knowledge management system capable of networking the types of electronically-enhanced service developments outlined here, can be used as a platform for digitally-inclusive regeneration, is reported on by Deakin and Allwinkle (2006, 2007) and set out in Deakin (2009a and b). This work on digitallyinclusive regeneration draws particular attention to the user-centric service developments underlying what is referred to as: the ‘e-topia demonstrator’ and eCitizenship module surfacing as a means to support the active participation of communi-

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ties in the governance of their digitally-inclusive regeneration.

CONCLUSION This chapter has carried out an extensive review of Mitchell’s thesis on e-topia and found it wanting. It has highlighted the tendency e-topia has to sidestep questions raised about the space, citizenship, community and global strategy of governance and use of ICTs as a platform for digitally-inclusive regeneration. The paper has pointed out the problem encountered lies with the methodological gap the thesis leaves between citizenship and community. While problematic in itself, it has also identified that if the difficulties experienced were only methodological they may perhaps be manageable, but the problem is they run deeper than this and relate to more substantive issues which surround the trajectory of Mitchell’s thesis. This is a critical insight of some significance because if the trajectory of the thesis is not in the direction of governance, ICTs and digitally-inclusive regeneration platforms, then the question arises as to whether the whole notion of e-topia and the cyborg-self as the civitas of virtual communities, can be seen as a progressive force for change, or merely a global strategy for reproducing the status quo? Perhaps more importantly, this in turn begs the question as to whether attempts made to deploy the thesis as a global strategy will prove counter-productive. If in that sense any attempt to govern the ICTs of digitally-inclusive regeneration platforms shall fail because they are unable to be reconciliatory in bridging social divisions. This unfortunate scenario is drawn from what Graham and Marvin have referred to not as e-topia but, ‘splintering urbanism’, because, according to their thesis, the citizenship underlying these communities is no longer able to carry the sheer weight of the material which such a cyberneticbased networking of intelligence has o support.

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This scenario has a vision of the future that is the direct opposite of what Mitchell represents and knowledge-base which ends-up with social inequalities themselves ecologically destructive. This doing little more than building the capacity for storylines on the citizenship of communities, governed by a multi-scalar resizing not strong enough, or sufficiently resilient to keep everything stuck together. This representation of ‘splintering urbanism’ provides what can only be referred to as the antithesis of Mitchell’s e-topia. An antithesis that is important because it goes some considerable length to search out, uncover and expose the other side of cybernetic-based intelligence. That side which currently lies hidden and is only uncovered by throwing light on the plight of low-income communities living as the urban poor in deprived quarters of the city. From this it is evident the problems with Mitchell’s thesis are as much substantive as methodological, the former holding the key to the latter. The examination which this chapter has undertaken goes very much against the grain, arguing that our current understanding of citizenship, community, global strategy, governance and ICTs, puts us on the verge of a new environmental determinism. An environmental determinism which this time around is cybernetic, based on the embedded intelligence of knowledge-based agents underpinning the networking of cities and digitally-inclusive regeneration platforms they support. To avoid repeating this mistake (yet) again, attention has been drawn to the work of Laclau and Mouffe and Zizek. Using the spaces their radical democratic i.e. egalitarian and ecologically-integral, accounts open-up for a more emancipatory notion of citizenship and sense of community, attention has turned towards the globalization of the strategies governing the intelligence embedded in those knowledge-based agents responsible for meeting these requirements. In particular the social capital that underlies the embedded intel-

From the City of Bits to E-Topia

ligence of their knowledge-base agents and which networked cities in turn support by hosting them as services which are found on digitally-inclusive regeneration platforms. Ignoring these warnings and unable to learn the lessons such a critical reworking of e-topia offers, the strategy Mitchell adopts must be seen as suspect not only for the reason the thesis veers off the beaten track, but because the vision and scenarios it advances also ends up side-stepping such concerns. Side-stepping them and in the process, (re)placing the agonies of social equality and ecological-integrity with the ‘gnostics’ of ‘new age’ wordings centred around storylines on the quality of life. Storylines that spell out, write about and communicate the experiences of those organisations which are wrapped up in such developments. Armed with this critical insight it is evident the subjectivity of the thesis is apolitical, doing little more than assuming the presence of equity and ecological-integrity within civil society, but without the means to represent them, other than by the force of the words used by those laying claim to them. The strategy advocated for adoption by this chapter is not grounded in such rhetoric. Its vision of e-topia builds instead on the messages the likes of Laclau, Mouffe and Zizek advance by turning the tables and agreeing that: while words offer the possibility of “bringing what it all means back together”, actually ‘turning things around’ lies not so much in the words, as it rests with the semantics, syntax and vocabulary of the global strategies governing the digital-inclusive qualities of the regenerative storylines in question. This way it becomes possible for the multiplied memory, infinite mind and tribe-like culture of the cyborg civic, not to so much bemoan the nomadicity of wireless bi-peds, as actively celebrate the creativity of the virtual communities emerging from the digital-inclusive nature of such regenerative storylines. In particular:

•

•

•

celebrate their capacities to be both analytical and synthetic and opportunity this in turn creates for the cyborg-civics of virtual communities to use the collective memory, wikis and blogs of electronicallyenhanced services, as a means to bridge social divisions; bridge them by drawing upon the political subjectivities of the cyborg-civics’ tribelike culture and nomadicity of their wireless bi-peds, as members of virtual communities with the embedded intelligence able to span them; achieve this in a manner that is not merely symbolic, but real in the sense which the semantic web of this knowledge-base has the vocabulary to become something more than a prop.

Something that is more than a prop and which as a consequence, allows the wikis and blogs of such web-based services to begin doing the job asked of them. That is build a stage which is large enough for the analytic, synthetic and symbolic to play out the possibilities there are for planning to be both equitable and ecologically-integral. Both socially equitable and ecologically-integral in the way platforms of this kind allow the cyborg-civics of virtual communities to make all of this real. Make it real in the sense they are able to grasp the potential the globalisation of this strategy offers them to directly participate in the governance of such a digitally-inclusive regeneration.

REFERENCES Amin, A., & Cohendet, P. (2003), Geographies of knowledge formation in firms’, http://www. druid.dk Amin, A., & Cohendet, P. (2004). Architectures of Knowledge: Firms, Capabilities and Communities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Asheim, B., Coenen, L., & Vang, J. (2007). Faceto-face, buzz, and knowledge bases: sociospatial implications for learning, innovation, and innovation policy. Environment and Planning. C, Government & Policy, 25, 655–667. doi:10.1068/c0648 Asheim, B., & Gertler, M. (2005). Regional innovation systems and the geographical foundations of innovation. In Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D., & Nelsom, R. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Deakin, M., & Allwinkle, S. (2006). The IntelCities Community of Practice, International Journal of Knowledge. Culture and Change Management, 6(2), 155–162. Deakin, M., & Allwinkle, S. (2007). Urban regeneration: the role networks, innovation and creativity play in building successful partnerships. Journal of Urban Technology, 17(1), 77–91. doi:10.1080/10630730701260118

Baudrillard, J. (1975). The Mirror of Production. London: Telos Press Publishing.

Graham, S., & Marvin, S. (2001). Splintering Urbanism. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203452202

Baudrillard, J. (2006) Utopia Deferred: Writings from Utopie (1967-1978), Cambridge Massachusetts, Semio-text.

Horan, T. (2000). Digital Places: Building Our City of Bits. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute.

Benjamin, W. (1936) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, reprinted in Adarent, H. (Ed.). (1968) Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, New York, Schocken Books

Katz, P. (1993). New Urbanism: Towards an American Architecture of Community. New York: Island Press.

Brecht, B. (1932) The Radio as an apparatus of communication, in John G. Hanhardt, (Ed.). (1986) Video Culture: A Critical Investigation, Rochester, N.Y.,Visual Studies Workshop Press. Brockelman, T. (2003). The failure of the radical democratic imaginary: Zizek versus Laclau and Mouffe on vestigial utopia. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 29(2), 183–208. doi:10.1177/0191453703029002144 Calthorpe, P. (1993). The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Deakin, M. (2009a) The IntelCities Community of Practice: the eGov Services Model for SociallyInclusive and Participatory Urban Regeneration Programs, in Reddick, C. ed., Handbook of Research on e-Government, Hershey, IGI Publishing. Deakin, M. (2009b). A Community-based approach to sustainable urban regeneration. Journal of Urban Technology, 16(1), 191–112. doi:10.1080/10630730903090354 138

Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso. Mitchell, W. (1995). City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Mitchell, W. (1999) e-topia: urban life, Jim but not as you know it, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press. Mitchell, W. (2001). Equitable access to an on-line world. In Schon, D., Sanyal, B., & Mitchell, W. (Eds.), High Technology and Low-Income Communities. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Mitchell, W. (2003). Me ++:the Cyborg-self and the Networked City. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Mitchell, W. (2005). Placing Words. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Williamson, T., Imbroscio, D., & Alperovitz, G. (2003). Making a Place for Community. New York: Routledge Press.

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Zizek, S. (1997) Multiculturalism, or, the cultural logic of multinational capitalism, New Left Review, 225. Reprinted in Butler, R. and Stephenson, S. (Ed.) (2006) The Universal Exception, London, Continuum. Zizek, S. (2006a). The Parallax View. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Zizek, S. (2006b). The Universal Exception: Selected Writings. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

ADDITIONAL READING Cooper, I., Hamilton, A., & Bentivegna, V. (2005). Networked communities, virtual organisations and the production of knowledge. In Curwell et al., Sustainable Urban Development, The Framework and Protocols for Environmental Assessment. Oxon: Routledge. Curwell, S., Deakin, M., Cooper, I., PaskalevaShapira, K., Ravetz, J., & Babicki, D. (2005). Citizens expectations of information cities: implications for urban planning and design. Building Research and Information, 22(1). Deakin, M. (2009) From the City of Bits to eTopia: is there a space for citizens in the digitallyinclusive regeneration thesis? Journal of Arts in Society, 5, (3), 25-37. Deakin, M. (2009). The IntelCities Community of Practice: the eGov Services Model for Socially Inclusive and Participatory Urban Regeneration Programs. In Karacapilidis, N. (Ed.), Web-Based Learning Solutions for Communities of Practice: Developing Virtual Environments for Social and Pedagogical Advancement. Hershey: Information Science Reference.

Deakin, M., & Allwinkle, S. (2005). The IntelCities learning platform, knowledge management system and digital library for semantically interoperable e-Governance Services. In Cunningham, P. (Ed.), Innovation and the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications and Case Studies. Washington, DC: ISO Press. Deakin, M., Allwinkle, S., & Campbell, F. (2006). The IntelCities e-Learning platform, knowledge management system and digital library for semantically rich e-governance services, International Journal of Technology. Knowledge and Society, 2(8), 31–38. Deakin, M., Curwell, S., Deakin, M., Hamilton, A., Paskaleva-Shapira, K., Soubra, S., & Turner, J. (2004). ‘A research roadmap for sustainable information cities’, E-Adoption and the knowledge economy: issues, applications, case studies. Amsterdam: IOS press. Katz, P. (1993). New Urbanism: Towards an American Architecture of Community, New. York: Island Press. Lombardi, P., Cooper, I., Paskaleva, K., & Deakin, M. (2009). The challenge of designing user-centric e-services: European dimensions. In Riddeck, C. (Ed.), Research Strategies for eGovernment Service Adoption. Hershey: Idea Group Publishing.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Citizenship: Represents “a bundle of rights” - primarily, political participation in the life of the community, the right to vote, and the right to receive certain protection from the community, as well as obligations.” As a state of being citizenship carries with it both rights and responsibilities, in particular the notion of “active citizenship” and idea that citizens should participate with one another to better their community.

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City of Bits: Captures the idea of an “uprooted” city, not fixed to any one site or surface of the earth, shaped instead by connectivity and bandwidth, not natural resource endowments, land, or buildings. For in the city of bits life is not lived out face-toface, but a-synchronically in “electronic spaces” and “urban places”, fragmented and disembodied, connected to one another only by software and hyperlinks. Community: The term is derived from the word communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”), a broad term for fellowship or organized society. In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting species sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness. In sociology, the concept of community has led to significant debate, and sociologists are yet to reach agreement on a definition of the term. Traditionally a “community” has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household. The word can also refer to the national community or global community. Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of community no longer has geographical limitations, as people can now virtually gather in an online community and share common interests as citizens regardless of physical location. Digital Inclusion: The term used to encompass activities related to the achievement of an inclusive information society. In this vein, new developments in technology turns the risk of a digital divide into “digital cohesion” and opportunity, bringing the benefit of the internet and related technology into all segments of the population,

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including people who are disadvantaged due to education, disabilities, gender, ethnicity, or those living in remote regions. Digital inclusion covers mainly the development of appropriate policies, maintenance of a knowledge base, research and technology development and deployment and best practices dissemination. e-Government Services: Are internet technologies that act as a platform for exchanging information, providing services and transacting with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. Such e-Government services include: (1) pushing information over the Internet, e.g: regulatory services, general holidays, public hearing schedules, issue briefs, notifications, etc.; (2) two-way communications between the agency and the citizen, a business, or another government agency. In this model, users can engage in dialogue with agencies and post problems, comments, or requests to the agency; (3) conducting transactions, e.g: lodging tax returns, applying for services and grants; and (4) governance, e.g: online polling, voting, and campaigning. The most important anticipated benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience, and better accessibility of public services. e-Topia Thesis: This suggests the future of all social life shall be fundamentally transformed by the development of digital technologies and platform of electronically-enhanced services they host. The thesis also goes as far as to suggest the significance of these technologies rests not in their ability to transform society, but radically alter the personal human identities of citizens. In this way the thesis suggests the emergent technologies of the digital era are as significant as the industrial revolution, but this time around intelligence-driven and knowledge-based forms of association. Governance: The activity of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. In terms of distinguishing the term governance from government

From the City of Bits to E-Topia

- “governance” is what a “government” does. It might be a geo-political government (nationstate), a corporate government (business entity), a socio-political government (tribe, family, etc.), or any number of different kinds of government. But, irrespective of this, governance is the kinetic exercise of managing power and administering policy.

ENDNOTES 1



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http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/digitalinclusion.mspx http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/ prod_030607.html http://h41111.www4.hp.com/globalcitizenship/uk/en/e-inclusion/project/index.html http://www.search.siemens.com/redirector/ digital inclusion cities

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Section 2

Strategy and Practice at the National Level

Governments, like countries, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are centralised; others are regionalised. Some have powerful presidents and relatively weak parliaments; others have strong parliaments and presidents who are little more than figureheads. Some have sprawling bureaucracies; others are ‘hollowed out’ and networked. Whatever the type of government, the services provided by the state have a remarkable similarity. From the point of view of the average citizen, governments around the world provide a range of services which do not vary much from country to country. Cars have to be licensed, newborn children registered, passports applied for, taxes filed, planning permissions obtained, businesses incorporated and fines paid. Consequently, from Argentina to Zambia though priorities may differ, national e-government strategies have, at least up to now, tended to focus on the same, or a similar, set of deliverables. Such is the degree of commonality that the various benchmarks published over the years both by public organisations such as the European Commission and the United Nations and by commercial concerns such as Accenture, use a standard list of such services and the state of their maturity as the metric for scoring how ‘advanced’ a given country’s e-government is. One would think, therefore, that national e-government strategies would be correspondingly similar. But, they’re not. e-Government in various forms long precedes the Internet, but for most people, and certainly for the man on the street, e-government today means government with the Internet, the Web and increasingly his or her mobile phone. The problem is that these technologies and the expectations and behaviours that go with them are changing all of the time and they are changing fast. Consequently, governments are forever having to adjust and, unsurprisingly, they often get it wrong. It is sobering to reflect that ten years ago each of the following technologies had either yet to become operational or, in most cases, yet to be invented: social networking, smart-phones, wikis, podcasting, Twitter, USB keys, iPads, Wimax, Youtube, mashups, RFID and digital television. A key difficulty facing any government trying to devise an e-government strategy can therefore be summarised thus: We think that we know what we have to

deliver, but the options for delivering it keep changing and expectations keep changing with them. How do we manage this process? One result of trying to hit this moving target has been that governments, individually and collectively, have taken quite a few missteps. These vary from the relatively minor (for example the UK government announced in June 2010 it that it intended to scrap 600 of its 820 web sites) to large scale misjudgements (e.g. several aborted attempts to introduce e-voting) and all the way up to what are beginning to look increasingly like more serious strategic misjudgements such as the whole concept of government portals. To make matters even more complicated, e-government has been burdened with a plethora of wider goals and objectives such as transforming government, delivering one-stop-shops and whole-of-government, making government leaner and competitive and so on. e-Government is to be expected to bring greater transparency, deeper citizen engagement, stronger democracy, enhanced accountability, more consultation, increased trust in government, etc., etc., etc... This type of hyperbole of expectation runs all the way from presidential desks to town councils. Every government wants to be the world leader in e-government. And just in case that was not enough, every country wants to be the digital hub for the rest of civilisation as well. For today’s government CIO, it is a rather full agenda. For those who have to design national e-government strategies, dealing with this cauldron of changing expectations, new services and mutating technologies is a major challenge. As might be expected, some countries have managed and continue to manage this process better than others. What countries need to do is to learn from each other, not just learning from the best, but also learning from failure – what does not work – and sharing this knowledge for the good of all. One of my fellow countrymen, Oscar Wilde once wrote that “experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes”. The Spanish philosopher Jorge Santayana once wrote that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Combining these thoughts, what governments need to avoid is repeating the mistakes that others have made which is what makes the chapters in this section important. Here will be found aspects of the experience of a wide range of countries and their national e-government strategies. There are many differences here, differences arising from culture, resources, geography, demographics, infrastructure and history. But all of the strategies discussed in this section have at least two common objectives – to use technology to improve the quality of governance and the lives of their citizens. In information and communication technology one of the worst traps to fall into goes by the acronym NIH, Not Invented Here. We all need to learn from each other and this section of the book is a step towards helping us to do just that. Frank Bannister Trinity College, Ireland

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Chapter 9

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems:

An Analysis of Critical Success Factors Meltem Yildirim Imamoglu Ministry of Finance, Turkey Mohammed Rehan Atilim University, Turkey

ABSTRACT In today’s global economy, organizations must focus on customer oriented business models to use information technologies not only for suppliers and customers, but also for effective communication and collaboration with public agencies. This requires real-time exchange of information in standard formats and publishing widely in the process by encouraging the provision of e-commerce with the application of Internet technologies in the supply chain. It can be applied to any type of governmental affairs, such as training, provision of justice, tax audits, budget execution, financial control, and also procurement for the purposes of this research project. However all these needs to gain strong expertise and competence of technological and administrative talent is needed to make the government and suppliers together via the Internet. The aim of this work is to introduce the evaluation processes and tools using the technique of SWOT analysis in the existing studies to provide empirical illustration of how this perspective would be used to give a sense of public e-procurement in action and it also aims to make a new sustainable reliable e-governmental model that includes change management, interdepartmental coordination, resolving the security and authentication for implementing public e-procurement in the frame of Turkish e-Government infrastructure and projects. In this context, a key objective is to develop Governmental policy regarding interactions with private and public sectors. In order to minimize information transformation initiatives, risks, and policy implementation should focus on promoting strengthening effective and affordable connectivity and interoperability. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch009

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems

1. INTRODUCTION In the past, government procurement has been used as an instrument of national policy to increase aggregate demand to stimulate economic activity, to protect domestic firms against foreign competition and to address regional disparities (Edquis, Tsipouri, Hommen,2000). The rise of the Internet has made possible radical new approaches to core business processes, not only in the private sector but also in the governmental affairs. Egovernment aims to reduce the distance between government authorities, organizations and citizens through information technologies and especially Internet (Basu, 2004). The potential benefits and functional capabilities of e-government, the use of information technology and web based scanning activities within the Governmental policy and perspective. It can be applied to any type of governmental affairs, such as training, provision of justice, tax control, control of budget execution and also procurement. By using the Internet in the procurement process has been associated with different aspects; the prompt receipt of products, faster cycle times, reduction the maverick or unauthorized purchases, reducing costs of coordination, a closer integration of provisioning tasks with key back office systems, bureaucracy elimination, and simplification of process, lower prices and among others. Electronic procurement means to utilize new technologies and applications to create a purchase of goods and services relevant private sector which meets the requirements of various departments. E-procurement solutions streamline the buying process and facilitate more intelligent, cost effective purchasing decisions; shorter cycles times and reduce costs. To help ensure that an eprocurement solution provides the intended return on investment, the applications, servers and enterprise network infrastructure must work together seamlessly in terms of organizational culture, managerial skills, human resource management and capabilities to manage inter organizational

relationships and IT infrastructure. E-procurement can be expected to reduce the discretion and personal favours decision-making process in government procurement and minimise the chances of physical contact with potential suppliers by using Internet-based technology. This can greatly contribute to the safeguarding of responsibility in the procurement process. E-procurement can also provide real time information on the different stages of the procurement process to allow potential suppliers to make informed decisions about whether to tender and how to improve the relevance of their offerings more responsive government needs and priorities. It has been suggested that if the e-procurement should be fully assimilated, it could save governments up to 5% on spending up to 50-80% on transaction costs (EU Commission, 2004). The basics of “new supply management” require that procurement managers have a more strategic vision of what they do. These basics include a new global understanding of the target costing, value engineering, supplier development, and electronic procurement (Nelson, Moody, Stegner, 2002). Electronic purchasing; the productive use of the Internet to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of supply in the supply chain is new. The strategy of the supply chain, the creation of new channels, the definition of service levels, identifies investment priorities and so on, is more likely to lead teams of customer relations, procurement and manufacturing executives including sales and policy makers in the procurement and contract management channels with customers and suppliers. Technology alone cannot provide a solution, but it must be seen as a catalyst which builds on procurement practices and its processes supported by appropriate organizational structures. International experience has shown clearly that the fundamental benefits of e-procurement are directly linked to changes in strategic sourcing, business processes, user behaviour and relationships with suppliers. A major challenge is the

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capacity needed to be support process reengineering public sector procurement on the basis of particular transactions, payment, and information management and price advantages. Due to the nature of the study, according to the EU Member States, several e-procurement projects have been reported a profound interest in the processes, critical success factors, and perceived needs with respect innovation through technological solutions to better understand the dynamics and complexities present in each case. This research aims to strengthen the guidance on the issues by providing empirical evidence on the application of Electronic Public Procurement (E-PP) that can be used by members of the EU. The chapter is organized as follows. In the second section, a literature review of the facts of e-procurement and public necessity are explained, and then analysis the important role of e-procurement in the public sector and private sector to demonstrate the benefits of E-PP. The next chapter gives the current status of the Public Electronic Procurement in the EU members. Then it describes why the effective and efficient supply objectives should be an important dimension of assessing the performance of the Turkish public e-procurement policies. The rest chapter is following to the SWOT analysis and finally the discussion and conclusion parts are represented.

2. ELECTRONIC PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (E-PP) Public procurement is the process by which large amounts of government funds are used by public entities to purchase goods and services from the private sector. Public procurement means one of the common concepts involving the activity of government agencies where the contract of purchase or acquisition of indirect materials (goods and services) is necessary to provide the government, suppliers and agencies with defence and of basic

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public services, health, infrastructure, government consultant and so on (Hoekman, 1998). As seen in Figure 1, public procurement is also a major economic activity of the government where corruption has a potential high impact on tax payers’ money. In the European Union, public procurement equalled approximately EUR 1.5 trillion in 2002. In OECD countries, existing statistics suggest that public procurement accounts for 15 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Internet value-added in terms of its ability to transform the flow of information within organizations, and the consequently makes the process of industrial buying easy. All these factors make it possible better purchasing decisions. It can be a powerful tool to achieve a competitive advantage and may emerge as below the key factors of not only private but also public organizations’ success as follows; •

•

•

•

The Internet value which has to contribute to the reduction of costs associated with the communication and transaction. The use of e-procurement can decentralize the procurement processes, administration and it can also centralize the selection of suppliers. The use of the Internet in the buying process can quickly obtain a large amount of quality information. Greater transparency fosters communication, collaboration between the buying and selling organizations and as a result encouraging confidence.

E-procurement describes the general activities that states undertake to modernize the methods of public procurement by introducing the use of electronic procurement and information technology for the purchase, processing, exchange and storing all information related to purchases of the institutional organizations of government (Gebauer, Beam, and Segev, 1998). E-PP can “exploit the interoperability line and add value to the

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Figure 1. Frequency of bribery in procurement (Source: Kaufmann, World Bank (2006), based on Executive Opinion Survey 2005 of the World Economic Forum covering 117 countries. Question posed to the firm was: In your industry, how commonly firms make undocumented extra payments or bribes connected with permits / utilities / taxation / awarding of public contracts / judiciary?)

relationship between the government and suppliers (ADB, IDB, World Bank, 2004)”. The potential is so great that e-procurement has transformed the once looked down on purchasing function into a traditional competitive advantages and enable organizations to more efficiently and accurately capture and aggregate how much they spend all of business in different sectors of products purchased. This service provides very strong buying power leverage in the market as reductions in material costs range from 5% to 20% achieved because e-procurement solution has helped organizations achieve greater supplier efficiency.

3. CRITICAL SUCESS FACTORS OF E-PROCUREMENT INITIATIVE 3.1. The Benefit of E-PP There are generally three broad objectives of a strategy e-PP. Measurement services for electronic public procurement are supervises by organiza-

tions in the definition of metrics that are measurable, tangible types of attributes like price and intangible attributes (conditions for better service, better purchasing conditions, maverick reduced, improving transparency and the impact on the economic environment). These are illustrated in Figure 2. Often, developed countries such as USA, UK, Denmark, Canada and Australia have a greater focus on governance issues. While others more interested in efficiency and objectives of effectiveness. Jurisdictions also has an interest in the third goal is economic and business development. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the use of electronic procurement systems developed by, for example SAP, ORACLE, BAAN, People Soft and JD Edwards as a business information system software platform for large companies and government bodies’ countries (Davenport, 1998). Through e-procurement procedure, the transaction cost of 4.5 billion USD has been saved each year. 90% of this value has been associated with

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Figure 2. E-PP main measuring benefits

Table 1. The value creation advantage of public e-procurement Government Affairs • Reduced cost of goods and services and higher productivity. • Better information for procurement management and planning. • Streamlined procedures and reduced risk of errors.

Private Sector • Cooperative supply chain management to improve long-term sustainability and better capacity management of supply markets through the availability of a more competitive and diverse supply base at subcontractor level. • More effective use of SME contributes by promoting competition, not just at first tier supplier level, but across the wider supply base and also encouraging more efficient management of suppliers.

cost reduction by requiring information and visit of government agencies to private companies. This major innovative e-procurement label to optimise each step of the ERP enables organizations to streamline and transform all key business processes including customer relationship management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM). For example, Oracle Corporation has developed its procure-to-pay solution that automates the complete procurement cycle. Its features include spend analysis, strategic sourcing, supplier collaboration, the requisitioning office and billing electronic payment. Oracle end-toend supply solution saves 10-20% total purchase cost of the organization. Likewise, offers of the mySAP e-procurement solution to suppliers in a partnership with Commerce One Corporation by SAP. With its built-in analysis capabilities, mySAP E-Procurement solution helps the company to buy tools to identify sources of supply, compared to the sources, monitor of existing contracts, and also evaluate the supplier performance. Estimates vary of the savings that modern procurement practices can deliver. Government’s plan to deploy e-procurement in the public service was published in April 2002 and forecasts annual savings of

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around 175 million € - or about 2 percent of the relevant spending. In general, the public procurement procedure, as a significant economic activity in most countries involves usually two kinds of players: Government Affairs (Procuring Entities) that procure goods and services under certain rules and restrictions imposed of each country. Private Sector (Suppliers, SMEs) that respond to calls for bids indicating their intention to sell. Therefore, the strategy of e-procurement can create key benefits continue to create value on organization that filed in Table 1 (Assar, Boughzala and Boydens, 2008).

3.2. The Barriers of E-PP The advantages of e-procurement can be hindered because of the adoption and implementation risks. Riggins and Mukhopadhyay (1999:10) have identified two areas where inter organizational system is inherently more risky than ordinary information technology projects. The question is whether the adoption of business partners will comply the system or not and the risk of implementation if trading partners will be able to implement the system optimally. The success of an e-procurement

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Table 2. The expected barriers of public e-procurement Government Affairs

Private Sector

• Lack of procurement strategy for long-term and inefficient processes of knowledge sharing at national and international levels. • Lack of secure digital technology and could hinder implementation of E-PP • Lack of financial resources and staff in the council affect the success of change efforts.

system requires efficient processes both at the level of the supplier–governmental affairs relationship and the level of internal workflow. Implementation has revealed some shortcomings in the system, such as listed in the Table 2. The slow in adoption E-PP programs not only provides a further loss of opportunities for developing countries, but also can be seen as an obstacle in pursuing the reform of procurement and other operational objectives in many countries. Much of this performance main concern may be related to a lack of expertise and serve as windows of opportunity for corruption.

4. THE EU COUNTRIES UTILIZATION OF PUBLIC E-PROCUREMENT The public procurement regime applies to institutions of budget entities of special provincial administrations and local municipalities, state economic enterprises, social security funds, government agencies assigned functions of government, etc., but without using the definitions contained in the EU Directives (Directive 2004/17 and 2004/18). E-procurement has become one of the most successful e-commerce applications. Considering that there is not a single “one size fits all” solution, this publication provides a comparative overview of solutions used by public organisations for ensuring integrity and corruption resistance at all stages of public procurement, from needs assessment to contract management. It also highlights elements of good practice to illustrate the range of policy options available to policy makers and procure-

• Must comply with the specificity of each client platform. • Must provide electronic based responses to public contracts instead of paper based.

ment officials for improving public procurement systems. The EU countries often establish centralized institutions that enter into supply agreements and supervise generally and control the process of eprocurement systems. In this study, all members of the EU are examined, but only four of them (Denmark, Portuguese, Romania and United Kingdom) are mentioned here for information in terms of implementation and benefits of e-procurement. By early 2004, the Danish public sector however had not channelled via “Gatetrade” as much of its procurement as envisioned. Problems for Gatetrade are aggregated in that its four large owners are yet to fully utilize the e-market. Moreover, hope that the Danish business community would extensively trade via e-market has not materialized. Gatetrade declared a loss of USD 5 million for the 2003 year as against USD 7 million for the previous year. The owners however have declared their firm support via investing USD 27 million in the initiative. They invested USD 10 million as early as July 2003 (ADB, IADB, World Bank, 2004).The 2007 decision by the ministry of finance to make the use of certain framework contracts mandatory for the public purchasers might accelerate the process in combination with a well functioning www.doip.dk. E-procurement in Romania started as a pilot project in March 2002, initially including 159 public authorities and 7 product categories. At present, the system assists 1000 public authorities, more than 3000 supplier companies and 80 categories of goods. The deployment costs of the overall system exceeded EUR 4 million, while the

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total value of public acquisitions affected by the system was EUR 1 billion. The Portuguese e-Procurement Program was launched in June 2003 as a priority objective of the National Action Plan for the Information Society. This system, implemented by the Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), was established with the main objectives of creating a centralized platform and high quality technology that promotes efficiency and competition, increased transparency and savings in the process of procurement. The system has also produced significant cost and time savings as the structural rationalization. Consequently, the total saving was 7.8 million Euros for a total of EUR trading 40.2 million since September 2003. Eight ministries already adopted new procedures, 10 ministers, 809 entities 796 public bodies and 1425 people were involved in the project, 98 sourcing, aggregation and the process of negotiation performed (Pierra, Adriano, 2006). The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is an independent office of the Treasury of the United Kingdom, created in April 2000. It assists departments in achieving efficiency and promotes the value of money in their procurement activities. The Executive Agency of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom used the key area of national health as a pilot for electronic auctions. It has allowed specialists in the National Health Service (NHS) to the source of health framework agreements.. It supports initiatives that encourage better supplier relation, sustainable procurement, the benefits of using smaller suppliers and the potential of e-procurement, as well as promotes capacity building and professionalism. In 2006, the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency completed an eauction transaction of a GBP ₤1.2 billion worth of temporary agency staff cost. Following a tender five-month evaluation process, 176 employment agencies were identified as being successful at the assessment stage and were invited to participate in the auction. It supports initiatives that encourage better supplier relationships, sustainable procure-

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ment, the benefits of using smaller suppliers and the potential of e-procurement and the promotion of capacity and professionalism. These suppliers have had the opportunity to participate and bid in a fully transparent, with multiple opportunities to revise their prices, while obtaining an overview of the current market price. 70,000 bids were placed during the event which took place over three days and resulted in significant savings for the NHS. Electronic auctions have contributed to an additional 10.3 percent saving in addition to the savings provided under the Best and Final Offer in the initial bid (OECD, 2006). These benefits are relatively uncontroversial, although the reductions associated with the employment may take some criticism. However, there is a consensus that, if government enterprises are operate more efficiently, then it will benefit all stakeholders: customers, suppliers, payers and public administration (Prince, 2000).

5. TURKISH PERSPECTIVE A group of experts within the State Planning Organization (DMO) have been working to prepare a preliminary study to determine the general principles of public procurement projects (PPP) to be other methods to be implemented transparently on a non-discriminatory and competitive platform (SIGMA, 2007). The existing legal framework is summarized briefly below. The systems of procurement in Turkey underwent major reforms in 2002 to address the flows identified, such as: •

•

Most public agencies were not covered by the law, and had the right to issue their own regulations on the markets. This resulted in a dozen different regulations covering public agencies. The publication of the notice was not required for all methods of procurement and even when it was mandatory announce-

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems

•

•

ment periods were too short to inform interested economic actors. Criteria for selection and evaluation had not been objectively determined and pre-announced. Unsuccessful bidders were not informed about the decision of the procuring entity.

The procurement legal framework consists of two separate laws: the Public Procurement Law no. 4734 (PPL) was adopted on 4 January 2002, but came into force on 1 January 2004 and the Public Procurement Contract Law no. 4735 (PPCL) was adopted on January 5, 2002 and published in Official Journal no. 24648 of January 22, 2002. The most important are the regulations issued by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) as; •

•

• •

Detailed instructions for the conduct of proceedings, with standard bidding and contract documents. Issues of interpretation of the decisions and circulars which are legally binding acts, but lower in rank than regulations. Interpretative decisions publish regularly. Applies to contracts for goods, services and construction, but not to the concession contracts.

The preferred method of procurement is open, like all other procedure (including the restricted procedure) it can be applied when only specific conditions of its use are met. In practical implementation, the DMO has served with its 22 regional offices, as a public institution of centralized purchasing in Turkey. DMO has more than 1,100 supply types in 203 different categories. DMO, which has the largest portfolio sales in the country, aims to become a model user in the public sector. With the Electronic Sale Project (e-Sale), an important step has been taken, by transforming all catalogue procurement services to a web environment. Standardized electronic catalogues including product and service classifications fa-

cilitate the creation of more reliable management information, and enable more accurate prices and comparisons with the supplier. In addition to DMO, the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) aims to establish an electronic procurement platform (e-PPP). According to the statements of the e-transformation Turkey 2005 Action Plan, the publication of contract notices and contract award notices is a mandatory procurement conditions. The e-PPP entities establish a “blacklist” of companies that may be excluded from participation because of a prior violation of procurement rules. Other concerns identified in the e-PPP are the cancellation of the tender procedure, without having at least three bids, the mandatory requirement of the bid and performance of securities, the need for agreement to extend the validity period of the offer, and the short time-limit (five days) for accepting a notification of award. Requirements for the evaluation of tenders and selection of the best offer are regulated. The award criteria included in the e-PP does not fully comply with the Directives for a more restrictive approach has been adopted regarding the possibility for entities using other criteria than lowest prices or factors can be quantified monetary terms. For this reason, in almost all cases, only the lowest price criterion which is applied. National preferences provide up to 15% of the price advantage for domestic firms offer domestic product.

6. SWOT ANALYSIS During the last few years, a large number of new procurement business models have been developed, mostly concerning companies operating in the private sector. Their main objective is the introduction of new technologies such as e-commerce for the fulfilment of the procurement process of indirect goods. Lately, such models are also developed for organisations operating in the public sector all over the world. Even if public e-procurement speeds up the price discovery

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Table 3. A SWOT analysis on public e-procurement Strength

Opportunities

  • Benefits for the concerned authorities and suppliers in terms of reducing transaction costs and delays. Effects on competition and efficiency of communication. • Increased transparency, efficiency and monitoring of public procurement. • Improving access information and ensuring compliance by automating the fiduciary practices prone to corruption.

• Influence on public budgets. • Opening to the global market. • Increased border trade and tender. • Centralized purchases, therefore, better prices are obtained for small purchases also. • Reducing the resources that are needed in all state and municipal institutions to ensure the procurement process.

Weakness

Risk

• Lack of assessment of needs. • Lack of procurement standards. Absence of public notice for the legal and security issues. • Lack of control over quality and timing of the process of contract management. • Conflict of interest situations lead to bias and corruption in the evaluation. • Lack of standardized procedures so that processes cannot be electronic.

• Strong aversion against the adoption of E-PP among actors of different levels of government. • Government is not being pro-actively meeting the needs of citizens. • The legislative process for the use of the latest achievements of the information society is slow. • The limited of the possibility to amending the legislation because of delays at the beginning of IT projects. • Reforms of the Public Services for e-government have not received adequate attention so far.

process and improve market transparency, it requires a large initial investment to establish the technological infrastructure and support the legal environment. The relative lack of legal formalities is to render access interoperability of procurement process. The SWOT analysis is based on ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of the already implemented e-public procurement projects. (Table 3) Although ICTs is the core of an E-PP system, its successful use depends on more than technology. It is about the appropriate leadership, social change, policy and legal framework, institutional change, and human resources. The balanced interaction of all these factors provides the basis for an efficient E-PP system with the expected benefits. The critical success factors (CSFs) and the key performance indicators (KPIs) of governmental e-procurement systems to help in the definition of the following to be monitored and enabled the definition of the objectives of the governmental purchasing system: •

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Government leadership includes the development of strong partnerships to increase the productivity of enterprise resource

•

•

•

•

•

planning for both human resources and information systems. Efficient processes without excessive idle times. If the procurement law requires signed papers as part of the procurement process, it will not be possible to develop a fully integrated E-PP system until a legal framework is being developed which validates the digital signature. Existence of monitoring and evaluation systems that permit the continuous improvement of the processes. Major changes of the traditional public procurement process result in organizational restructuring of the government purchasing agencies. Repetitive and routine tasks can be moved online and adequate training of the employees in order to enable them takes advantage of the new system. Percentage of governmental purchasing with accepted quality in accordance with the pre-defined technical specifications. Budget accuracy and deviation of the actual governmental purchasing compared with the related budget.

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems

• • •

The realisation of short activity lead times of the governmental purchasing process. The transparent administration of public expenditures. The minimisation of cost and tender lead times.

•

•

7. DISCUSSION E-PP can be a moderate reform in the public sector. It allows the government to monitor effectiveness and efficiency of public sector expenditures that lower input costs, minimise corruption and provides greater transparency and accountability. Implementation of e-procurement system in isolation without considering the entire procurement process and the system in question will not be sufficient (Deise, Nowikow, King & Wright, 2000:16). Despite the reengineering of the procurement process, final political and strategic framework can establish clear rules and guidelines to help transform the social and technical environment policy. This should gradually improve the capacity of contracting authorities to make decisions based on values in the acquisition process on the correct application of the PPL. It would also put more emphasis on the effectiveness of public spending. By this action, Turkey has taken a step toward establishing a modern system of government procurement. However, it is essential that further legal improvements are made to simplify the purchasing system with regard to consider the following issues; •

•

Reverse bidding is not always supported, while the cheapest is often an important issue for public institutions. Application of abnormally low tenders (ALTs) focus on problems and lowest price only in conjunction with the estimated cost of works. A large proportion of respondents state barriers for the acceptance by the user and

•

•

the lack of expertise among providers. Respondents suggested more information, support, education and training. Reduction of current long delays in the process of filing package deals with the public, private and education actors. Qualification requirements for completing the tender documentation and their strict, formal government leadership and effective management plan implementation Lack of standards for encryption, Digital signature and e-payment system certification providers are absent. Several technical solutions are available, but for the moment, there seems to be no technology standard for document and file interoperability and exchange. Even if the conduct of a public procurement process is precisely defined by law, there seems to be no general tendency for the acquisition of virtualised processes supported by electronic platforms reality. High level of complaints and the development of a culture of complaints, resistance to change. Managing change is difficult. To meet these challenges, the Government also key stakeholders, should launched ad campaigns, created training programs and focused on usability for SMEs. In addition, a phased implementation and a strong political commitment have helped make it a success.

The need for training and information will remain large in both the short and medium terms, particularly in light of the implementation of new directives and initiatives, such as electronic markets. Further efforts should be made to promote greater professionalism in the management of operations for the award of contracts between the entities. Actions must be taken to make the operational side of procurement more focused on economic performance. The exclusion of concessions is part of the main weaknesses of the exist-

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ing legal framework. This may require changes in processes, greater flexibility for procurement staff, simplification of documentation and training in the details of the law.

8. CONCLUSION “An effective public procurement policy is fundamental to the success of the single market in achieving its goals,” stated a Green Paper published by the European Union in 1996 (EU, 1996:17). Public Procurement Authority governance approach is centralizing procurement system and maintaining to provide information on tenders and tendering procedures for suppliers and governments. The authority operates respectively public procurement functionality, interface, security and transaction costs. The challenges in key learning’s can influence the successful implementation and ongoing maintenance of e-procurement by the central system. Another likely effect of markets which is becoming a strategic issue in the organizational development of public authorities is that it will improve the opportunities for companies to participate in government procurement. It should reduce transaction costs for businesses and governments by making it less necessary to create separate resources to participate in the process of procurement. In this regard, e-readiness can be used as a mechanism for collecting information to governments for their strategic plan for their implementation of ICT. E-procurement can succeed in a variety of socio- technical and institutional. It can improve the techniques of change management within the public sector and influence in the markets or the government reforms. In general, the challenge for the private sector is to manage competing priorities and push for standardization that simplifies procedures and improves adoption. Supplier engagement process can be developed, documented. It is easy to provide technical and operational requirements which are to be met. This is one of the first problems encountered is the limited number of ready suppliers. And the 154

government has always been favour easy access to SMEs. Accordingly, the E-PP allows the successful purchases of decreasing delays and general and administrative expenses decreased dramatically, particularly by: •

•

•

Governance mechanisms, which help identify and address risks of mismanagement and prevent corruption in the market, as a result increasing the predictability, transparency and integrity of the procurement process. Mechanisms to ensure control and accountability, the needs assessment to contract management to keep public officials and responsible bidders adequate incentives. An internal risk matrix which help the government to ensure the participation of skilled contract workers for high-risk markets as part of the solution of the render.

A general result of this study is that most of the initial problems have been related to strategy implementation and support processes for systems. Increased efficiency of operations can be generated from a public e-procurement framework focuses on standards and proprietary software. A standardized electronic system facilitates access to suppliers through a friendly interface, without discrimination technologies that restrict access of economic operators to tender procedure. An e-procurement system interoperable with the principle to the guarantee of individual economic actors has equal opportunities to participate in the procurement procedure. The Turkish government must take proactive efforts to encourage the dissemination of e-procurement within the public sector. The development of confidence and leadership is preferred to allocate resources efficiently. If the planned transition from paper to electronic based processes and supports the need for change is central question governmental decisions to better track purchase market trends and prices monitor

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems

the performance of the Agency and compliance and to report to government. In the process, however, all segments of the government have enough to involve while deciding on the trading infrastructure. The involvement of government in the education of personnel is minimized when the development and hosting of e-procurement solutions are implemented by the private sector. All the critical success factors provide better buying decisions for the government and a powerful tool for achieving competitive advantage for business success. In addition to using information technology in the procurement process gets faster, high quality information and it hence reduces the risk and uncertainty factors are most important to trust the government. The platform will ensure the secure exchange of documents between the tendering and procurement actors’ parts, including the necessary legislative measures. Strategically implementation of an electronic procurement system is considered one of the essential elements for the transformation of modern public services and essential element which helps saving on public sector spending. It is anticipated that a considerable portion of these savings which will be created by the electronic market should reach 90% in 2010. The website provides information on the procurement requirements and related forms can be downloaded. Public agencies are required to submit the related forms electronically. 
Future work will enhance the development impact of ICTs for public dissemination of e-procurement to the management practices and to automated Turkish public procurement system.

REFERENCES ADB, IADB, World Bank. (2004). Strategic Electronic Government Procurement- Strategic Overview an Introduction for Executives. Procurement Harmonisation Project of The Asian Development Bank, The Inter American Development Bank and The World Bank.

Assar, S., Boughzala, I., & Boydens, I. (2008). Empirical evaluation of public e-procurement platforms in France. International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2(1), 90–108. doi:10.1504/ IJVCM.2008.016120 Basu, S. (2004). E-Government and developing countries: An overview. International Review of Law Computers & Technology, 18(1), 109–132. doi:10.1080/13600860410001674779 Case study provided by the United Kingdom for the OECD Symposium (2006). Mapping out Good Practices for Integrity and Corruption Resistance in Procurement. Davenport, T. H. (1998). Putting the Enterprise in the Enterprise System. Harvard Business Review, 76(4), 121–131. Deise, M. V., Nowikow, C., King, P., & Wright, A. (2000). Executives Guide to E-Business: From Tactics to Strategy. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors, OJ L 134 of 30 April 2004. Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (2004). OJ L 134 of 30 April 2004. Edquis, C., Lena, T., & Leif, H. (2000). Public Technology Procurement and Innovation Theory. Kluwer Academic Publishers. European Commission. (2004). Action plan for the implementation of the legal framework for electronic public procurement. Communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

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European Union. (1996). Public Procurement in the European Union: Exploring the Way Forward. Green Paper. Gebauer, J., Carrie, B., & Arie, S. (1998). Impact of the internet on procurement. Acquisition Review Quarterly, 5(2), 167–184. Hoekman, B. (1998). Using International Institutions to Improve Government Procurement. The World Bank Research Observer, 13(2), 249–269. Nelson, D., Moody, P. E., & Stegner, J. (2002). The Purchasing. Machine (p. 184). New York: The Free Press. Pina Pereira, J., & Adrião, R. (2006, September 27) The Portuguese eProcurement Program Tampere. 4th Quality Conference for Public Administrations in the EU. Prince, C. J. (2000). The long and winding road to e-government. Chief Executive Article, 355(8), 176–185. Riggins, F. J., & Mukhopadhyay, T. (1999). Overcoming EDI Adoption and Implementation Risks. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 3, 103–123. SIGMA Support for Improvement in Governance and Management A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union (2007). Principally financed by the EU Turkey Government Procurement System Assessment Report.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Critical Success Factor: Identified as vital for successful targets to be reached and maintained competitive advantage in production processes, employee and organization skills, functions, techniques, and technologies.

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E-Government: Fundamentally changing the way government offers services. Automate existing processes and integrate channels, processes and services to improve services and make better use of available resources. Enterprise Resource Planning: enterprise Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is implementing a user friendly e-procurement tool that allows the company to reduce the cost of purchasing, primarily in the area of operating internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. E-Procurement: Public procurement by electronic means can improve and simplify the way government procurement operates. This will help organizations to identify contract opportunities and to supply their goods and services, contributing to competitiveness and economic growth. Procurement: The purchasing of something usually for a company, government or other organization. Public Procurement Authority (PPA): On behalf of the Government, use best procurement practices to promote economy and efficiency while ensuring that public procurement procedures are conducted in a fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory manner to raise public awareness on the new Turkish Public Procurement Law and Public Procurement Contracts Law by making their UNOFFICIAL translations available to all stakeholders via internet. Supply Chain: A supply chain (SC) is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and suppliers that participate in the production, delivery, and sale of a product to the consumer. Integrated SC and e-procurement provides process-oriented IT systems that significantly reduce procurement costs and delivery times.

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Chapter 10

Study of Electronic Governance Practices:

Controllership Instrument for Decision-Making in the Management of the Brazilian States Gilmar Ribeiro de Mello State University of West of Paraná, Brazil Valmor Slomski University of São Paulo, Brazil Edson Luiz Riccio University of São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT The general objective of this work is to identify a set of electronic governance practices for the executive power of the Brazilian States and Federal District, to measure and relate them to the economic and social development of the respective States and Federal District. In order to achieve this objective, we first used bibliographic research to build the theoretical platform about electronic governance and controllership in public management and the identification of electronic governance practices; next, we propose the measuring and monitoring index for the electronic governance development; and at last, we perform Pearson’s correlation test to verify the correlation between electronic governance and the indexes of both economic and social development. When comparing the results of the correlation and the percentage of the implemented practices, we conclude that the State with the highest GDP, the highest HDI and the lowest Gini, are the ones with the highest number of implemented electronic governance practices. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch010

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Study of Electronic Governance Practices

INTRODUCTION Governments operate in a complex world and they need to adapt to new realities, such as globalization, the knowledge age, which shape the information society. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a crucial role in the way the State performs its main duties. These technologies change the public management approach, considering that citizens, companies and other organizations want to increasingly have access to the government in a fast and easy way, expecting that government programs are focused on their needs. Some possible ways to improve the general perception of the public service would include news ways of providing services and new governance styles, such as electronic governance. The evolution in the use of computers and means of communication, and specially, the Internet infrastructure, have caused new models of Government-Society relationship to be more and more defined on ICTs. Therefore, new technologies would have the potential to build a new relationship between government and its citizens since they make it possible for a public administration to be more efficient, democratic and transparent. (Medeiros & Guimarães, 2004). Thus, the awareness of the citizens’ involvement in the governance and the appearing of a knowledge society have played an important role in the transformation of the government’s nature. The access to opportunity has become an element of good governance, specifically with the use of ICTs, instruments that have changed the relationship between the public sector and other actors in the society. It is into this context that electronic governance is inserted, which, according to (Silva & Correa, 2006) focuses on the use of new ICTs amenities, applied to a wide range of government duties in search of a better social performance. The interest in the study of electronic governance got stronger at the beginning of 2000, but before that, many governments had already

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discussed and implemented the electronic government, mainly the use of the Internet for the provision of services. Such an interest emerged, in part, because of the increase in the Internet access geometric progression. Electronic governance is important because it is considered to be an instrument that promotes good governance, improves the relationship among government, citizen and company, mainly, with more transparency, accountability, reduces transaction and citizen participation costs. Furthermore, it can facilitate the optimization of internal processes and generate more information to the managers, and it is a way to take advantage of the Internet potential and its amenities. In the Brazilian public administration context, due to the fact that electronic governance is little known and researched, it is necessary to present its definition and structure and also to demonstrate ways of implementing and testing it, and ways of identifying its benefits. Considering this, the general objective of this work is to identify a set of electronic governance practices for the executive power of the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), to measure and relate them to economic and social development of the respective States and Distrito Federal (Federal District).

BACKGROUND Governance in Public Management The governance must be related to the government’s ability and capacity to: develop efficiently and responsibly the management of its resources and public policies; to promote mechanisms that allow society participation in planning, decision and control of the actions that lead to the common good. Therefore, the term governance is quite broad and its use varies according to its focus and which area it is applied to. There is no doubt about its

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importance. Good governance is a source of competitive advantage and it plays an important role for economic and social development. (Streit & Klering, 2004). To Stoker (1998), governance value relies on its capacity to provide a structure to understand the changes in the processes of governing. Thus, governance is called “good” when it allocates and generates resources to address collective problems; in other words, when an efficient State provides quality public assets which are necessary to its citizens (Mimicopoulos et al., 2007). Thus, the States must be evaluated by the quality and quantity of its public assets that are available to its citizens. (Rotberg, 2004-05). The measurement of good governance has a short history, but since 1980, many indicators have been developed and the main initiatives include indicators based on a scale as well as on opinion indexes, such as democracy and human rights measurement. Each initiative has its strengths and weaknesses and the most recent ones have valued robustness. (Landman & Häusermann, 2003). A lot of research was developed with the objective of measuring good governance and from this research it is possible to conclude that the quality of a country’s governance system is a determining factor for the capacity to proceed with a sustainable economic and social development. (Santiso, 2001). To confirm this approach, the World Bank (2001) states that good governance is seen as an essential ingredient to reduce poverty and (Grindle, 2004) adds that, since good governance aims to reduce corruption, to improve the rendering of accounts as well as the government decentralization, to improve the management of public resources, as well as equality in the presence of the law, efficient use of resources, effective provision of services, participation in making political decisions, etc. Governance can be essential to reduce poverty. Regarding the ways to evaluate economic and social development, (Huther & Shah, 1999) suggest that: social development in a country is

evaluated through two widely known components: the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines estimates of life expectancy, average educational levels and per capita income, and also the Gini coefficient (which quantifies the degree of income inequality); whereas economic development can be evaluated by per capita income. To the World Bank (2000), per capita income is a strong predictor of poverty, child mortality and illiteracy, suggesting that good governance improves the poor’s well-being. According to Mimicopoulos et al. (2007), the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the most common way of measuring the success of a country. It represents a unit of measurement which tries to measure economic well-being which can result in good governance, among other factors. The nation’s well-being depends on factors not incorporated into the GDP calculation, such as: unequal income distribution; environment quality or leisure time. Therefore, a country that has a very unequal income distribution would have a lower well-being level compared to a country with the same GDP, but with less poverty. By using these ways of evaluating economic and social development, empirical analyses suggest a positive correlation between the level of result, investment, human capital, economic liberalization and the gross result distributed in the society (Tavares & Wacziarg, 2001). As an example of studies that have found a correlation among governance and economic and social development, we can mention (Huther & Shah, 1999) and (Kaufmann & Kraay, 2002), who have found a high correlation between governance and per capita income; whereas, (Kaufmann et al., 2005) has found a high correlation between governance and the HDI. In the same way, other authors, such as (Kaufmann et al., 1999) and (Siegle et al., 2004) have shown that governance quality is positively associated with economic growth and development.

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Furthermore, with the adoption of regression analyses, with data from countries, significant correlations have been found between good governance and development in the following studies; (Barro, 1991; Knack & Keefer, 1995; Mauro, 1995; Brunetti et al., 1997; Chong & Calderón, 1997 and 2000; Levine, 1997; World Bank, 1997; Burnside & Dollar, 1998; Friedman et al., 1999; Huther & Shah, 1999; Evans & Rauch, 2000).

Electronic Governance With the arrival of ICTs, electronic governance appears as an emerging trend to re-invent the functioning of the government, specially, in the offer of public services and citizen participation in management, performed on-line. To Panzardi et al. (2002), the introduction of electronic governance is a way to enable common citizens to have equal rights to be a part of the decision making processes which affect them directly or indirectly and influence them in a way to improve their conditions and life quality. The new way governance will ensure that citizens are not passive consumers of offered services. It will also help them to play a decisive role in the choice of services, as well as in the structure that could better provide them with such services (Nath, 2003). Electronic governance theme fits exactly into the context of information society transformation, in which ICTs allow, on one hand, an improvement in the public provision of services, and, on the other hand, an increase in the state capacity to provide the varied target public with the public information they require. To Okot-Uma (2001), electronic governance is an emergent concept and practice, through which, governments aim to materialize processes and structures in order to explore ICTs potentials on many government levels and even beyond the public sector with the purpose of achieving good governance.

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To simplify, electronic governance can be understood as the ability to: allow citizens to choose when and where to access governmental services and information (Okot-Uma, 2000; Panzardi et al., 2002; Budhiraja, 2003); to make governmental information and the provision of services available to the public by the use of electronic means (Panzardi et al., 2002; Odendaal, 2003; Ghosh & Arora, 2005; Rezende & Frey, 2005); to allow a relationship with its governments, involving aspects of civic communication as well as political evolution and expression of democratic wishes (Okot-Uma, 2000; Panzardi et al., 2002; Marche & Mcniven, 2003; Tripathi, 2007); to be a mean of participation for social change (Thomas, 2009). Therefore, a broader definition of electronic governance that should be considered is: E-governance is the public sector’s use of the most innovative information and communication technologies, like the internet, to deliver to all citizens improved services, reliable information and greater knowledge in order to facilitate access to the governing process and encourage deeper citizen participation. It is an unequivocal commitment by decision-makers to strengthening the partnership between the private citizen and the public sector. (United Nations, 2002, p. 54) In summary, electronic governance can be understood as the application of governance by means of electronic support to facilitate an efficient, fast and transparent process of posting information, as well as to perform the government’s administration activities. Furthermore, it can bring new citizenship concepts regarding the citizens’ needs and responsibilities; it also involves new leadership styles, new ways to discuss and decide on policies and investments, access to education, the ability to listen to its citizens and to provide them with services and information. (Unesco, 2005). According to Unesco (2005) and Cunha el al. (2006), the need to approach more comprehensive concepts have caused, more recently, the

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term electronic governance or e-governance to be used as the application of ICTs to the public governance, where it can be divided into the areas of electronic administration or e-administration, electronic services or e-services and democracy or e-democracy. Many authors explore these three areas of electronic governance. The e-administration area is for the texts that explore improvement and modernization of governmental processes, as well as of the public sector internal work by the use of ICTs (Osborne, 1997; Medeiros, 2004; Cunha, 2005; Grant & Chau, 2005). For those who privilege the e-services perspective, there is the use of technology in the public sector to improve the provision of services to citizens, mainly through digital channels, such as service portals on governments’ websites (Osborne, 1997; Cunha, 2005). There are also authors who study democracy, that is, citizen participation in interactive and democratic activities, the use of ICTs to enable a more active citizen participation in the government’s democratic and decision-making processes (Rose, 2004; UNDP, 2006). We understand that electronic governance has, as its areas or dimensions, the electronic government and electronic democracy, as shown in Figure 1. The adopted concept that electronic governance includes both electronic government and democracy (Figure 1) has gained many followers, such as: Backus, 2001; Araújo & Gomes, 2004; Araújo & Laia, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Knezevic, 2007; Mimicopoulos et al., 2007; Paul, 2007.

Electronic Government Electronic government involves the use of ICTs, mainly the Internet, to provide public information (Sealy, 2003; Ferrer & Borges, 2004; Georgescu, 2008; Lau et al., 2008), to provide the society and the government itself with services, (Okot-Uma, 2000; Fountain, 2003; Ferrer & Borges, 2004;

Figure 1. Electronic governance areas or dimensions

Magalhães, 2007; Georgescu, 2008; Lau et al., 2008; Maumbe et al., 2008), to improve internal processes (Maumbe et al., 2008), to integrate interactions and interrelations between government and society (Ghosh & Arora, 2005), allowing society to receive a 24-hour service, seven days per week (Georgescu, 2008). Electronic government is the capacity to make services available to citizens along with the capacity to make governmental processes dynamic, in an integrated way, through ICTs, aiming at integration, transparency, governability and democracy (Garcia, 2006). It is important to highlight that electronic government is composed of electronic administration and electronic services, in which, electronic administration is the use of ICTs in the creation of data repository for the management information systems and for computerized registrations, whereas electronic services are the provision of on-line public services.

Electronic Democracy According to Okot-Uma (2000), electronic democracy refers to the structures and processes which include all means of electronic communication between government and citizens. Löfstedt (2005) broadens the discussion by saying that electronic democracy focuses on the use of ICTs in order to support the democratic making-decision process, allowing a more effective and transparent

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compromise between government, companies and citizens. The development ICTs, mainly the Internet, has caused the theoretical definition of electronic democracy to be reviewed. It can be understood as a combination of participative and deliberative democracy, in which the existence of information networks enables citizens to maintain a level of information and knowledge about social subjects. In this environment, the concept of electronic democracy forms a compound of networks and people, in which the political decision process is guided by deliberative processes. The Internet, theoretically understood in the electronic democracy context, can be an instrument that fulfils the democratic ideal of a citizen who is active and aware of social problems (Häyhtiö & Keskinen, 2005). Therefore, we can understand that electronic democracy is the use of ICTs resources in order to promote an increase in the level and quality of public participation in the government; that is, to support citizens, in a flexible way, to participate in public life through information technology (Moon, 2002; Cabri et al., 2005; Ruelas & Arámburo, 2006). The initiatives to achieve this can include forums, meetings, searches, referendums, votes, and decisions on rules and any other way of electronic participation.

Electronic Governance in the Brazilian Public Management The globalization process, the Internet, the reforms in public administration and the consolidation of democracy in Brazil have made citizens to be more demanding. While the market has become more competitive, citizens have begun to demand more from the public power in defence of their own rights. That way, the increase in public information demand, and the legal need for more transparency in the public manager’s actions, resulted in the increasing availability of information regarding main government departments in

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the federal sphere, causing the federation unities to gradually structure themselves as well. The Internet was introduced in Brazil in 1988 and with constant investments, it has followed trends already seen in other countries, which have opted for the intense use of ICTs as a strategy to reform or modernize administrative structures, perhaps with more emphasis on infrastructure. It is in this context that the electronic governance theme is inserted into Brazil, which is in the initial phase of discussions, with not many theoretical studies being conducted. Apart from that, this concept is seen as a part of electronic government, a concept that we do not defend. However, electronic government in Brazil has occupied a notable position since 1999, when a systematic policy of electronic government was developed in Brazil with the implementation of an Information Society project called (SocInfo) of The Science and Technology Ministry. Electronic government in Brazil has been developing significantly and this is followed by citizens and companies that use it to improve their life conditions, mainly via access to services and information on the Internet. This development is confirmed by (Lau et al.,2008), who says that, nowadays, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are among the most advanced nations at world level in terms of presence on the web. This is based on a comparative report of the United Nations electronic government. To Chahin et al. (2004), the proposed services and public information by governments on the web are, in most cases, similar to the ones offered through traditional channels; that means the network, in the end, is only an alternative channel to deliver these services and information. However, according to the authors, in the States and Cities, the projects under development point at: •

availability on the web, in the medium and long terms, of means to meet service requests and their provision, as well as

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means to receive payment and monitor the process; electronic delivery of public information; integration with financial institutions for electronic payment of fees and taxes simultaneously with the provision of services or with the delivery of information; surveys, chats, and discussion forums on public interest subjects.

Controllership and Electronic Governance Borinelli (2006) explains that “controllership is a set of acquired knowledge that is constituted on theoretical and conceptual foundations of operational, economic, financial nature and assets, related to the control of organizational management process” (p. 105). This study involves organizations, subdivided in the following operating focus: The management process (and model) as a whole, including operational, economic, financial and assets managements; information needs, consolidated in the information and decision models; formation process of organizational results, comprising the mensuration, identification and accumulation models. (Borinelli, 2006, p. 109). Regarding its fundamental aspect, controllership has the mission to care for the organization’s survival and continuity through a constant process of promotion, coordination, and integration of efforts, in a way to ensure effectiveness and optimization of the entity’s economic result. Furthermore, to Menezes (2001), it is the controllership’s role to act with an open mind and double its efforts in order to create and make use of opportunities, aiming to avoid or, at least, minimize threats. The author adds that, to destroy the myths, to plan with creativity and innovation and to operate with seriousness and efficiency, are the rules in this new business world at the beginning of this century.

In summary, according to Slomski (2005) “controllership is the search for excellence in any sector, whether private or public. It is the extra factor, searched by the set of elements that compose the machine of any entity” (p. 15). The author adds that, in a disturbed world, where everyone is evaluated by what they produce, there is a crying need for the existence of a department to perform this concerting – the act of producing a symphony – in which all instruments are played in an isolated way, but in the same tune, and with the same goal: maximization of the entity’s global result. In this context, controllership, as an administrative and information dissemination department, has the duty to perform the role of integration, from the diagnosis to the development of its strategic planning for the execution of its budget, and, this way, to indicate the possible goal deviations and to suggest adjustable alternatives to reality (Xavier, 2007). Therefore, in controllership implementation, according to constitutional rules, the following attributions have to be present among others: Rendering of accounts presented annually by the Government to the Legislative Power; to serve as an aid instrument in the decision-making process; to progress in the use of traditional systems that control budget, finances and assets, establishing financial, economic and social indicators, which allow for improvement in the decision-making process. (Kalife, 2004, p. 273-274) Considering that public administrations are part of a specific environment, where they operate and establish an exchange relationship with society, the controllership’s duty is to ensure adequate information to the decision-making process, and one requirement to reach effectiveness is to adapt public activities to the preservation of the organization’s internal and external environment. In order to do so, it is fundamental that public entities use ICTs resources, which is a fact

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confirmed by Holanda (2002), when he says that most people and institutions aspire to some sort of control and this can be achieved with the help of the Internet, mainly in the governmental area. The author adds that technology is essential to improve the public sector control and management, with immediate effect for better quality services provided to citizens. It is into this context that we insert electronic governance, which consists of the use of ICTs aiming to increase governmental action capacity in the implementation of management and control public policies. This implicates the possibility to perform actions to strengthen institutional capacity, among them: organizational restructuring; debureaucratization of rules and procedures; capacity of control over ongoing governmental actions. Electronic governance is a controllership instrument because it allows citizens to choose when and where to access governmental services and information. It makes provision of government services and information available to the public by electronic means. It allows a relationship with its governors, involving aspects of civic communication, evolution of policies, as well as the expression of democratic wishes. It can also be a way to participate in social change. Furthermore, electronic government, part of electronic governance, can provide the public and the government itself with public information and services. It can improve internal processes, as well as integrate interactions and interrelations between government and society. In addition, it can allow society to interact and receive on-line services. Electronic democracy, also part of electronic governance, can support citizens to participate in public life through forums, meetings, search, referendums, votes, decisions on rules, etc. It can also allow citizens to access existing information and knowledge in the government regarding available resources, services and policies.

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Electronic Governance Practices for the Brazilian States According to Tripathi (2007), public administration has been advancing quickly and there is already a need to coordinate the efforts in seeking knowledge and models of good practices of electronic governance. The conceptual structure of electronic governance practices, which we have adopted, is based on the studies of Holzer & Kim (2005), which considers that electronic governance includes both electronic government and democracy. These two groups are represented by five subgroups of practices: content, services, citizen participation, privacy and security and usability. In summary, the subgroup “content” is addressed in terms of access to contact information, access to public documents and the lack of access, as well as access to multimedia sensitive information. The subgroup “services” investigates interactive services, which allow users to buy or pay for such services, as well as the user’s capacity to apply or register on-line events or services. The subgroup “citizen participation” investigates how the government involves the citizen and it also provides citizens with mechanisms to participate, on-line, in the government. The subgroup “privacy and security” analyzes privacy policies and issues related to authentication. At last, the subgroup “usability” involves traditional pages of the web, forms and search tools. However, in the structure proposed by Holzer & Kim, practices related to accessibility are not widely considered. Therefore, it was chosen to include them into the practices related to usability because they complement each other. Thus, the last subgroup is “usability and accessibility” To better understand this subgroup, it is important to note that accessibility means, not only allowing people with disabilities or reduced mobility to take part in the activities that include the use of products, services and information, but the inclusion and extended use of these activities

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Figure 2. Electronic governance practices structure

by all present parts in a certain population. On the Internet, for example, the term accessibility refers to the possibility to allow everyone to access websites, regardless of whether they have a disability or not. Usability is directly linked to the interface dialogue and the software capacity to allow a user to achieve their interaction goals with the system. Even someone with impaired motor skills or navigation problems due to lack of technical knowledge will be able to achieve what they want if usability processes are respected, allowing website users to feel more at easy and independent. To demonstrate the importance of this inclusion, we resort to Bertot & Jaeger (2008). They say that a population faces many challenges in order to use electronic government services, since they have different physical disabilities, with different present challenges, making various types of requirements necessary, as well as compatibility with support technologies. Thus, to better understand this, Figure 2 represents the structure of electronic government practices adopted in this study, which took into account the approach adopted by Holzer and Kim (2005), including the accessibility practices and considering the “services” and “content” prac-

tices to represent electronic government, “citizen participation” practices to represent electronic democracy, “privacy and security” and “usability and “accessibility” are related both to electronic government and democracy since they are practices that relate to the system as a whole and are necessary for the good functioning of the other practices.

MAIN FOCUS OF THE CHAPTER Methodology Used in the Study The adopted methodological procedures were divided into three phases: in the first phase, a bibliographic research was used for the construction of the theoretical platform regarding electronic governance, controllership in public management and the identification of electronic governance practices; in the second phase, there is the proposal of the measuring and monitoring index of the electronic governance development, here classified as the BEGI (the Brazilian States Electronic Governance Index); in the third and last phase, a hypothesis test was performed by using Pearson’s correlation test in order to verify the

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correlation between electronic governance and economic (GDP and per capita GDP) and social (HDI and Gini) development indexes. The analysis unit in this study only comprises websites of the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District) executive power, with a total of 27 cases, chosen for their relevance in Brazil’s economy and for showing evidence and having a certain level of electronic governance. This is a study of the population known as the census. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight that this study does not include website analysis of the legislative and judicial power, or autarchy and public companies. It only includes the executive power.

Procedures to Develop the BEGI

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The first step was to identify the variables (practices), which are described below, in short, considering their respective denominations and sources. These practices were structured in five subgroups: content, services, citizen participation, privacy and security and usability and accessibility. They represent the variables that will form the Brazilian States Electronic Governance Index – BEGI. Next, we present the 13 content practices, which are classified as ConP1, content practice 1, ConP2, content practice 2 and so forth.

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ConP1: To make a list of links of the internal and external departments available, as well as locations of offices, agencies, sectors, etc; contact details showing opening hours, addresses, names, etc. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Schuele, 2005); ConP2: To make the manager’s agenda available, as well as the agenda of the institution policies. (Eisenberg, 2004); ConP3: To make the States’ rules and codes available. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); ConP4: To make budget information available, as well as bookkeeping reports, FRL (Fiscal Responsibility Law) annexes,

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information on public bid in progress, invitation to bid, etc. (OECD, 2001; Eisenberg, 2004; Rose, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Knight & Fernandes, 2006; Braga, 2007); ConP5: To make information on positions available, as well as competencies and civil servants’ salaries. (Chahin et al., 2004; Fernandes, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Braga, 2007); ConP6: To make information on civil service public exams available, as well as civil service public examinations, tender announcements, test answers, etc (Torres et al., 2006; Braga, 2007; Tripathi, 2007); ConP7: To allow the copying of public documents, by printing, downloading, etc. (Holliday, 2002; Holzer & Kim, 2005); ConP8: Public documents must have correct references with no typing, spelling or grammar mistakes; identification of intellectual property, identification of sources or people in charge, contact information; content must be clear, with a professional tone, bias-free speech and publicity-free information. (Vilella, 2003); ConP9: To make information on emergency management available by using the website as an alert mechanism to natural or man-made disasters.(Holzer & Kim, 2005; Tripathi, 2007); ConP10: To publish job offers, trainings and resources to submit CVs by the person interested in this process. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Tripathi, 2007); ConP11: To make a community events calendar available, as well as an advertising/informative board, etc. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Tripathi, 2007; Navarro et al., 2007); ConP12: To make information available regarding content statement and web page updates; ConP13: To make audio files available on your website, public events videos,

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lectures, gatherings, etc. (Holzer & Kim, 2005). Next, we present the 16 service practices, which are classified as SerP1, service practice 1, SerP2, service practice 2 and so forth. •

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SerP1: To make e-mail addresses available, as well as telephone numbers and addresses to require information. (Eisenberg, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP2: The home page must be customized in order for the citizen to have easy access to the services. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP3: To allow access to private information by using passwords, such as information on criminal, medical and educational records, as well as civil registration, etc. (Silva Filho & Perez, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP4: To allow access to information related to education, economic indicators, educational institutions, environment, health, transport, etc. (Tripathi, 2007); SerP5: To identify the person in charge or manager of the website to be held responsible for its content or eventual contact. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP6: To make a report available describing administrative rules and breach of laws. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP7: To make a mechanism available to submit, monitor and remove public complaints/reports of wrongdoing. (Tripathi, 2007); SerP8: To make the news and information on public policies available. (Parreiras et al., 2004); SerP9: To allow the payment of taxes, fees, public improvement taxes, fines, etc. This practice must allow access to information, as well as access to forms that need to be completed and then submitted for payment, tax calculations and possible

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fines and interest rate, including on-line payment. (Chahin et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Knight & Fernandes, 2006; Torres et al., 2006); SerP10: To allow the search for an individual’s registration data, car tax outstanding debts, issuing of forms for the payment of traffic tickets, vehicle licensing, motor vehicle tax and compulsory insurance, as well as access to the legislation and traffic education program. (Silva Filho & Perez, 2004; Torres et al., 2006; Tripathi, 2007); SerP11: To allow electronic request of tax-related documents, such as consultations and tax status certificates, electronic receipt invoice, etc. (Chahin et al., 2004; Torres et al., 2006); SerP12: To allow a company and/or citizen to register for on-line services. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); SerP13: To issue licences, registration or permits, such as: health permits, licence/ registration of dogs and other animals, business permits, construction permits, etc. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Torres et al., 2006); SerP14: To allow the purchase of tickets for events, etc. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Torres et al., 2006); SerP15: To have an electronic purchase mechanism through on-line auctions – electronic bidding - which consists of a bidding system through the Internet for open and automatic negotiations between the State departments, buyers and suppliers from the private sector. (Chahin et al., 2004; Fernandes, 2004; Parreiras et al., 2004; Sanchez, 2005; Knight & Fernandes, 2006); SerP16: To publish an invitation to bid and its respective results. (Knight & Fernandes, 2006).

Next, we present the 10 citizen participation practices, which are classified as CPP1, citizen

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participation practice 1, CPP2, citizen participation practice 2 and so forth.

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CPP1: To have an informative bulletin online. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); CPP2: To make governance information available. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); CPP3: To make a contact e-mail available, with the description of the adopted policy for replies, beginning with the time and date of receipt, the estimate time frame for a reply, what to do if the reply is not received and a copy of your original message. (Clift, 2003; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Navarro et al., 2007); CPP4: To make an advertising board available, as well as, chats, discussion forums, discussion groups, etc; in order to discuss political, economic and social issues with the elected managers, specific public departments, specialists, etc; facilitating the dialogue between the government and citizens with a real participation possibility. (Panzardi et al., 2002; Clift, 2003; Chahin et al., 2004; Eisenberg, 2004; Parreiras et al., 2004; Rose, 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Knight & Fernandes, 2006; Navarro et al., 2007; Braga, 2007; Bertot & Jaeger, 2008); CPP5: To make agenda of meetings or calendar of public discussions available, including time, place, agenda and information about citizens’ testimonies, participation, observations or options. (Clift, 2003; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Navarro et al., 2007); CPP6: To research or to enquire, briefly or in detail, about satisfaction, opinion, manifestation of preferences and suggestions in order to verify citizen’s perception of the provided services and of the electronic governance structure itself. (Clift, 2003; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Bertot & Jaeger, 2008);

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CPP7: To make a specific channel available to report wrongdoing. (Knight & Fernandes, 2006); CPP8: To make biographic information, e-mails, telephone numbers, photographs, and contact addresses available about the elected managers and government members. (Torres et al., 2006); CPP9: To make government’s structure and functions available. (Torres et al., 2006); CPP10: To make a specific link for “democracy” or “citizen participation” available on the home page of your website, which will lead to a special section, detailing the purpose and mission of the public units, the high level decision makers, allowing connections with the legislation, budget and other information details on accountability. (Clift, 2003).

Next, we present the 8 privacy and security practices, which are classified as PSP1, privacy and security practice 1, PSP2, privacy and security practice 2 and so forth. •

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PSP1: To post the privacy policy on the website, describing the types of information collected and the personal information sharing and use policies, identifying the information gatherers, available on all pages that accept data, also providing the date the privacy policy was reviewed. (Bonett, 2004; Parreiras et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Schuele, 2005); PSP2: To allow the reduction of personal information disclosure, offering the possibility to enter or leave the provision of information. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Schuele, 2005); PSP3: To allow the user to check personal data and to contest the registration of incomplete or wrong information. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Schuele, 2005);

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PSP4: To inform the practices before any personal information is collected, making it clear which entity is acquiring the information, the purpose of the collection, potential receivers, nature of information, means of collection, whether the information is voluntary or compulsory and the consequence of not providing such information; PSP5: To limit access to data and to guarantee that they will not be used for unauthorized purposes by means of passwords and cryptography for sensitive data and audit procedures. (Manber et al., 2000; Holzer & Kim, 2005); PSP6: To make a specific contact address available, as well as telephone numbers and/or e-mail to report wrongdoing, criticism, etc; regarding the privacy and security policy. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); PSP7: To allow access to public information via a restricted area that requires password and/or registration, such as the use of digital signature to identify the users. (Chahin et al., 2004; Hayat et al., 2005; Holzer & Kim, 2005); PSP8: To allow access to non-public information to the servers via a restricted area that requires password and/or registration. (Holzer & Kim, 2005).

Next, we present the 19 usability and accessibility practices, which are classified as UAP1, usability and accessibility practice 1, UAP2, usability and accessibility practice 2 and so forth. •

•

UAP1: The homepage (initial page of a website) size must be a maximum of two screen lengths. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP2: To determine the website target public, with customized channels for specific groups, such as citizens, companies and other public departments. (Holzer & Kim, 2005);

•

•

•

•

• •

•

•

•

•

UAP3: The navigation bar must contain the grouped items in the navigation area, clear terms should be used to define the navigation options of the categories, navigation icons of immediate recognition of the class of items, identified links, etc. (Parreiras et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP4: To provide clickable links to the homepage on all pages, for governmental departments and for websites outside the government. (Holliday, 2002; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Navarro et al., 2007); UAP5: To make available, on the home page, a site map or a draft of all websites. Parreiras et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Torres et al., 2006; Braga, 2007); UAP6: The pages must be created with a consistent colour pattern, suitable font styles, text formatting, visibility of elements, criteria to use logos, etc. (Parreiras et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP7: The texts indicating the links must be underlined. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP8: To make the date the pages were last updated available. (Vilella, 2003; Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP9: To provide a link for information about the government, with the possibility of contact, with addresses, telephone numbers, fax or e-mails. (Holliday, 2002; Braga, 2007); UAP10: To make alternative versions of long documents available, such as.pdf or.doc. files (Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP11: To allow the form fields to be accessible by keyboard keys or cursor; clearly identifying the compulsory fields; ensuring that the guides of the fields are in logical order, that is, by pushing the “tab” key it moves to the next field. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP12: To make information on how to identify and correct submitted errors avail-

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•

•

•

•

• •

•

able. (Holzer & Kim, 2005; Torres et al., 2006); UAP13: To make a search engine or a link available on the government website itself. (Torres et al., 2006); UAP14: To have your own search mechanism, allowing the searches to be done in a specific way, by administrative unit on all the website, etc; with advanced search engines, such as the use of words, exact phrases, combination, etc; with the capacity to classify the search results by relevance or other criteria. (Holliday, 2002; Parreiras et al., 2004; Holzer & Kim, 2005; Braga, 2007; Navarro et al., 2007; Shi, 2007); UAP15: To make an access mechanism available for special needs users. (Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP16: To make the website content available in more than one language. (Vilella, 2003; Holzer & Kim, 2005); UAP17: To present written texts in suitable fonts and colors. (Shi, 2007); UAP18: To make audio content available in written transcripts and/or captions. (Shi, 2007); UAP19: To allow access to the website and its content through the computer keyboard. (Shi, 2007).

After all variables (electronic governance practices) were defined and identified, it was necessary to establish the criteria for data collection; in order to do so, it was taken into consideration the scale (weight) adopted in the studies of Eisenberg (2004) and Holzer & Kim (2005), who also collected data from websites. They adopted a scale of 0-3 (zero to three) for identification, in which 0 signifies the non-existence of the practice, (1) the existence of part of the practice, (2) the existence of almost all the practice and (3) the existence of the whole practice. To minimize the problem about the scale interpretation, we have established the following

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reference: (0) non-identified practice; (1) there is some information about the practice; (2) the practice has been implemented, but it is incomplete; (3) the practice has been totally implemented. We must stress that, in some cases, it is not possible to classify the practices on the scale of 0-3, since they refer to the simple fact of being present or not on the portals. In this case, it is used 0 for the non-identified practice and 1 for the implemented practice. This procedure has also been adopted in the studies of Eisenberg (2004) and Holzer & Kim (2005). In summary, considering the data collection criteria established on the complete scale, the next step was to observe the official websites of the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District) and by content analysis, identify whether such practices were implemented or not, and then building a database. Data was collected from websites by a researcher, who has good computer knowledge and full understanding of the subject, from the 18th to the 28th of February 2009. After the collection of the data explained above, The BEGI was formed considering the procedures described in Table 1 and based on what is proposed by Holzer & Kim (2005). Initially, we have established equal weights for the subgroups, in other words, using a scale from 0 to 100, each one of the subgroups (content, services, citizen participation, privacy and security and usability and accessibility) received a score of weight 20 or 20%. Following the sequence, considering the number of practices by subgroups, we can establish the score of each practice in the subgroup, dividing the weight given to the subgroup by its number of practices. For example: the subgroup content has a score of weight 20 and 13 practices, so each practice has a score of 1.538. For those practices rated on the scale of 0-1, the one with answers 0, nonidentified practice, the score is 0 and for those with answer 1, implemented practice, the score is 1.538. However, for those practices rated on the scale of 0-3, we have established weights for

Study of Electronic Governance Practices

Table 1. Procedures to compose the BEGI Practices Procedures

Content

Services

Citzen Participation

Privacy and Security

Usability and Accessibility

Total

Equal weight between the subgroups (a)

20

20

20

20

20

100

Number of practices by subgroup (b)

13

16

10

8

19

66

Score of each practice in each subgroup (a/b)

1.538

1.250

2.000

2.500

1.053

Practices with answers 0-1 com respostas 0-1

3

2

3

4

9

Score for answer 0

0

0

0

0

0

Score for answer 1

1.538

1.250

2.000

2.500

1.053

Practices with answers 0-3

10

14

7

4

10

Score for answer 0

0

0

0

0

0

Score for answer 1

0.513

0.417

0.667

0.833

0.351

Score for answer 2

1.026

0.833

1.333

1.667

0.702

Score for answer 3

1.538

1.250

2.000

2.500

1.053

each item, where answer 0, non-identified practice, scores 0 points, answer 1 scores 0.513, answer 2 scores 1.026 and answer 3, totally implemented practice, scores 1.538. Considering this procedure for all practices, in the respective subgroups, we add up all points given to each State. We then have the total of points that represent the total of implemented practices on a scale of 0 to 100, composing, the BEGI then. After obtaining the score of all the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), they were classified by descending order and by quartile, composing the BEGI then. This classification is shown in Table 2.

Solutions Considering the adopted procedures to compose the BEGI, we can see in Table 2, the index with all the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), showing the scores of the practices in each subgroup with the general classification in

21

descendent order by the number of implemented practices and by quartile. The BEGI shows that, from the suggested practices, the State of São Paulo is the one with the highest score, representing 71.40% of the implemented practices, whereas the State of Mato Grosso do Sul has only 37.31%. When analyzing the BEGI classified by quartile, we can find in the 4th quartile the ones with the highest number of implemented practices, the States of SP, RS, RJ, ES, PR, BA and MG. According to the sequence, we can find in the 3rd quartile the States of SE, SC, RN, TO, CE and PI, which are classified between 53.67% and 49.09% of the implemented practices; in the 2nd quartile we can find the States of PB, AC, AM, PA, DF, MT and AL between 48.18% and 46.04% of the implemented practices and at last, in the 1st quartile, the States of PE, GO, MA, RR, AP, RO and MS between 44.25% and 37.31% of the implemented practices. When observing these results, we notice a significant discrepancy regarding the percentage of implemented practices, which, apparently, shows

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Study of Electronic Governance Practices

Table 2. Brazilian states electronic governance index States

Practices Score

BEGI

ConP

SerP

CPP

PSP

UAP

São Paulo - SP

15.38

17.50

14.00

10.83

13.68

71.40

Rio Grande do Sul - RS

15.90

17.08

8.67

7.50

12.28

61.43

Rio de Janeiro - RJ

13.33

16.25

10.67

8.33

12.63

61.21

Espírito Santo - ES

15.90

15.00

14.67

5.00

9.47

60.04

Paraná - PR

17.95

15.83

11.33

5.83

8.77

59.72

Bahia - BA

14.87

15.83

11.33

5.00

11.23

58.27

Minas Gerais - MG

15.38

16.67

9.33

5.83

10.53

57.74

Sergipe - SE

12.82

14.58

9.33

5.00

11.93

53.67

Santa Catarina - SC

15.90

15.00

8.00

5.00

9.47

53.37

Rio Grande do Norte - RN

14.36

13.33

9.33

4.17

9.82

51.02

Tocantins - TO

12.82

13.75

7.33

5.00

11.23

50.13

Ceará - CE

11.28

14.58

10.67

2.50

10.18

49.21

Piauí - PI

12.82

13.33

6.67

7.50

8.77

49.09

Paraíba - PB

9.74

12.92

9.33

9.17

7.02

48.18

Acre - AC

13.33

12.08

8.67

5.00

8.77

47.86

Amazonas - AM

10.26

13.33

10.00

5.00

9.12

47.71

Pará - PA

14.36

13.33

8.00

2.50

8.77

46.96

Distrito Federal - DF

10.26

12.08

11.33

5.00

8.07

46.74

Mato Grosso - MT

9.74

11.67

10.00

5.00

10.18

46.59

Alagoas - AL

9.23

12.08

9.33

4.17

11.23

46.04

Pernambuco - PE

9.23

12.92

10.00

3.33

8.77

44.25

Goiás - GO

7.18

13.33

10.00

4.17

9.12

43.80

Maranhão - MA

11.28

10.83

7.33

1.67

11.93

43.05

Roraima - RR

11.28

10.42

8.67

4.17

8.07

42.60

Amapá - AP

10.26

11.25

6.00

5.00

9.82

42.33

Rondônia - RO

8.21

12.50

7.33

4.17

6.32

38.52

Mato Grosso do Sul - MS

6.15

9.58

6.00

7.50

8.07

37.31

a better raking for the more developed and more populated States. Apart from the analysis of the general BEGI, which considers the score of all practices in the 5 subgroups, it is important to highlight the level of practices implementation of each subgroup. Therefore, considering the subgroups score in Table 2, we notice that:

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•

Quartiles

4th quartile

3rd quartile

2nd quartile

1st quartile

In the content practices score, which can have a maximum of 20 points, the State of Paraná had the highest score (17.95 out of 20), that is, it is the State with the highest number of implemented content practices and Mato Grosso do Sul the lowest (6.15). The State of São Paulo, which in general, is the one with more implemented practices regarding website content, lags behind some States.

Study of Electronic Governance Practices

Figure 3. Comparison between the scores of the subgroups of electronic governance practices

•

•

•

•

In the service practices score, the State of São Paulo had the highest score (17.50 out of 20) and Mato Grosso do Sul the lowest (9.58). When comparing the classification generated by the general BEGI to the service practices, there is little change in the States. In the citizen participation practices score, the State of Espírito Santo had the highest score (14.67 out of 20) and Mato Grosso do Sul and Amapá the lowest (6.00). When comparing the general BEGI to the citizen participation practices, the States of Pernambuco and Goiás stand out, since they have shown to have implemented a bigger proportion of these practices compared to the average of the other practices; In the privacy and security practices score, the State of São Paulo had the highest score (10.83 out of 20) and Maranhão the lowest (1.67). When comparing the general BEGI to the privacy and security practices, the States of Mato Grosso do Sul e Paraíba stand out, since they have moved out of the lowest level of implemented practices into the group with the highest number of implemented practices. In the usability and accessibility practices score, the State of São Paulo had the high-

est score (13.68 out of 20) and Rondônia the lowest (6.32). When comparing the general BEGI to the usability and accessibility practices, the States of Maranhão and Alagoas stand out in a positive way, since they have moved out of the lowest level of implemented practices into the group with the highest number of implemented practices. On the other hand, the States of Paraná and Espírito Santo stand out in a negative way, since they moved out of the group with the highest number of implemented practices into a lower level of implemented practices. With the analysis of each subgroup of practices, we notice, in general, a stronger concern regarding the practices related to content and services, followed by citizen participation, usability and accessibility and at last privacy and security as shown in Figure 3.

Procedures to Verify the Correlation between the BEGI and Economic and Social Development The procedure to verify whether electronic governance has a correlation with economic and social development is adopted as a way to validate the

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Study of Electronic Governance Practices

BEGI, as we intend to demonstrate that this correlation exists, the same way evidences were shown in the international studies previously mentioned. We believe that the existence of the correlation between electronic governance and the indexes that represent the economic and social development, strengthen the structure of practices suggested in this work and, consequently, the proposed index. In order to verify such correlation, we have used the following indexes: •

•

to represent economic development, we use the following index: GDP – Gross Domestic Product; and per capita GDP – per capita Gross Domestic Product. Both regarding the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District) in 2006, from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics website – IBGE. To represent social development, we use the following index: GINI – Gini coefficient of the annual per capita domestic income in 2007, obtained from the Institute of Applied Economic Research website – IPEA DATA; and HDI – Human Development Index in 2005, from the United Nations Development Programme website – UNDP. Both of the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District).

We used these indexes in these respective years because they are the most recent published results for the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District). With the indexes to represent the economic and social development chosen, they were correlated (Pearson’s correlation) with the BEGI, and with the subgroups of content practices, services, citizen participation, privacy and security and usability and accessibility. In order to verify such correlations, we have developed the following statistical hypothesis:

174

• • • •

H1 = There is a negative and significant correlation between the BEGI and Gini; H2 = There is a positive and significant correlation between the BEGI and the HDI; H3 = There is a positive and significant correlation between the BEGI and the GDP; H4 = There is a positive and significant correlation between the BEGI and the per capita GDP;

The statistical hypothesis of H1 is a negative correlation between Gini and IGEB, which must occur because the Gini measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of individuals according to household income, while the IGEB is related to more development, a fact addressed in other hypothesis. The correlations, shown in Table 3, were made in order to provide answers for the hypothesis. Furthermore, since the data used represent the census (all Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), the hypothesis analysis was chosen using practical significance instead of statistical significance. According to Hair Jr. et al. (2005), practical significance is the “method to evaluate results of the multivariate analysis based on its substantial findings, instead of its statistical significance. While statistical significance determines whether the result can be attributed to chance, the practical significance evaluates whether the result is useful” (p.24). Therefore, as a parameter to define practical significance, correlation percentages above 5% are adopted, since previous studies have shown to have found percentages of this level. The study of Huther & Shah (1999) is an example, having in view that the authors found correlations of 7% between a governance index and per capita GDP, and also a correlation of 14% with HDI and 14% with income distribution. Such a parameter is valid for a percentage already identified, making the comparison easier, which is the object of this type of validation.

Study of Electronic Governance Practices

Table 3. Pearson’s correlation between the BEGI and the development indexes GINI

HDI

GDP

per capita GDP

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.263

0.397

0.730

0.316

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.184

0.041

0.000

0.108

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.288

0.279

0.471

0.179

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.145

0.158

0.013

0.371

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.413

0.433

0.652

0.232

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.032

0.024

0.000

0.243

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.263

0.285

0.673

0.256

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.185

0.150

0.000

0.197

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.101

0.399

0.692

0.269

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.615

0.039

0.000

0.175

Pearson’s Correlation

-0.277

0.306

0.609

0.255

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.162

0.120

0.001

0.199

Indicators BEGI ConP SerP CPP PSP UAP

Moreover, through the statistical significance was not possible to verify its importance.

Solutions Considering the adopted procedures, Table 3 shows the correlation between electronic governance, represented by the BEGI and by the subgroups of practices, and by the economic (GDP and per capita GDP) and social (HDI and Gini) development indexes. In the analysis of statistical hypothesis H1, the correlation result between the BEGI and Gini is -0.263 (R2 = 7%), which is negative and has practical significance, therefore, H1 is accepted for this result. In the analysis of statistical hypothesis H2, the correlation result between the BEGI and the HDI is 0.397 (R2 = 16%), which is positive and has practical significance, therefore, H2 is accepted for this result. In the analysis of statistical hypothesis H3, the correlation result between the BEGI and the GDP is 0.730 (R2 = 53%), which is positive and has practical significance, therefore, H3 is accepted for this result.

In the analysis of statistical hypothesis H4, the correlation result between the BEGI and the per capita GDP is 0.316 (R2 = 10%), which is positive and has practical significance, therefore, H4 is accepted for this result. In summary, electronic governance presented by the BEGI has correlation and practical significance with all indexes that represent economic and social development, mainly with the GDP and the HDI. Furthermore, the correlations extend to all subgroups and practices. However, practical significance does not occur in the correlation between ConP and per capita GDP (R2 = 3%) and also between PSP and Gini (R2 = 1%). Therefore, the acceptance of statistical hypothesis H2 confirms the findings of Kaufmann et al. (2005), who have found a high correlation between governance and the HDI; the acceptance of statistical hypothesis H3 confirms the findings of Barro (1991), Knack and Keefer (1995), Mauro (1995); Brunetti et al. (1997), Chong and Calderón (1997 to 2000), Levine (1997), the World Bank (1997), Burnside and Dollar (1998), Friedman et al. (1999) and Evans and Rauch (2000), who have found significant correlations between good governance and development; and the acceptance

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Study of Electronic Governance Practices

of statistical hypothesis H4 confirms the findings of Huther and Shah (1999) and Kaufmann and Kraay (2002), who have found a high correlation between governance and per capita income. Thus, the validity of the criteria was confirmed.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The results achieved, linked with the scarce studies on electronic governance, suggest the need for more research in the area. Therefore, we recommend to scholars and researchers in the governmental sector to further their findings on this study, by researching issues such as: •

• • • •

To reproduce this study annually in order to follow the evolution and possible benefits of electronic governance for the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District); Studies on the implementation of new electronic governance practices; Studies on the application of the BEGI in Brazilian cities; Studies on the application of the BEGI in the third sector; Comparative studies to other similar international studies;

CONCLUSION The general objective of this work was to identify a set of governance electronic practices for the executive power of the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), to measure and relate them to economic and social development of the respective States and Distrito Federal (Federal District). The electronic governance theoretical structure is divided into two groups: electronic government and electronic democracy, in which the first one is divided into 2 subgroups, classified

176

as content and services practice, which have 13 and 16 practices respectively; the second group has a subgroup classified as citizen participation practices, which has 10 practices; apart from that, there are 2 more subgroups classified as privacy and security practices and usability and accessibility practices, which have 8 and 19 practices respectively. These 2 former subgroups compose the basic structure of the other ones, that is the reason why they belong to both groups. The proposed index is classified as BEGI (Electronic Governance Index of the Brazilian States), through which, it was possible to verify the percentage of implemented practices by the Brazilian States and Distrito Federal (Federal District). We must highlight that the States of SP, RS, RJ, ES, PR, BA and MG are the ones with the most number of implemented practices and the States of MS, RO, AP, RR, MA, GO and PE are the ones with the least number of practices, respectively; that means that SP has already implemented 71.40% of the suggested practices, whereas MS has implemented only 37.31%, which shows a significant discrepancy between them. Furthermore, when analyzing the subgroups of practices, we notice, in general, a major concern regarding the practices related to content and services, next, related to citizen participation, usability and accessibility and at last, related to privacy and security. This is apparent when we notice that the State of PR has 17.95 points (out of a maximum of 20) and MS has 6.15 points in the content practices, whereas SP has 10.83 and MA has 1.67 points in the privacy and security practices. In summary, the correlation test demonstrated that the BEGI has correlation and practical significance with all indexes that represent economic and social development in this work. Among the indexes, the GDP was highly correlated, not only to the IGEB, but to all subgroups. Comparing the results between correlation and percentage of the implemented practices by the BEGI, it is concluded that there is evidence

Study of Electronic Governance Practices

that the most developed States (with the highest GDP, the highest HDI and the lowest Gini), are the ones which are better classified, that is, the States with the highest number of implemented electronic governance practices. After the objectives have been achieved, we can address electronic governance as a controllership instrument. In accordance with Unesco (2007), the electronic governance goals are to improve the internal organization of the government processes; to provide better information and provision of services; to increase transparency in the government in order to reduce corruption; to reinforce the political and rendering of accounts credibility; to promote public participation through democratic and search practices. These objectives can be extended, at least in part, to the governmental controllership. In this context, the introduction of good electronic governance is fundamental to improve good governance. The use of information technology can increase citizens’ participation in governance process at all levels, foreseeing the possibility of on-line discussion and improving the effective and fast development of the groups´ pressure. The advantages of getting the government involved can provide a better service in terms of time, making the governance more efficient and effective. Apart from that, transaction costs can be reduced and public services can become more accessible. All that can improve the relationship between the main individual (citizen) and the agent (manager) and yet minimize the problems related to the public choices. Therefore, to improve in general, the electronic governance of the States and Distrito Federal (Federal District), it is suggested that managers adopt simple practices, such as: to publish job offers; to make information available, with content responsibility statement and web page updates; to make a mechanism available to submit, monitor and remove public complaints/reports of wrongdoing; to grant licences, registrations and permits; to make governance information available; to make

an advertising board available, as well as chats, discussion forums, discussion groups, etc; to make the agenda of meetings or calendar of public discussions available; to limit access to data and to ensure they will not be used for unauthorized purposes by means of passwords and cryptography for sensitive data and audit procedures; to make a specific contact address available, as well as telephone numbers and/or e-mail to report wrongdoing, criticism, etc, regarding the privacy and security policy; to make a site map available on the home page; to make a search engine or a link available on the government website itself; to make available an access mechanism for special needs users; to make available the website content in more than one language. Regarding the contributions to the study, the following items were identified: •

•

•

•

To stress the subject because it demonstrates the importance of electronic governance in citizenship development; To make a theoretical structure available of electronic governance good practices to be used as a foundation for possible implementation and/or new research; To demonstrate a way to evaluate and follow the electronic governance development in the Brazilian States; To demonstrate that the electronic governance can be considered as an important instrument of governmental controllership;

The study limitations correspond to the careful use of the findings in this research, since the present study is limited to the state governments, once all States and Distrito Federal (Federal District) already have a minimum number of electronic governance practices, making possible, then, the empirical evidence study. At first, the presented proposal found here is limited to the Brazilian States. Any attempt to apply them to other spheres of the Brazilian Government

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or even to other countries’ Governments must be analyzed with great care. Another limitation is related to the collected data for empirical evidence. These data represent electronic governance practices in the period the data was collected. After this period, there might have been changes in the number of implemented practices.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS BEGI: Brazilian States Electronic Governance Index.

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Gini: Measures the degree of inequality existent in the distribution of per capita household income among individuals. Its value varies from 0, when there is no inequality (each individual’s income has the same value), to 1, when inequality is maximum (only one individual retains all society’s income and all other individual’s income is none). HDI: Human Development Index: is obtained through simple arithmetic mean of three sub indexes, referring to the dimensions: Longevity (Longevity-HDI); Education (Education-HDI); Income (Income-HDI). IBGE: The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ICTs: Information and Communication Technologies. IPEA DATA: Institute of Applied Economic Research. UNDP: United Nations Development Programme.

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Chapter 11

Implementing ICT for Governance in a PostConflict Nation: A Case Study of Afghanistan Monis Aziz IBM, India

ABSTRACT The purpose of this chapter is to provide an insight into the various challenges faced by a post-conflict nation like Afghanistan and suggest implementation of e-Governance. It explores various ICT tools and techniques that can help and assist government officials, leaders, stakeholders and decision-makers adopt appropriate governance systems and state building mechanisms as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts. The chapter helps to identify the various ways in which post-conflict reconstruction issues can be dealt by using the best practices linked with ICT functional feasibility and implementation; and identify the specific challenges that a post-conflict country has to overcome with regard to e-Governance project formulation and implementation. Despite the specificity of each country, lessons highlighted in this chapter show that a sound mix of policies based on universally shared values, experience and the proper use of management systems and tools are crucial for every country emerging from conflict.

INTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a term encompasses the range of DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch011

technologies that are used for gathering, storing, retrieving, processing, analyzing, and transmitting information that are essential to prosper in a globalized economy. The immense growth seen in the field of information and knowledge has led to a new rationale

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

for the function of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in diverse societies. These technologies are now recognized as tools not only for training, but also for progressive social change, the strengthening of human intellectual capacity and defining modern lifestyles. Over the last two decades, a country’s ability to create, select, adapt, use and profit from knowledge has become increasingly important to sustain its economic growth and improve living standards. ICTs can provide individuals with the skills and knowledge they need to cope with the global changes and with the challenges arising in various areas of daily life, combined with opportunities of lifelong learning. The challenges that countries in crises and postconflict situations face are complex, multifaceted and vary due to the variety of different historical root causes of conflict and the different political, social and geographical contexts. Strategies to address these challenges and effectively support a country on the path of recovery, development and durable peace are therefore diverse. What works in one country does not necessarily work in another country. However, there are some universally shared values, principles and key elements that have been found to be sine qua non for sustainable peace which comprises of focused and committed leadership, security, solid government structures providing basic services, building people’s trust and legitimacy, information dissemination, sound civic dialogue, mediation and community participation (UN DESA Discussion Paper – GPAB/ REGOPA Cluster - Governance Strategy for Post Conflict Reconstruction, Sustainable Peace and Development, page 3, 2007). Quantifying the impact of ICT is very difficult, though there is little doubt that ICTs act as catalysts for social and economic development. Evidence remains largely anecdotal, and the link between ICT deployment and reconstruction and development remains to be quantitatively verified. Experiences from recent post-conflict developments in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq

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have repeatedly demonstrated that ICT activities supporting stabilization, reconstruction, and development operations in an affected nation can be problematic. These activities suffer from a lack of adequate understanding of the post-conflict nation’s information culture and the ICT business culture. There is a lack of clear mapping of responding stakeholder organizations’ roles and responsibilities. Program development, project coordination, information sharing, and ICT implementation are largely uncoordinated and nonstandard activities. No agreed-upon architecture or plan is in place for the post-conflict nation’s ICT reconstruction (Wentz et al, 2008) Post-conflict states do not prioritize ICT as a reconstruction and development priority equal to infrastructural projects like roads, power, and water. Or even as an enabler of cross-sectoral reconstruction and development. As a consequence, there is no framework to make investment decisions and track ICT-related reconstruction and development progress by the senior leadership. The situation on the ground also complicates the challenges of failed-state interventions in all regards, including ICT. Civil and military responders usually encounter spoilers interfering with the intervening forces; buildings requiring reconstruction; roads, power, water, telecommunications, healthcare, and education systems disrupted or dysfunctional; absence of a functioning government as well as laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms; refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) requiring humanitarian assistance; widespread unemployment and poverty; and a shortage of leaders, managers, administrators, and technical personnel with 21st century information and ICT management, operations, and technical skills. If we observe real world experiences, we see that ICT can be (and is being) used to generate social, economic, cultural, and political changes. But, as noted earlier, it is difficult to quantify the impact of ICT initiatives and separate the influence of ICT from that of other factors, such as civil security stability, governance, or economic growth.

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

Lack of internationally agreed indicators to measure and compare country experiences further make it difficult to realize the importance of ICT. Some countries are certainly doing much better in exploiting ICTs and adopting more effective ICT policies and strategies than others, but there is no agreed and uniform way to measure and compare. Although a growing body of anecdotal evidence suggests that ICTs have a real macro-economic impact, it is not clear to what extent ICTs have helped to directly reduce major reconstruction and development concerns, particularly those of the UN Millennium Development Goals, such as poverty, hunger, and sickness. Much work remains to be done to measure and comparatively assess the effectiveness of ICT as an enabler of crosssectoral reconstruction and development. A qualitative research methodology is adopted to include a literature review and case studies as this chapter seeks to understand the relationship between technology, development, strategy and policy in relationship to e-Governance. The author himself has worked as an IT Specialist with the Government of Afghanistan and this chapter includes his work experience and interactions with the various Government departments and work force. The present ICT infrastructure and facilities have been examined in the study in order to seek to create an appropriate model for ICT implementation in Afghanistan. This chapter also explores different technologies, network connections, policies and strategies related to the ICT innovations to present a set of suggestions and recommendations to stakeholders for designing, implementing and evaluating the new technologies and services. The intent of this chapter is to raise awareness of the importance of the role of ICT in post-conflict state intervention and follow-on reconstruction and development. Afghanistan is used as a case study to examine and highlight, by example, successes and some of the challenges encountered in trying to rebuild a war-torn country’s telecommunica-

tions and IT infrastructure and to use it to enable e-Governance measure in other sectors.

ICT as a Sector and CrossSector Enabler ICT can be said to be both a sector and an enabler of cross-sectoral reconstruction and development. As a sector, ICT supports national capacity building and export market focus and plays a critical role in reestablishing basic economic linkages in a post-conflict region by relieving communication bottlenecks from financial, governmental, and cultural information flows. As an enabler, it supports global positioning focus and adoption of cross-sector strategies that can be used to harness the uniqueness of ICT to accelerate a wider reconstruction and development process (Wentz et al, 2008) ICTs can play a great role in the overall development process, in education, democracy and socioeconomic development (Jensen & Esterhuysen, 2001). ICTs can add to the quality of information by ensuring its accuracy, timeliness, completeness and relevancy (Kalusopa, 2005). A good example is the Internet which overcomes some of the distance and cost barriers, to provide opportunities for networking and access by information to the poor and marginalized (Proenza, 2001). New technologies can provide low cost means for many people to communicate easily whenever they like (Curtain, 2004). There is also evidence of a strong relation between telecommunication infrastructure and economic growth, especially in developing countries (Jacobsen, 2003). In brief, ICTs can provide opportunities, empowerment and security. ICTs create opportunities for the poor in terms of making the market work for them, providing them with access to health and education facilities. The new technologies can empower users to participate and use government services, and they can provide access to capital (Cecchini, 2003).

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ICT can be applied to a full range of activities from personal use to business and government, as it is pervasive and cross-cutting; and is multifunctional and flexible, allowing for tailored solutions to meet diverse needs. Using ICT, governments can improve the quality and responsiveness of their organizations as well as the services they provide to citizens by expanding reach and accessibility of services and thereby enhancing government legitimacy, transparency and efficiency. This can be facilitated through the use of e-Governance applications that provide government services and information to citizens over the Internet and other communication networks. E-Governance can also be used to help reduce corruption and enhance transparency in governance and thus offers an opportunity to positively influence attitudes of the leadership and general population (Wentz et al, 2008). ICT diminishes the digital divide by connecting individuals, local communities, and businesses with information and resources beyond their geographic boundaries, encouraging information dissemination and exchange as well as communication. In post-conflict regions and hostile environments, where it is dangerous for Government officials and regional leaders to travel for meetings, ICT can connect them over videoconferencing/ audio conferencing. Proper information services can be provided to local communities, to counter insurgent propaganda. Health care is one of the most promising areas for poverty alleviation with ICTs, based largely as it is on information resources and knowledge. ICTs are being used in developing countries to facilitate remote consultation, diagnosis, and treatment. Health workers in under-developed and developing countries are accessing relevant medical training through ICT enabled delivery mechanisms. Several new malaria Internet sites for health professionals include innovative “teachand-test” self-assessment modules. In addition, centralized data repositories connected to ICT networks enable remote health care profession-

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als to keep abreast of the rapidly evolving stock of medical knowledge. When applied to disease prevention and epidemic response efforts, ICT can provide considerable benefits and capabilities. Public broadcast media such as radio and television have a long history of effectively facilitating the dissemination of public health messages and disease prevention techniques in developing countries. The Internet can also be utilized to improve disease prevention by enabling more effective monitoring and response mechanisms (Harris and Roger, 2004). Mortality can be greatly reduced by deploying appropriate ICT enabled systems in emergency medical care, as has proven from examples in many developed countries. ICT is being used today in many developing countries to enable good governance. E-governance is an area of ICT use that shows rapidly increasing promise for alleviating the powerlessness, voicelessness, vulnerability and fear dimensions of poverty. Where national or local governments have taken positive steps to spread democracy and inclusion to the poor, ICTs have dramatically demonstrated how they can be used to facilitate the process. The effect can be to break down traditional patterns of exclusion, opaqueness, inefficiency and neglect in public interactions with government officials (Bhatnagar, 2002). ICTs can simultaneously be a threat and an opportunity to a culture. On the one hand, ICTs threaten to engulf indigenous minorities in the relentless processes of globalization. On the other hand, ICTs can be used as tools to help indigenous minorities to engage positively with globalization on their own terms. The concern at this stage is that the former is more likely to happen than the latter. ICTs alone will not achieve cultural diversity. As with all successful applications of ICTs, adaptations in the behavior of individuals, groups and institutions are necessary before significant cultural benefits can emerge from the deployment of ICTs (Harris & Roger, 2004). In developing nations a vast majority of poor people live in rural areas and derive their liveli-

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

hoods directly or indirectly from agriculture, so support for farming is a high priority for rural development. ICTs can deliver useful information to farmers in the form of crop care and animal husbandry, fertilizer and feedstock inputs, drought mitigation, pest control, irrigation, weather forecasting, seed sourcing and market prices. Other uses of ICTs can enable farmer to participate in advocacy and cooperative activities. Implementation and extension of voice and Internet services to the under-developed areas is not a technology issue. Technology is an enabler. The challenges are assessment of the community needs and constraints of the environment; development of a strategy and plans for providing service; identification of an appropriate portfolio of ICT capability packages to employ; and finding the funding to invest in public-sector initiatives and enable local entrepreneurs while providing incentives to the private sector to extend needed ICT services to rural areas (Wentz et al, 2008).

has the potential to improve the performance of public institutions and make them more transparent and responsive; facilitate strategic connections in government by creating joined-up administrations in which users can access information and services via portals or ‘one-stop-shops’; and empower civil-society organizations (CSOs) and citizens by making knowledge and other resources more directly accessible. The concept of E-governance describes the convergence between these two trends, resulting in new ways of governing via new information and communication channels. E-governance offers the prospect of at least ten major administrative and democratic improvements (Coleman):

E-Governance: Why it Matters?

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Throughout the world, the work of government is being re-shaped by two ineluctable trends. The first trend is the movement away from centralized, vertical and hierarchical government machines towards polycentric networks of governance based upon horizontal interactions between diverse actors within complex, dynamic and multi-layered societies (Kooiman, 2002). Governance entails governments co-governing with a range of organizations, public, private and voluntary, in what Bryson and Crosby have called it a ‘shared power, no-one in charge, interdependent world. (Bryson & Crosby, 1993). Secondly, there has been the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) which can transform the generation and delivery of public services, thereby reconfiguring relationships between the government and its citizens (G2C), governments and businesses (G2B) as well as within and between governments (G2G.) E-governance

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Cheaper and more effective management and processing of information; government; A freer flow of information between departments, agencies and layers within government; More professional administrators, supported by standardized, electronically-embedded decision-making systems; The routine provision of services according to impersonal rules, as opposed to more formal clienteles-arrangements; Transparency, particularly in relation to the procurement of government services; Opportunities to work in partnership with the private sector in modernizing governmental processes; Free flow of information between government and citizens; The strengthening of intermediary democratic institutions, such as parliaments, local governments, civil-society organizations (CSOs) and independent media; Opportunities for citizens to participate more directly in policy development; Opportunities to combine traditional and modern methods of accountability

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Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

Figure 1. Depicting “Curve of conflict” illustrating the phases of conflict (below curve) and corresponding third-party interventions (above curve). Source: U.S. Institute of Peace.

Challenges Faced by Conflict States Governance is the key institution for the delivery of services to local communities and for the nurturing of democratic practices in any state. However, governments in many developing and transitional countries tend to be ill-prepared and financially ill-equipped to perform all the functions and responsibilities assigned to them. In addition, armed conflicts are central elements affecting the capacities of local governments as providers of services and as schools of civic behavior. The capacities of local government, to deliver, can be seriously affected by crises created by armed conflict, as demonstrated in Afghanistan. Unlike most conflicts during the World War II and cold war era, armed conflicts today are being driven by new actors and new factors such as: religious extremism; social instability and failing states; economic and social disparities resulting from rapid development (e.g., in China and India); competition for resources, most obviously for petroleum and water, but also for diamonds, drugs, and other resources; weak international organizations resulting from the disintegration of superpowers (e.g., the Soviet Union) and colonial empires; and competition for weapons, particularly

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nuclear weapons, as international controls over proliferation become less effective (Arenberg and Pearson, 2008). Post-conflict, low-capacity environments pose particular challenges, because there is often a combination of political and cultural environment, conflict scars, disorganization of public structures and the damages inflicted to the country’s infrastructure, making the challenges significantly more complex and difficult. The aftermath of most armed conflicts typically takes a heavy toll on a country’s infrastructure such as roads, energy generation, water supplies, telecommunications, maritime ports, and airports. What little infrastructure existed before the conflict is damaged or completely destroyed as a result of the open violence and takes a long time, immense financial resources and a lot of hard work to rebuild. While it may take only moments to destroy a power plant or a telecommunications exchange, it can take years to rebuild it in low-capacity contexts. Postconflict, low-capacity countries have immediate needs for food, health, sanitation, electricity, roads, etc. At the same time, they also have a need to integrate basic financial management functions and responsibilities into a system that will both support more transparency of management of

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

public funds while also contributing to reduce and/or eliminate corruption (Arenberg and Pearson, 2008). The low capacity of local governance in regions affected by armed conflict is dismal. Often the lack of those capacities is used as a justification for the long-term deployment of national or international institutions for the delivery of basic services and the organization of reconstruction and recovery initiatives. Recovery and strengthening of capacities of local government is not paid due attention. This affects long-term sustainability in the provision of services and undermines legitimacy of local governments and authorities Vis a Vis international institutions. It is necessary to better understand the common challenges faced by the governments in post-conflict situations, for the performance of its two basic functions – delivery of services and local decision-making. At the same time it seems relevant to analyze recent experiences in buildingup capacities of government in post-conflict situations, from other parts of the world and to distil lessons. Particularly with regards to a critical entry point for the development of local governance in post-conflict, in general, the early recovery phase. A systematization of such knowledge and experience will improve capacities for the provision of effective assistance to strengthen capacities of local governments in post-conflict countries by international organizations (Fabra et al, 2008). Key identifiable issues for the strengthening of governance in post-conflict environment (Fabra et al, 2008) •

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Political context: Local government development involves locating power and decision-making, which makes it a highly political issue. Political economy in postconflict environments is generally characterized by weak formal institutions, but extremely strong informal institutions. Development of governance in post conflict environments requires good un-

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derstanding of the relevant political context. Traditional technical solutions to the strengthening of local government do not always pay sustainable and unquestionable dividends and this trend should be understood/ approached by undertaking a thorough political analysis. Central-local government relations are as important, as they are often characterized by misunderstanding, miscommunication and mistrust amongst the various actors. There is an absence of appropriate legal frameworks regulating these relationships in many instances. The politics of centre-periphery requires special attention to rebuild the state in post conflict contexts. One irony of decentralization has been its requirement for a better central government to undertake oversight and strategy rather than processing. Decentralization is not just about strengthening local governments. Rebuild or reform? One of the major decisions to be undertaken is whether to rebuild or redesign government systems in post conflict situations. Consideration should be given to analyze the conflict dynamics and the political economy in the local context. Realistically, the decision is also influenced by several issues such as culture and values, availability of skilled personnel, ideology or visions of leaders and their personal interests, the degree of political stability and often the nature of external assistance and funding. Sequence and the how-to. Little consensus exists when studying the sequence of local government reform, the how-todesign the system and develop its institutional structures in post-conflict contexts. Generally, issues of humanitarian assistance and security take immediate precedence over central and local governance reforms. Significant evidence exists high-

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lighting the need to start building local government capacities as early as possible in the post-conflict period. Legitimacy needs to be built. There is generally utter chaos involving territory legitimacy in post-conflict states. This is often a result of decades of weak governance and a lack of a ‘social contract’ between states and citizens due to corruption, low taxation, and poor political representation as well as abuse of military power. Some of the questions without clear answers are: What is local level legitimacy built upon? How can de jure local authorities improve their legitimacy? How can they reduce the legitimacy of other actors? How can central government support and regulate new local governments? Lack of finance continues to be a major issue. Severe lack of financial resources is common complaint by local governments in post conflict environments. Finance as a major cause of tension in local-central relations and the lack of finance can be linked to the lack of local government legitimacy and efficiency. Critically, fiscal-decentralization is frequently the single most important obstacle to good central-local government relations. Participation to be encouraged. There are many barriers to active local participation. Local government is generally regarded to be a pivotal vehicle for widespread popular political participation. Engaging a civil society in local government business is critical for success, but there are significant barriers to participation in post-conflict contexts. These include social fragmentation, psychological fracturing and physical devastation. In addition, people’s focus on immediate needs overshadows the necessity for civil society participation. Security and Crime. Post conflict states are generally infected with resistance and

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armed militia. In regions outside the main capital area where government control is weak, these groups continue with minimal interference. This dimension is overlooked in practice by the local government, in regard to bringing security in these regions. Due to weaknesses in governance organized crime is rife in post conflict contexts. Criminal activity gives rise to significant resource flows that underpin the control of warlords and strong men. Local government need to effectively tackle organized crime, drug and human trafficking, extortion, corruption, sexual violence, etc. ‘One-size-fits-all’ policy prescriptions do not work in general, and particularly in post-conflict contexts. The international community needs to ‘tread carefully’ in post conflict contexts, and tailor their interventions to the local social, political and economic context, taking note of informal and traditional institutions as well as the formal. Generalizations on how to work on local government in post conflict contexts need to be analyzed with caution. There is a need to avoid being misled into thinking post conflict means there’s a ‘clean slate’. Even when there’s a dramatic regime change (for example in Afghanistan) past economic, social, cultural and political circumstances must be taken into consideration.

BACKGROUND: AFGHANISTAN Brief Introduction to the Country Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the Asia’s center. It is variously designated as geographically located within Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It has religious, ethno-linguistic, and geographic links

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

Figure 2. Afghanistan overview map (Wikipedia contributors)

with most of its neighboring states. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast. The name Afghanistan means the “Land of Afghans”. Afghanistan continues to astonish and captivate the world with the resilience of its people and culture. Throughout two decades of conflict, Afghanistan has survived a Soviet invasion and occupation; superpower proxy warfare; a nasty internecine civil war; political and military tinkering by powerful neighbors; an Islamic fundamentalist regime led by the Taliban, which devolved into a global terrorist client state; five consecutive years of extreme drought; and the military firepower of the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom. Roads, electric power plants, hospitals, schools, irrigation and telecommunications infrastructure, sparsely developed before the quarter century of destruction, were in ruins by the time the Taliban were ousted in December 2001. Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest and least developed nations. One in five children dies before the age of 5, mostly of preventable diseases. Life expectancy is about 42 years for males and

43 for females. The literacy rate is 36 percent in urban areas (51 percent for males and 21 percent for (females) and even lower in rural areas. About 32 percent of the children are in school, but only 3 percent of girls attend school. Many girls schools have been target for arson and teachers and families of the school-going girls have been threatened or even murdered by insurgents (Wentz et al, 2008). Poverty and unemployment still remains widespread. Currently about 40 percent of the population is unemployed. The lack of skilled workers and administrators is also a pressing problem for labor. The Afghan economy largely depends on poppy cultivation and production of illicit drugs. Ninety percent of the world’s opium is derived from Afghanistan, which has raised concerns that the country is in danger of becoming a full fledged narcotics state. A growing insurgency is fueled by the booming narcotics trade.

Governance and Economy Government and politics in Afghanistan have historically consisted of power struggles, bloody coups and unstable transfers of power. With the

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exception of a military junta, the country has been governed by nearly every other known system of government over the past century, including a monarchy, republic, theocracy and communist state. The constitution ratified in 2003 restructured the government as an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, (executive, legislature and judiciary). Afghanistan is currently led by President Hamid Karzai, who was initially elected in October 2004 regained power in the 2009 election. The President is supported by two Vice Presidents, one senior minister and 27 ministers. The current Parliament was elected in 2009. The President, who appoints the Vice Presidents and the ministers, exercises executive power. Legislative power rests with the Supreme Court, which is a permanent judicial institution. Afghanistan is administratively divided into thirty-four (34) provinces (Welayats), and for each province there is a capital. Each province is then divided into many provincial districts, and each district normally covers a city or several townships. Kabul, the capital, is located in east central Afghanistan at an elevation of about 5,900 feet. The major economic centers of Afghanistan are Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Khost, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Kunduz. The population of the country is around 30 million (16 million females/14 million males), and 45 percent are under the age of 15 years. About 22 percent live in urban areas—more than 3 million live in Kabul. The constitution established an independent judiciary, but no laws may be passed that are contrary to Islamic law (Shari’a). Law is administered on an intermittent basis according to a mixture of codified law, Shari’a, and local customs. Afghanistan’s economy is inherently dependent on donor financial support. Unfortunately, it lags far behind other post-conflict societies in terms of per capita donor spending. According to CARE, per capita assistance for Afghanistan totaled USD 67 during 2002-03.

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Security The security situation in Afghanistan is assessed by most analysts as having deteriorated at a constant rate through year 2008 and year 2009. Statistics show that although the numbers of incidents are higher than comparable periods in 2007, they show the same seasonal pattern. The nature of the incidents has however changed considerably since 2002-2007, with high numbers of armed clashes in the field giving way to a combination of armed clashes and asymmetric attacks countrywide. The Afghan National Police (ANP) has become a primary target of insurgents and intimidation of all kinds has increased against the civilian population, especially those perceived to be in support of the government, international military forces as well as the humanitarian and development community (UNAMA, 2007). ICT infrastructure in Afghanistan hasn’t experienced any major attacks from insurgents, probably because the insurgents use it, too. Some criminal elements have been known to steal ICT equipment, especially at isolated, remote sites. Private-sector estimates depict that security costs involved in guarding and protecting ICT facilities are on the order of 20-25 percent of the cost of doing business. In the past ICT contractors have had staff kidnapped, murdered and threatened. Security threats are a significant deterrent for contractors, consultants, government workers, and related reconstruction and development activities, especially in the provinces along the Pakistan border where ICT reconstruction largely came to a halt at the end of 2006. Getting local Afghan nationals to work for International organizations and institutions is a problem in rural and far flung areas due to constant threat from local militia (Wentz et al, 2008).

ICT: Initiatives and Success Stories in Afghanistan Afghanistan has risen from the Taliban era to the present day with many initiatives and success sto-

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

ries to its credit. During the Taliban era, the only communications capabilities were over 100 VSAT nodes (providing access to International voice and Internet service) operated by NGOs and the UN and the Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) phones. For some time, the VSAT nodes and satellite phones were the only means for accessing international communications and long distance communications within Afghanistan, and they are still used to a lesser extent today. Due to high operation costs, the satellite phones were (and are) not used by the common Afghan: the phones themselves are expensive and satellite-based phone calls frequently run over a USD 1per minute for a voice call and over USD 5 per minute for low data rate calls. The GMPCS users tend to be foreign military; national government elements, such as Embassies and national aid organizations; IOs, NGOs, and foreign business representatives. GMPCS phones that have been used are Globalstar, Iridium, Thuraya, and INMARSAT (Wentz et al, 2008). The following ICTs Policies have been initialized by the Government of Afghanistan (GOA) in order to be implemented in a fair and competitive environment (Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Policy, Ministry of Communications, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2003): 1. Government Services: Recognizing the importance of ICTs as a vital tool for improving Government services, the GOA will actively use ICTs to provide healthcare, social services, and citizen’s services. 2. Infrastructure & Convergence: The importance of infrastructure development to Afghanistan cannot be overstated. Recognizing the convergence among telephony, data transmission and broadcast technologies and networks, the GOA while undertaking rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and the building of new infrastructure will promote systems that accommodate convergence of various technologies and

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

networks and will promote the integration of technologies in order to maximize the use of infrastructure. Development: Recognizing that information and communication are vital to the development of all other sectors, the GOA declares the ICTs sector a priority sector. This prioritization includes designating the Ministry of Communications and IT as the leading Government entity responsible for ICTs and developing a National Information and Communication Technology Council of Afghanistan (NICTCA). Investment: Keeping in view the important role that the private sector will play in the development of ICTs and to create an environment conducive to investment from the private sector, including foreign direct investment (FDI), the GOA will provide a favorable investment and taxation environment including but not limited to reduced import duties and taxes levied on profits. e-Government: Recognizing the importance of government efficiency the GOA will undertake computerization of all central governmental entities by the year 2005. The GOA will enhance its effectiveness by using e-government technology and by establishing a national data centre. Education & Training: Recognizing the importance of building a skilled workforce capable of understanding, entering and benefiting from the digital age, the GOA through the Ministry of Communications and IT, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and associated institutions will promote effective ICTs training courses at secondary and tertiary level and will build partnerships with the private sector to implement corporate training facilities. e-Commerce: To foster the capacity to trade goods and services by electronic means the GOA will draft appropriate legislation and will establish the necessary mechanisms to

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create the sector including protecting the rights of consumers and the interests of providers. Key performance indicators for the Telecom and IT sector have been identified and the targets for the Year 2005, 2007 and 2009 for these indicators are given in the Table 1 (Ministry of Communications, GOA, Five year development plan, 2005-2009).

Telecom Afghan Telecom Network and Services Afghanistan has transformed its telecommunications from a fragmented system serving few people to a modern one putting Afghans in touch with one another and with the global economy— all in just a few years. To enable public ICT reconstruction and development, The World Bank and USAID provided the MCIT funding to help create a government and public communications network to provide voice, fax, and Internet services, national and International calling access to provinces and districts, and video teleconferencing (VTC) services to provincial governors. Funding included an international satellite gateway in Kabul to access global voice, data, and Internet

services. The World Bank invested USD16.8 million to develop the government communications network (GCN) and another USD 3.7 million to rehabilitate the International Satellite Gateway in Kabul. The GCN provides International voice and Internet access and communications services to support governance to the provincial capital level, i.e. governors and key administration elements, including in some cases police chiefs. USAID invested USD 14.2 million to develop the district communications network (DCN) to extend voice and Internet access to the district level for use by local government officials and the local population. GCN and DCN serve to enable good governance at the provincial and district levels by helping remote communities and government offices throughout Afghanistan communicate effectively with each other and the world (The World Bank website, Afghanistan country profile). Only 337 of Afghanistan’s 365 districts have been funded to receive DCN nodes. By early 2007, only a few more than 200 of the 337 funded district sites had been commissioned and were connected by a VSAT star network configuration. The network offers district-level access to phone, fax, and Internet services. At each DCN node, a telekiosk arrangement provides access to five phones, five workstations with Internet access, and a fax machine. The DCN links operate at roughly

Table 1. Indicator

2005

2007

2009

Fixed Telephones Penetration

0.5%

2.00%

4.00%

3%

8.00%

16.00%

Internet User Penetration

0.25%

3.00%

10.00%

Number of Cities/Towns/ Villages connected

180

3000

6000

Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (M /USD)

500

1000

2000

Telecom Direct Employment

6000

10000

15000

Indirect Employment

12000

25000

35000

Mobile Phones Penetration

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256 Kbps but could be engineered for higher data rates. Since there is no national power grid, diesel generators and batteries power the DCN nodes and related ICT equipment. The DCN sites are located near district centers to enable the local population to make voice calls within Afghanistan or internationally and access the Internet. A small fee is charged for these services, typically 1 Afghani per minute for calls within the district, 5 Afghanis per minute between districts, and 25 Afghanis per minute for international calls; Internet access is 20-30 Afghanis per hour. The exchange rate is about 50 Afghani to one U.S. dollar (Wentz et al, 2008). In 2005 the President approved a telecommunications law establishing an independent regulator, the Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA), by merging the Telecommunications Regulatory Board and the State Radio Inspection Department of the Ministry of Communications. The MCIT and Afghan Telecom have proposed exploring low-cost and low-power solutions for the rural area, referred to as the Village Communications Network (VCN), since rural area ICT coverage is essentially non-existent today in Afghanistan. It is envisioned that the VCN would be an extension of access to DCN voice and Internet services for the rural areas and that low-cost ICT capability packages would be employed to interconnect with the DCN network. MCIT has set up “telekiosks” in nine post offices in Kabul, offering basic computer training and Internet and email service to customers. Estimates suggest that the telecommunications sector today directly or indirectly employs as many as 20,000 people in Afghanistan. And the revenues of MCIT have been increasing at a phenomenal rate, growing by an average of almost 200 percent a year in 2002–05 to reach USD 66.3 million (Bhatia and Gupta, 2006).

Public Fixed Line and Wireless Local Loop Services After the 3 decades of war in 2002, there were only 2 telephones for every 1,000 Afghans, and communicating between provinces was almost impossible, even for the government. Today there are more than a million mobile subscribers with national and global access. The credit goes to the government. Recognizing that telecommunications would be crucial to rebuilding the country, the government acted quickly to promote private entry—and mobile operators responded. This experience demonstrates that even in a poor, wartorn environment the right policy and regulatory framework can lead to rapid rollout of competitive wireless services. The government has approved a sector development action plan; put in place a progressive policy and regulatory roadmap; and attracted an estimated USD130 million in private investment. Afghanistan has an estimated 85,000 working telephone main lines for a population of approximately 25 million. This equates to a teledensity of about 0.34 main lines per 100 population; one of the lowest levels in the world.

Private-Sector GSM Networks and Services As early as December 2001, private-sector efforts began to build a phone system in a country still emerging from more than two decades of war. Battling logistical problems, political instability, and physical insecurity, the Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC) launched a new wireless operation in April 2002 in Kabul with plans to quickly extend to four additional cities (Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, and Jalalabad) by the end of the year. An international gateway was established to provide international phone service, and during the April 6, 2002, ceremony to launch the GSM network. The customer base grew to more than 2 million subscribers and is still growing. Of the four

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independent networks, AWCC and Roshan are nationwide and the other two plan to be so. AWCC has about 900,000 subscribers and the most extensive terrestrial microwave network. Roshan has invested over USD 240 million in Afghanistan and is the country’s single largest investor and taxpayer, contributing approximately 6 percent of the Afghan Government’s overall revenue. In the 2002 timeframe, phones cost more than USD 400 and airtime averaged USD 3 a minute. The prices for mobile service dropped about 70 percent between September 2003 and March 2005. In the 2006 timeframe, the cost of phones was around USD 35 and airtime charges were roughly 10–15 cents per minute, dropping to 5 cents per minute in off-peak periods. Today, the cost of calls to other networks has come down from 30 cents per minute to 9 cents and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card prices have come down from USD 30 to USD 5. The GSM providers offer short message service (SMS), and Roshan offers web-based management of SMS text distribution. Roshan is deeply committed to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and socio-economic development and has tested and plans to offer General Radio Packet System (GRPS) service that enables customers to plug their laptop into the cell phone and browse the internet, check email, and send data. They offer low-margin public call office (PCO) service to benefit more remote and less affluent sections of society. In some places women’s groups and former soldiers have been able to establish PCOs to provide phone services for people without telephones. Additionally, Roshan has tested the mobile commerce service offered by Vodafone’s M-PESA mobile remittance transfer service, which enables mobile phone subscribers to transfer money to other mobile users via SMS text messaging. They also are exploring with ATRA and the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB, Central Bank of Afghanistan) licensing cell phones for electronic cash transfers. Other cell phone techniques are being developed that use SIM cards and text

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messaging to swap airtime for goods and services (Wentz et al, 2008).

Internet Private Internet Cafes and ISPs The lifting of the ban on Internet usage has been one of the most welcome changes in the post Taliban scenario. The Taliban accused the Internet of being a wayward medium promoting obscenity, immorality and illicit material. It is really ironical to note, therefore, that something denounced as a crime now plays a big role in getting Afghanistan back on track. On March 10, 2003, Afghanistan went live on the Web with the official country domain.af (dot af), gaining legal and technical control of the ‘dot-af’ domain for Afghan Web sites and email addresses. In July, 2002, the first Internet café was opened in the country, opening the gates of the World Wide Web to liberated Afghans. The café was the brainchild of an Afghan emigrant living in New York. Aimed mainly at foreign businessmen who have invested in the country and those who have returned to Afghanistan from abroad, the move was engineered by the Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC)—the country’s first Internet service provider (ISP).

ICT Support to CrossSector Reconstruction Health Care Private companies and contractors are using their own VSAT networks to support business communications and information exchange needs of the offices located all over Afghanistan. United Nations and NGOs have their own VSAT networks to manage more than 100 VSAT-based sites to support their communications and information exchange needs. International Organizations and NGOs have all the means to employ innovative

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

uses of telecommunications and IT to enable sector development, such as healthcare and education. Partners in Technology International (PACTEC), an NGO in the healthcare arena has implemented a VSAT link, associated LAN and workstations throughout the Cure International Hospital in Kabul to provide doctors, nurses, and other medical staff Internet access for research and reference material, as well as to facilitate lab work and access to subject matter experts for consultation, and provide other electronic-Healthcare (e-Healthcare) uses. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) with medical diagnostic software tools have been provided as well and are being used by doctors to diagnose patient symptoms and prescribe medications and treatments.

Education NGOs and International Organizations have supplied workstations, LAN, and VSAT equipments to provide Internet access for the Journalism Lab at Khost University. A CISCO Academy is also located on the same campus and has separate VSAT, LAN, and workstations to support IT training. Situations like this are ideal opportunities for the aid organizations such as USAID, UN, or NGOs to consider funding an arrangement to leverage capabilities on campus and provide Internet access for the broader student population. There are partnership and e-Alliance programs between Kabul University and universities in the United States and other off-shore institutions that are part of the Afghanistan eLearning and capacity building programs. The San Diego-Jalalabad Sister City program supports efforts to equip Nangarhar University and Medical School and elementary and middle schools in Jalalabad with computer labs and Internet access.

Banking Most of the 12 commercial banks licensed to operate in Afghanistan are concentrated in Kabul and

provide services primarily to international donors and businesses, foreign NGOs, and foreign government agencies. International funds transfers via SWIFT have been available through the Central Bank since July 2003. Commercial banks are currently offering International Funds Transfers, some using their own facilities and others using the Da Afghanistan Bank’s (Central Bank) capabilities. Domestic transfers can be arranged throughout 32 provinces in Afghanistan through the Afghan Funds Transfer System (AFTS). Although relatively new, AFTS has been successfully tested and DAB Kabul is now sending and receiving domestic funds transfers on a daily basis. In spite of the continuing high risk security environment and lack of broader public access to nationwide banking, MCIT/ATRA, the DAB, and the private sector are exploring alternative means for financial transactions, such as the use of cell phones for electronic funds transfer, GCash, e-Wallet solutions, and mobile commerce. Such capabilities could revolutionize economic and social development by offering people a means to swap SIM card credit for goods and services or initiate money transfers using SMS text messaging. New capabilities could be used to automatically pay defense personnel and police in remote locations.

Judiciary The judicial system is exploring e-Solutions and databases and the Ministries are exploring the use of e-Government. A National Data Centre (NDC) is being planned to archive national information records to support and be available to government entities. The Afghan Parliament recently urged the government to accelerate the process of creating a National Identity Card and National Passports, with special focus on decentralizing the application and issuing processes. Other examples of interest in government services to be provided include: record keeping and operations for foreign trade; government pension beneficiaries; utility billing;

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central bank, population, and demographic databases; and national statistical databases (Wentz et al, 2008).

Capacity Building of Human Resources There has been an enormous loss of skilled professionals from Afghanistan over the last two and half decades of the civil war in the country. Afghanistan has either lost such people or they were forced to leave the country because of the political situation. Empowering the capacity building of Human Resources is one of the government’s high priority and most attentive project in Afghanistan. The priority is to start with initial funds available at provincial and capital level, which is the key to the development of the capacity of civil servants; therefore, further support to above is needed to allow them to continue providing these muchneeded services. USAID, UNDP, World Bank, and other organizations have rehabilitated the MCIT Telecoms Training Center, upgrading it to a modern ICT Institute, and establishing 12 MCIT ICT training centers and six CISCO networking academies around the country to train Afghans in the use of computers and IT. The first batch of students entered in 2007 and enrollment is set to produce 50 engineers annually. Three more CISCO academies were planned to be added up in 2007.

Public and Private-Sector Transmission Networks The Government of Afghanistan (GOA) awarded ZTE Corp a contract at the end of 2006 for a national fiber optic network along the national ring road that connects the major population centers (Kabul-Ghazni- Kandahar-Heart-MazarSamangan-Baghlan-Kabul) around Afghanistan. Since Afghanistan is a mountainous country, 75 percent of the country is covered with mountains that make it difficult to depend on a telecom in-

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frastructure based on fiber optics or wire or cable options. The best solution for Afghanistan will be to have a combination of fiber optics, satellite communication, wireless, and wired communication infrastructures. Taking into account the needs and importance of providing connectivity to the population and governmental offices, the government plans to temporary connect all its 34 provinces through a satellite network that will provide high capacity communications for voice, data, Internet and to provide a common infrastructure for 58 government departments including banking, interior, education, mining and health (Noorzai, 2006).

Cyber Security and Electric Power Challenges With the advent of ICT in Afghanistan, cyber security is an essential component of developing information based services, such as those to be incorporated in the Ministries and National Data Center. The proposed ICT law is envisioned to address the regulatory requirements for digital signature, cyber crimes, and data protection, which is essential for the development of secure e-commerce, e-health, e-education, and e-government like services. Afghanistan suffers from an acute electric power shortage for its ICT infrastructure and equipment, in rural as well as urban areas. Generators are currently the primary power source for ICT equipment with battery backup. A combination of generators, solar power units and battery backup power the 24x7 operational private cellular networks. Government Communication Networks (GCNs) are also power by the same combination. Designers, providers, and users of ICT have not paid sufficient attention to the use of energy efficient ICT equipment, such as laptops versus desktop workstations or power savings procedures to reduce the demands for power. Since Afghanistan has no national power grid, a need exists to explore the use of a mix of alter-

Implementing ICT for Governance in a Post-Conflict Nation

native power sources to reduce pollution caused by generators which are costly to operate and maintain. Alternative power sources such as solar, small-wind, and micro-hydro are being explored.

A Continuing Success Story The fact that most of the existing infrastructure in Afghanistan was either antiquated or broken meant that Afghanistan was free to abandon them and essentially start again from scratch. In 2003, the obvious choice for personal communications was wireless. Global standards for wireless mobile meant that the equipment was reliable, cheap and could be deployed rapidly. Afghanistan’s ICT has proven to be a major success growing from essentially nothing to over 2.5 million subscribers in four years. A report from telecom licensees indicates that the ICT market in Afghanistan is growing faster now than any time in its history, and still accelerating. In January 2007, the three mobile networks were adding 100,000 net subscribers per month – and by August 2007, close to 180,000 were being added per month (as a fourth licensee entered the market). It is estimated that approximately 70% of Afghans now live within a coverage area of a telecommunications network (ICT Sector Strategy (Draft Ver.), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2007). This represents a telephone penetration rate of 8 percent, a milestone that took India and Pakistan over 10 years to achieve. The ICT sector has generated more foreign investment, high-quality jobs, and new tax revenue than any other legitimate sector. From 2003 to 2007, approximately USD 800 million has been invested by the private sector into the ICT sector of Afghanistan. According to numerous studies by the World Bank and other observers, this is by far the largest investment into the licit economy. MCIT estimates that an additional USD 750 million will be invested by the end of 2010. MCIT has been working extensively with both the donor community and the private sector

since 2002. The primary donor relationship has been with USAID and the World Bank, but there have also been projects and activities supported by the ITU, UNDP, JICA and the Governments of China, India, Iran and Korea. If aid effectiveness is measured on the basis of return on investment, then the role of the donors in the rapid development of the ICT in Afghanistan can only be deemed to be exceptionally high. The MCIT estimates the telecommunications sector today directly and indirectly employs some 40,000 people in Afghanistan—over 8,000 jobs are direct employment by telecom companies and the rest, indirect jobs in the form of sales channels, subcontractors, and telecom services companies. For the government fiscal year that ended on 20 March 2007, the ICT sector contributed approximately 20% of all government receipts to the treasury of Afghanistan. The ICT sector is heavily taxed, because it is law-abiding and is highly visible. The main elements of the contributions are (ICT Sector Strategy (Draft Ver.), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2007): • • •

Business Receipts Tax = 10% Spectrum Fees = 2% Telecom Development Fund = 2.5%

Revenues from the telecom sector make up about 12 percent of total government revenues— rising from less than USD 20,000 in 2002 to more than USD 100 million in 2006 (issuing two GSM licenses brought in over USD 80 million alone). By 2010 the government aims to ensure that more than 80 percent of the Afghans have access to telecommunications services—current MCIT estimates suggest that 50–60 percent of Afghans now live within a coverage area of the Afghan ICT network with the ability to have access. It also is estimated that the number of cellular subscribers will grow by about 100,000 per month, increasing from approximately 2 million in 2006 to more than 5 million in 2010, and that the ICT sector

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will contribute more than USD 200 million a year in public revenues (Wentz et al, 2008). A National ICT Council of Afghanistan (NICTCA) has been created to facilitate coordination of ICT actions of all government sectors. With the creation of the NICTCA, the MCIT has taken on the role of the National Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Ministry reps to the council the roles of Ministry CIOs. An Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) was created to coordinate between different private and public organizations concerned with IT/ICT. Professional ICT societies have been established to improve social networking among the public and private elements. Organizations established include the Afghan Computer Science Association (ACSA), National ISP Association of Afghanistan (NISPAA), and the National ICT Association of Afghanistan (NICTAA). A Kabul chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) was established in June 2007 and will serve to further the improvement of military, public, and private social networking in the ICT area.

Community Radio Radio and television have demonstrated impressive results in providing information services to the broader population. Initiatives to extend radio and TV throughout Afghanistan are being implemented. Like ICT, initial efforts have been focused on Kabul and other urban areas, and reaching people in remote areas remains a challenge. For rural areas, where there is no power and the literacy rate is extremely low, radio offers an easy means to communicate useful information about healthcare; local, regional, national, and international news; the weather; educational opportunities; jobs and business opportunities; and government services. Most Afghans have access to radio receivers and are accustomed to using

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radio as a source of news, information, education, and entertainment. Community radio is already in place in a number of rural Afghanistan areas. Efforts need to be accelerated to provide broader rural area access to radio-based information services, and expanding community radio is an approach well-worthy to be considered.

ICT: Lessons Learnt from Afghanistan Afghanistan has shown significant strides in its Telecommunications and IT sector if we compare the damage inflicted upon the country in the last 23 years of war. Bridging the digital divide in Afghanistan has possible through the right mix of right people at the right place, high level of International participation and assistance and the willingness as well as expertise of the people at the top to make reasonable decisions and take actions to make things happen. Some of the critical steps taken by the Government of Afghanistan in this step are as follows (ICT Sector Strategy (Draft Ver.), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2007): Providing Strategic Leadership to the ICT Sector. In February 2007, the Government renamed Ministry of Communications as the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT), realizing the role of information and communications technology (ICT) sector in accelerating Afghanistan’s full participation in the global Information Society. MCIT is supposed to provide strategic leadership to ICT sector development, and it will act as the focal point for all of the stakeholders to help shape future policies and to promote large-scale projects. Stakeholders & Strategic Channels. Government of Afghanistan has explicitly acknowledged the role of ICT Council in the MCIT and has outlined the following objectives for it to accomplish:

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•

•

•

•

Promotion of ICT development ◦◦ Create awareness in the ministries and public about the importance of ICT ◦◦ Encourage implementation of required ICT solutions and systems in each Ministry through CIO (Chief Information Officer) Culture ◦◦ Make ICT as a cross-cutting tool to support the Afghanistan National Development System. Coordination of ICT Activities ◦◦ Create awareness about existing situation of ICT in the country ◦◦ Coordinate new activities among ministries and/or donors ◦◦ Avoid duplications and waste of resources Policies and Standards for ICT ◦◦ Establish Policies and procedures ◦◦ Establish the Legal framework for ICT ◦◦ Create ICT standards ◦◦ Establish proper procedures for data integrity, security and access ◦◦ Ensure Privacy protection ◦◦ Create Emergency preparedness E-Government initiatives ◦◦ Develop strategic plan for e-Government ◦◦ Promote e-Government to deliver services effectively, reduce bureaucracy and fight corruption ◦◦ Ensure interoperability of systems and solutions

The ICT ecosystem is characterized by stakeholders and relationship channels. For example, an inter-Ministerial electronic personnel and payroll system is an example of a Government-to-Government (G2G) channel. Electronic procurement is an example of G2B. Ultimately, as the ICT market matures, it will resemble a matrix of relationships, as in Table 2 (ICT Sector Strategy (Draft Ver.), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2007): These relationships are already well understood and it will be the task of the ICT Council to foster their development in Afghanistan. Several logical high-priority starter programs have already been identified and marked for implementation by the Government of Afghanistan. The ICT sector is already the most heavily taxed, primarily because it is comprised of the largest law-abiding enterprises in Afghanistan, and therefore an easy target for collections. As more licensees enter the legitimate market, great care should be given to reduce – not increase – the burden on the sector. A World Bank study is being prepared which will provide guidance to the ICT Council and ultimately the cabinet, on improving the tax regime to avoid killing this nascent industry which is providing vast economic benefits in terms of employment and development. With the new telecom infrastructure e.g. Fiber optic ring and national data centre, new business like call centers will spur in the sector contributing to the government revenues. The establishment of national data center and implementation of e-Government, e-Commerce, m-Commerce, eHealth (telemedicine) towards the end of 2010 will enable afghan to enjoy the information age (ICT

Table 2. Government

Government

Citizen

Business

Education

G2G

G2C AND G4C

G2B

G2E

Citizen Business Education

C2C B2G

B2B E2C

E2E

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Sector Strategy (Draft Ver.), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2007).

Solutions and Recommendations for E-Governance in Afghanistan The Afghan experience has displayed that under the right circumstances, ICTs are capable of inducing social and economic development in terms of health care, improved education, employment, agriculture, and trade, and also of enriching local culture. It has also shown that mere deployment of technology is not enough as it required as much learning on the part of the promoters of the technology as on the part of its users making this possible. It is more challenging to create the necessary conditions under which technology can attain its full potential, than to just introduce technology with great expectations; and not to miss the combined and coordinated efforts of a range of stakeholders with disparate interests.

Present Issues and Drawbacks •

•

•

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The Afghan telecom network has issues with its service quality, nationwide network coverage and capacity. The present telecom network lacks the capacity to support high tech technology or value added services. Cost of services is also quite high if we compare it with the Afghan income level. The telecom network has limitations in effectively supporting emergency response services. The implementation and reach of District Communication Network (DCN) for public access and extension of Government Communication Network (GCN) for governance has been very slow and behind schedule. The present telecom infrastructure cannot support e-solutions and Internet for broader community access, especially in the rural areas. Because of the complete absence

•

•

•

•

•

of public and private ICT investment in rural information services, MCIT and ATRA have made meager gains on a countrywide scale. The Afghan Government lacks an effective cyber security expertise for its ICT infrastructure. Pirated software and hardware are widely used by public and private entities. A Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is planned but not implemented till date, due to which there are cyber laws in practice or enforcement mechanisms. There is a total lack of an “Information Security Culture” within most Afghan ministries and departments; as they have minimal IT organizations and implementation of internal IT capabilities and services are uncoordinated and non-standard across ministry business processes, standards, and best practices. The MCIT has to handle the issue of a thin layer of ICT competence and skills in its workforce of the Government elements and related Ministries. Absence of a reliable electric power infrastructure is a big issue hindering the smooth implementation and running of ICT infrastructure. Current solutions do not employ use of low power IT equipment and power saving procedures. Activities related to coherent international strategy and approach for supporting Afghan ICT reconstruction, development, and capacity building are very independent and loosely connected.

Recommendations for Capacity Building Afghan ICT can benefit heavily if international institutions and GOA support literacy and community empowerment, but ensuring the following initiatives:

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•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Introduce education programs in local content (Dari) for reading, writing, interpersonal and other life skills. Here the wheel need not be reinvented as lot of Persian education content is already available in neighboring Iran, which is very much the same as Dari. Introduce educational content on computers, DVDs, educational video tapes, CDs, and Interactive electronic books, such as the International Medical Corps “Family Health Notebook” and try to convert it into the local language and integrate local contents. Establish telekiosks and community centers with Internet access and related capabilities. Develop distance learning for education and training. Offer access to adult education and teacher training material in local content. Develop centers for teaching and learning for teaching staff nationwide. Promote local educational institutions to implement Computers, English language, business practices, health care, family health, and medical advice in their course curriculum. Local establishments to design Internet portals for education, health care, and medical advice. Enable Internet access for schools and universities by offering cost-effective infrastructure. Provide ICT enabling infrastructure to wire up schools and universities and offer access to Intranet and local content on campus-wide wired and wireless local area networks. Link universities all over Afghanistan with the academia outside Afghanistan to provide opportunities for: ◦◦ Partnership programs and alliances ◦◦ e-Learning, e-Education, e-Library ◦◦ Access to Centers of Excellence and subject matter experts

Recommendations for e-Health •

•

•

Wire up hospitals and healthcare centers for Internet access and e-health, by providing software for medical diagnostics, administration, pharmacy, and patient records systems. Further use the ICT connectivity in hospitals and health to link them with international centers of medical excellence and subject matter experts. Establish alliances with medical schools, facilities and experts outside of Afghanistan. Offer e-Training, e-Learning, e-Diagnostics, e-Healthcare, and e-Reference

Recommendations for ICT in Rural Domain •

•

Extend the reach of ICT access and services to rural areas by promoting mobile communications for economic and social development and Internet to educate and help improve literacy. Make local governments more accountable, improve legitimacy and reduce corruption by making information more widely available in Internet, radio and TV media.

Recommendations for Government Change •

The GOA should be encouraged, and the International community prepared to help, to enable an early introduction of a CIOlike culture and e-Government capabilities into the ministries. MCIT needs to play the role of National CIO in order to enable more effective government use of IT by: ◦◦ Standardize ICT capabilities across ministries; Coordinate cross-ministries ICT investments;

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◦◦

•

Standardize business processes including application of e-Government like solutions; automate government functions; ◦◦ Prioritize ICT spending to support anti-corruption goals; Encourage MCIT to develop and implement a National Cyber Security Strategy and Plan that actions on the following points: ◦◦ Setting up a cyber information security culture; ◦◦ Assigning Information Security Officers in Ministries and key government agencies; initiating training and awareness programs for civil servants; ◦◦ Establishing an Afghan CERT with a national cyber-security management structure to adopt cyber-security laws, regulations, standards, and policies and implementing enforcement mechanisms.

CONCLUSION Study findings suggest that ICT has been an enabler for developing the Afghan government, economy, and social well-being. While there have been successes, challenges remain. Continued smart investments and use of information and ICT will serve to further enhance government capacity, legitimacy, and transparency, help reduce corruption, increase economic growth, and support social stability. Information is power and the generator of stability for countries undergoing stabilization and reconstruction— the theme of this chapter. It is certainly a key to being successful in Afghanistan. Technology is not a solution to state building. It is a very powerful tool to be used, along with many others that are even more important. Technology

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is only as good as the people who use it and who use it for just and good purposes. As we have seen on many occasions, technology can also be used to facilitate crime, terrorism, censorship, oppression, hatred, propaganda, economic instability, and even war. Technology’s power to serve the good of the people is equal only to the harm it can do if used improperly. Therefore, the fundamental truth remains: the power to change, to reform, and succeed lies only in the hands of the people of under-developed and developing countries (ICT Solutions to Corruption in Developing Economies – Ones and Zeroes: Mightier than the Pen and the Sword, Source: www.policyconcepts.com). A word of caution must be issued, however, now that the ICT sector in Afghanistan has been relatively successful and appears to be operating reasonably well on its own initiative. There may be a desire on the part of international elements, coalition military, and the Government to shift support to other sectors that have not been as successful. Such a shift without careful consideration of not only first order but second and third order effects could have significant unintended consequences, especially if the ICT sector is not yet prepared to truly sustain operations on its own without the support and attention of the international community. Consideration of such a shift in international and Government support needs to be carefully assessed, monitored and managed over time to ensure informed choices and decision are made and that progress continues to bridge the digital divide and move Afghanistan into the information society of the 21st century.

REFERENCES Arenberg, C. Pearson and Greg (2008). Information and Communication Technology and Peace building: Summary of a Workshop. National Academy of Sciences

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Bhatia, B. Gupta and Neeraj (2006), Transforming telecoms in Afghanistan – Expanding affordable access by introducing competition, Gridlines, The World Bank, Washington.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Community Empowerment through Non-Formal Education, 2005. UNESCO Asia and Pacific Region Bureau for Education

Bhatnagar, S. (2002). E-Government: Lessons from Implementation in Developing Countries. Regional Development Dialogue, 23(2), 164–173.

Jacobsen, L. K. (2003). Telecommunications – a means to economic growth in developing countries? CMI Reports. Chr. Michelsen Institute: Development Studies and Human Rights

Bryson, J. M., & Crosby, B. (1993). Leadership in a Shared Power World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cecchini, S. (2003). Information and Communications Technology for Poverty Reduction. Lessons from Rural India. Poverty Reduction Group. The World Bank. ICT Solutions to Corruption in Developing Economies – Ones and Zeroes: Mightier than the Pen and the Sword, Source: www.policyconcepts.com Coleman & Stephan. African e-Governance – Opportunities and Challenges, Oxford Internet Inst., University of Oxford. Contributors, W. (2008). Afghanistan. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed on 25 March 2010. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Afghanistan Curtain, R. (2004). Information and Communications Technologies and Development: Help or Hindrance?Australian Agency for International Development. Fabra., et al. (2008), Workshop on Local Government in Post-Conflict Situations: Challenges for Improving Local Decision Making and Service Delivery Capacities, Report, UNDP Oslo Governance Centre Norway. Harris and Roger W. (2004). Information and Communication Technologies for Poverty Alleviation, United Nations Development Program, Asia-Pacific Development Information Program. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: UNDP-APDIP.

Jensen, M., & Esterhuysen, A. (2001). The Community Telecentre Cookbook for Africa: Recipes for Self-Sustainability: How to Establish a Multi-purpose Community Telecentre in Africa. UNESCO. Kalusopa, T. (2005). The Challenges of utilizing information communication technologies (ICTs) for the small scale farmers in Zambia. Library Hi Tech. Vol. (23). No. 3. pp. 414-424. Kooiman and Jan (Ed.). (2002). Governing as Governance. Sage. Noorzai and Roshan. (2006). Balanced Development – An ICT Model for Rural Connectivity in Afghanistan. Athens: Ohio University. Proenza, F. (2001). Telecentre Sustainability: Myths and Opportunities. The Journal of Development Communication. Sector Strategy, I. C. T. (2007). Draft Ver. Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Source: Ministry of Communication, Five Year Development Plans (2005-2009), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Un Desa Discussion Paper – GPAB/ REGOPA Cluster. (2007), Governance Strategy for Post Conflict Reconstruction, Sustainable Peace and Development, page 3. UNAMA. (2007), Half-Year Review of the Security Situation in Afghanistan, UN Department of Safety and Security, Topic Assessment 02/07, Afghanistan.

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Wentz, L. K. (2008). Frank and STARR Stuart. Information and Communication Technologies for Reconstruction and Development- Afghanistan Challenges and Opportunities. Center for Technology and National Security Policy, National Defense University.

ADDITIONAL READING Braithwaite, M., & Levi, M. (Eds.). (2003). Trust and Governance. New York: Russell Sage. Hodges, R., Wright, M., & Keasey, K. (1996). Corporate governance in the public services: concepts and issues. Public Money and Management, 16(2), 7–13. Marche, S., & McNiven, J. D. (2003). EGovernment and E-Governance: The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 20(1), 74–86. doi:10.1111/j.1936-4490.2003.tb00306.x Rhodes, R. A. W. (1997). Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability. Buckingham, PA: Open University Press. World Bank. (1991) Managing Development - The Governance Dimension, 1991, Washington D.C. Retrieved 10th August 2009 from: www-wds. worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2006/03/07/000090341_2006 0307104630/Rendered/PDF/34899.pdf World Bank. (2008) A Decade of Measuring the Quality of Governance, Retrived 10th August 2009 from: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NEWS/ Resources/wbi2007-report.pdf

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Capacity-Building: To increase the operating efficiency of a government or non-government institution, a community based organization, a community per se or an individual through training (increasing knowledge), changed operating procedures, restructuring, etc. E-Governance: The use of ICT to improve the ability of government to address the needs of society. It includes the publishing of policy and program related information to transact with citizens. It extends beyond provision of on-line services and covers the use of IT for strategic planning and reaching development goals of the government. E-Government: “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees. Governance: The use of institutions, structures of authority and even collaboration to allocate resources and coordinate or control activity in society or the economy. Information and Communications Technology (ICT): This is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. Post-Conflict: A post-conflict period is a period of time immediately following the end of a war; where there is a cessation of conflict.

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Chapter 12

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet): Implementation Challenges Johanna Ekua Awotwi Centre for E-Governance, Ghana

ABSTRACT Clift (2006) confirms that, “The information-age, led by Internet content, software, technology, and connectivity, is changing society and the way we can best meet public challenges. E-democracy, e-Governance, and public net-work are three interrelated concepts that will help us map out our opportunity to more effectively participate, govern, and do public work.” This chapter pays particular attention to the e-Governance concept example with emphasis on Ghana’s benchmark trade facilitation e-governance initiative, the GCNET, which has emboldened the government’s e-government programme. The reader has the benefit of knowing about the initiative’s genesis and implementation challenges including the obvious challenges of creation and displaying a will to change within the government- the provision of political will; overcoming the resistance to change, and creating an ICT- aware-citizenry. The question is whether this initiative has been an enabler, as ICT tools are meant to be, in positively developing Ghana’s trade facilitation process. Views from some stake holders; attempts to improve the system and recommendations are also considered.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch012

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

INTRODUCTION As emphasized by Bertucci (2007), “The Information age is having a dramatic impact on governance; governments worldwide are undergoing a re-engineering process known as ‘government reinvention’. The goal of such a process, in which ICTs are playing a key role, is to improve efficiency and to deliver more transparent, high quality government services to its citizens…..ICTs should therefore be used as a strategic instrument to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to implement the WSIS Plan of Action. Public Sector reforms throughout the world embodying ICTs are part of an ongoing effort to build trust in defining the terms of social contract between the diverse groups that make up a society.” He observed also, that the world community is concerned about, “the African continent… Because of its dire need of resources.” Within the overall framework of governance reform, electronic-Governance initiatives are undertaken to serve some basic needs: Firstly, it is to provide valuable information and services to citizens in a less cumbersome manner; secondly, the first aim leading to an accountable, efficient, cost-effective and transparent governance environment. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have therefore, been identified as keys to trade facilitation. Indeed, by adopting ICTs and reducing the complexity of international trade and minimizing the transaction costs, participants in international trade can save billions of dollars every year and benefit from an increased security and transparency in supply chains (UNECE(6b.), 2006). ICTs may be applied to any of the trade processes or procedures, including the buying and selling process, the customs clearance process,

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the payment process, and the transportation and logistics process. Additionally, ICTs may play a pivotal role in dissemination and using trade information by traders and in promoting their products and services globally. The primary tools used are various portals or gateways that rely on Electronic Data Interchange. The United Nations (2008) evaluates the application of Information and Communications Technologies by governments of the 192 UN member states and in its 2008 report released recently, Africa, in addition to the Caribbean, Central and South America and the Southern Asian Regions were missing from the list of top 35 countries. The West African region had the lowest regional index in the Survey. The region scored a 0.2110 in 2008 as compared with the world average of 0.4514. Cape Verde (0.4158) continues to lead the region, with Nigeria (0.3063) and Ghana (0.2997) taking the top three spots. It should be noted that the majority of the countries in this region continue to lag at the bottom because of low scores on the education, infrastructure and web measurement indices. Mamosi (2007) notes how recent efforts by the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development to enhance “good governance” has led to the strengthening of institutional capacity of the African governance system, especially that of regional, central and local government institutions, to improve policymaking, coordination and delivery of public goods and services using information communication technologies. This involves partnerships among stakeholders, complying with high standards of integrity, efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, accountability, and responding to the needs expressed by their constituencies. The main strategic goals are to engage government as a catalytic force of social and economic development, empowering its institutions with ICT to work together with civil society and the

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

private sector to meet the needs expressed by their constituencies. The next plank is to build accountable, efficient and effective processes for performing government administration, reducing transaction costs and enhancing policy coordination between the different government entities. Further, focus is on the effective delivery of public services through efficient administrative and financial systems, ensuring quality, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability. This should provide increased capacity of government to engage in participatory and consultative decision-making processes with individuals, communities and organizations, by simplifying and increasing the interaction and transaction through the provision of on-line services and channels of participation. The ultimate goal is to reduce the space and time constraints between providers of public services and goods and those that make use of these through the application of ICTs. ICTs have to be meaningfully used to achieve high-end management and developmental goals. The relevance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in general, say the World Bank and other donor organizations, and E-Government in particular, is a way to promote development and reduce poverty. E-Government is seen as strengthening the performance of government and public administration, and an efficient and effective state administration is a necessary prerequisite for economic and social development. This issue is especially relevant for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where public administration is characterized by inefficiency, limited capacity, and poorly-trained personnel. One could say that E-Government can, in general, contribute to solving administrative problems, but because E-Government and its related organizational concepts were developed in industrialized countries it should not be assumed that this concept is automatically appropriate for developing countries. Thus, when introducing E-Government in sub-Saharan Africa, it is expected that different

and more far-reaching efforts will be necessary than in developed countries (Schuppan, 2009). Because of the limited academic debate in this area, in addition to existing literature and a few interviews conducted by the author; attendance at relevant workshops; reading of project reports; journal articles; development partner reports; books, and working/discussion papers and internet sites, have been used as basis for this book chapter. Credit for most of the information on the Ghana Community Network Services is from workshop findings organized by the Ministry of Communications, Ghana, sponsored by the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing countries in association with UNCTAD/WTO. The objective of the chapter is to examine the challenges that a developing nation has faced as a result of its introduction of an automated customs clearance system. The searching question is whether ICT application has been successful in optimizing Ghana’s Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) main objective to enhance its revenue generation goal? Other questions that need asking are what the specific potentials of E-Government in developing countries are and what conditions must be taken into consideration when implementing E-Government.

BACKGROUND Schuppan (2009) states that governments worldwide are working on implementing E-Government. He insists that efforts are not only focused on the question of digitalization in itself, but also on the reorganization of public services and participation processes based upon new ICT. The term “ICT” is understood primarily as internet technologies and internet-based applications, but also includes network technologies, databases, and electronic workflow systems. Through these technologies it is possible to achieve temporal and spatial independence and flexibility

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because data, software functions, and processes are ubiquitously available. This means that work processes and public participation can be improved or redesigned. It also enhances development. Thus, E-Government relates not only to the efficient, transparent and effective provision of public services (eAdministration), but also directly to questions of democracy, because it makes new participation forms possible. This can include new information, consultation, or communication possibilities, for example, in regard to proposed legislation or in planning processes (Schuppan, 2009). The pursuit of basic good governance tenets is to ensure improved performance in the overall process of national revenue mobilization and the concomitant impact on national development. World Development Report - The World Bank (1989) advocates the building of a robust and balanced financial structure that will improve the ability of domestic financial systems to levy taxes that do not fall excessively on personal finance, and enable governments to lay the foundations of well-functioning financial systems for the funding of its development programmes. The UNESA (2009) in joining this development debate, submits that financial administration and fiscal management constitute one of the most essential arms of public administration to facilitate development programmes. Economic development, whether it takes the form of governmental or non-governmental activities, results in the collection and expenditure of money with all the implied effects on both the public budget and the private economy. Exclusively, customs administration relates intimately to international trade and employs standard international systems of titles, descriptions, classification, and valuation of merchandise. Customs administration is more challenging and conducted in a setting that subjects officers and employees to more pressure than normally exists in other fields of revenue management.

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United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) Single Clearing Facility for Trade Declaration defines a Single window is a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transitrelated regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements are submitted only once. Customs administration enhances its service delivery when its procedures are less cumbersome and the electronic single window concept minimizes corruption. de Wulff (2004) maintains that customs administrations’ raise substantial indirect tax revenue, provide domestic producers with protection, provide supply chain security, and prevent the importation of prohibited or unsafe imports. Customs administrations are expected to accomplish these objectives both effectively (by achieving them), and efficiently (at the lowest possible cost to the budget and to the trading community) without compromising trade facilitation. Developing countries such as Ghana engage in policies and programme to strengthen state capacity to regulate business, generate the necessary revenues from external trade, and to increase investment. ICTs growth in Ghana however has been stunted due to infrastructural constraint leading to high dial-up tariffs, a workforce that is severely lacking in IT education, and low bandwidth both intra- and inter-nationally. The Government of Ghana, realizing therefore that there have been several uncoordinated initiatives to use ICT to facilitate improvement in operational efficiency, effectiveness and service delivery in Public Services has developed the ICT for Accelerated Development Policy. An e-Ghana project has also been established to effectively implement the development policy. The creation of the Ministry of Public Sector Reform in Ghana in May 2005 was an acknowledgement that the implementation of Public Sector

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Reforms was critical to the government’s agenda and vision of; • • •

human capital development private sector development and; good governance

Public service delivery according to the executive summary of the Ministry of Public Sector Reforms is seen as being dependent on an efficient and effective public service framework and management. For without these, rapid and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction will not be attained, it continues. The Public Sector Reform initiatives and programmes are therefore designed to ensure the objectives of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II. The Public Sector Reform Ministry is responsible for evaluating and monitoring the progress of the sector reforms and its expected outputs include: • • • •

more disciplined Ministries, Departments and Agencies; results-oriented; providing timely and accurate information to citizens; ensuring privacy and security

The establishment of this Ministry is a further acknowledgement that the challenges posed by globalization require a rejuvenated Public Service which would ensure the fulfillment of the (MDGs, 2000).

Corruption and its Impact on Public Service Delivery The United Nations (1954) recommends that a system of revenue administration, in order to be fully effective, should produce enough taxes to help ensure fiscal solvency. It must be adapted to the methods of transacting business and affairs in the country, be simple and as manageable as possible,

and bear a reasonable intimate relationship with the economic base of the country. Fiscal transparency, in Premchand (2001) view reflects a system of public policy making and implementation to ensure effective and comprehensive accountability, based upon mature administrative practices, fiscal reform, and public service improvement. Under the indirect tax mechanism, Lempiainen (2005) posits that Customs authorities traditionally fulfill a three-fold mission - a fiscal mission by collecting revenue for the State; an economic mission by helping businesses to be more competitive and compiling foreign trade statistics; and a mission of protecting society and combating fraud. Thus, Customs performs an environmental mission in cooperation with other services and ministries to ensure compliance with national and international regulations in force. Customs administrations consequently need appropriate systems and adequate resources to perform this task. In spite of these expectations, the UK Commission for Africa, (2005) concludes that many resource-dependent countries in Africa have a poor record in human development, due at least in part to mismanagement and misappropriation of revenues and corruption, with resultant increase in poverty, environmental degradation and attendant political instability, lack of accountability, transparency and also corruption in the Public Service The Commonwealth Secretariat (2000) defines corruption as the abuse of public office. Causes of corruption include low emoluments and lack of incentives to officers, the culture of gift giving and gift receiving as an acceptable norm in society, weak management practices, and poor governance. Methods for improving transparency and accountability include national reforms, institutional reforms, proactive mass media, improvement in service conditions, declaration of assets by public officers, and the promotion of ethics and accountability. In Ghana, the World Bank (2000) and the World Bank Ghana Survey conducted by the World Bank

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(2001) generally declare that corruption and lack of transparency is very prevalent in Ghana, Africa and many other countries. In all cases, both public and private sectors were culpable perpetrators of corruption. In the public sector, studies attribute corruption to both bureaucrats and politicians. Among the various manifestations of corruption, non-adherence to ethical values is prevalent. The report outlines views expressed by 1500 households, 500 businesses, and 1000 public officers in all regions of the country. An overwhelming percentage of public officers (82%) considered corruption in government as very prevalent, with Motor, Transport and Traffic Unit (87%), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (77%), Regular Police (67%), and Immigration Service (62%) respectively topping the list of the most bribed public agencies. Customs emerged as one of the most bribed public agency according to firms in the manufacturing, service, wholesale/retail sectors. In terms of quality service delivery, firms rated the performance of key public agencies as generally low. On the scale of one (very poor), to five (very good), Customs Service got the lowest rating of 2.3. Premchand (2001) considers that the concept of transparency and accountability in the management of public funds links closely to the issue of corruption in the handling of public funds. The presumption is that in a situation where there is lack of transparency and accountability, then there is corruption. Around the globe, fighting corruption is surfacing now as a priority. One of the underlying objectives of improved transparency and accountability is to reduce the extent of corruption in the management of governmental affairs. The World Customs Organization (2003) stipulates that safeguarding integrity and fighting corruption contain the key elements that Customs administrations must develop in order to secure their credibility and legitimacy at the national level. Subsequently, the revised WCO (2003) reaffirmed the June 1993 Arusha Declaration whereby

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the International Customs community pledged to combat corruption and increase the level of integrity in WCO member administrations. The declarations placed the prime responsibility for the prevention of corruption with Customs leadership to implement Customs procedures and systems that limit the opportunities for corruption or eliminate them altogether. Importantly, they recommend automation (including Electronic Data Interchange) as a powerful tool against corruption, and its utilization should have priority. To reduce the opportunities for malpractice, Customs managers should employ such measures as strategic segregation of functions, rotation of assignments and random allocation of examinations among Customs officers and in certain situations, regular relocation of staff.

History of TradeNet It is important to know how other countries have utilized ICT applications to improve trade facilitation as a public service in order to make proper comparison with Ghana’s challenges. Singapore has the world’s first nationwide electronic trade clearance system which integrates 35 controlling unit requirements. The idea of TradeNet originated as early as 1979 when a high level Committee recommended that for Singapore to overcome its handicap of smallness, it had to make maximum use of information technology. A first step in that direction was to expand the skill base through accelerated IT training and the strategy implied bringing computerization to Government agencies. Singapore in the early 80s was among the top 20 trading nations of the world; had the world’s largest port in terms of gross tonnage and in bunkering activity in 1989, with its external trade alone equaling 3.5 times its GDP by 1990 (Harvard Business). In December 1986 the initiative to use TradeNet was given high- level backing. In fact, the Trade Minister (B.G. Lee, son of the Prime Minister currently Deputy Prime Minister) publicly endorsed

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the initiative and gave full political backing to the TradeNet project. He announced the launching of TradeNet for January 1989. Trade documentation earlier in Singapore, involved multiple parties – traders, shipping lines, freight forwarders, shipping agents as in most countries. Documentation required multiple agencies’ endorsement –Customs and over 35 Controlling Agencies. About 10,000 declarations were processed daily in 1987 with the completion of 4-20 documents for each import/export. These were all manually handled. Currently, the Singapore TradeNet links multiple parties involved in external trade, including 34 government controlling units, to a single point of transaction for most trade related transactions such as Customs clearance and payment of duties and taxes, processing of export and import permits and certificates of origin and collecting trade statistics. The system processes 100% of all trade declarations; it computes fees automatically and collected through interbank direct-debit facilities. Trade transactions have therefore been drastically simplified. A TradeNet Steering Committee acts as the general overseer of the process with three subcommittees, one each for air shipping, sea shipping and government agencies. An African example is taken from Mauritius. Mauritius is a small island economy (60 km long by 40 km wide), which makes it open and highly dependent on the outside world for its supplies of current consumption and equipment goods (Mr. Bernard Chan Sing). The system in Mauritius is known as the TradeNet system. It is the first EDI network on the island and was modeled on the Singapore TradeNet system, with local requirements and conditions having been taken into count. Launching of the system took place in 1994 and had 5 phases spread from 1994-2000. As a Public-Private sector – Partnership, costs were related to the establishment of a company to act as the value-added network operator, and

this included equipment, software, and staff. There were also expenses for Customs, namely for the purchasing of equipment. The programme has been designed to be self-sustainable and the objectives in that respect have been fully met, to the extent that the value-added network operator is already self-sustainable, and has been able to use its own resources to finance its investment and participation in new related projects. The trading community has benefited in the sense that goods are cleared faster and in a more transparent manner, hence enhancing their competitiveness. It has experienced a high level of efficiency for all business concerns which deal with Customs. The aim was to streamline the paper-based trade procedures in order to result in faster turnaround time for trade declarations, a reduction in paperwork, faster clearance of goods, and an overall improvement of services to the public. This aim has been achieved (Mr. Bernard Chan Sing)

GHANA With a total land surface of 238,537km and sandwiched between the French – speaking countries of Cote d’Ivoire in the west, Togo in the east and Burkina Faso in the north, young people comprise 61% of the population. There is also a high illiteracy rate of 38.1% which presents a major challenge to the adoption of ICT by all Ghanaians since the use of ICT requires a high level of literacy for effective utilization. According to Millennium Development Goal Monitor which tracks the MDGs of a country, Ghana has made good progress in the achievement of the MDGs since 2000. It has sustained a period of economic stability, with income poverty levels declining from 39.5 per cent in 1999 to around 28.5 per cent in 2006. The steady decline of poverty nationwide and increases in access to basic social services has been a result of efforts under the Government of Ghana (2003).

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A careful look at the data supplied by the UNDP above, makes one wonder if with 78.5% of the population earning less than $2.00 a day; 129 cellular subscribers out of every 1000 persons, and an abysmal 18 internet users out of every 1000, Ghana has realistically, made what the MDG Monitor terms ‘good progress since 2000.’ The figures on paper seem most distressing, but this should be viewed against the background of ICT infrastructural development which is progressing at a rate (0.4% from 1995 to 2.9% in 2000) comparable to other low-income countries globally and above the 1.1% average for Sub Saharan Africa.

Ghana’s ICT Environment Ghana’s policy on e-Governance is anchored within the country’s Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Growth Policy framework. This Policy can be characterized as the foundation upon which Ghana’s vision for information is being built. It is incorporated into the Country’s overall development plan agenda, namely the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2006-2009. The implementation of the ICT policy is driven by a National ICT Policy and Plan Development Committee which was tasked to develop on the basis of extensive consultation with all stakeholders (public sector, private sector and civil society) countrywide, an integrated ICT-led socioeconomic development Policy and Plan for Ghana. Within the broad framework of the ICT Policy, the government of Ghana has also adopted a National Telecommunication Policy and a Trade Policy and Private Sector Development Strategy. These are all key policies required to support the implementation in the ICT accelerated development policy. The 1993 Public Expenditure Review and the resultant Public Financial Management Reform Programme in 1996 in Ghana, proposed the computerization of the public financial system to en-

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hance greater taxpayer compliance, and increased revenue collection, reporting and forecasting by Customs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Value Added Tax Service. Ghana has entered a phase of accelerated economic expansion over the last three years with real GDP growth averaging 5.2 percent, compared to a twenty-year average of 4.4 percent. ICT applications have been identified along with agroprocessing, tourism and other value-added sectors as key to further boosting economic growth. The eGhana project which has been established to effectively implement the ICT accelerated policy, has adopted a holistic approach to address all the issues ranging from institutions, infrastructure, human resources, and legal and regulatory, publicprivate-partnerships and funding. The proposed approach is to harmonize all the ICT related interventions supported by government institutions and development partners. This initiative is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information dissemination by adopting one messaging and workflow system throughout the government agencies whilst adopting a single standard for ICT within government under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications (Ministry of Communications, Republic of Ghana, 2006) Since automation of customs services through a unified automated information system (UAIS) is seen as a major step toward improving efficiency and reducing corruption in customs-related practices, the novel Ghana Community Network system introduced as part of this reform process has provided the large clientele of the Ghana Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) with the opportunity to process clearances in an expeditious and transparent manner through an electronic network. The system was introduced to facilitate legitimate trade and clearance of goods through customs in a secured manner in order to enhance mobilization of trade-related revenue for Government, it is also expected to reduce malpractices

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associated with Import /Export Trade and, reduces transaction costs and delays that trade operators face in clearing consignments at the ports. Progress so far has been good in terms of raising revenue and speeding up Customs clearance times (B.Sokol). There are 11 initiatives two of which are relevant to this chapter namely; service delivery improvement and ICT initiative.

Ghana Community Network The Ghana Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), is one of the major sources of international trade statistics in Ghana accounting for nearly 80% by value and volume. The Ghana Community Network Services Limited was created as a joint venture company with foreign shareholders (Societe Generale de Surveillance with 60 percent, Customs Service with 20 percent, the Ghana Shipping Council with 10 percent, and two local banks, each with 5 percent). It has been one of the most effective private-public partnerships that Ghana has ever had. Four countries are involved: Ghana, Mauritius, Singapore and Switzerland. The technology comes from Mauritius and Singapore, the major investment from Switzerland. It operates under a service contract with the Ministry of Trade and Industry. This contract lasts until 2010. The service offered is in continuous development. The contract instructs the installation of an electronic commerce–based system and a new customs management system. A hands-on approach was adopted during this whole process, and assistance was provided to the Customs Service with local staff training and installation of the information technology. The overall costs were reasonable. It was realized that change of customs operations can be speeded up by hands-on technical support. Whereas Customs had struggled for years to upgrade its information system or to make the

best use of it, the reforms required an outside push and hands-on implementation support to force the process simplification through for the adoption of advanced computerization processes. Top-level support helped to launch and sustain the project. Customs has actively participated with the rollout of the ICT technology, but will now actively pursue its own modernization process in nearly all areas but ICT and related processes. No clear performance indicators or targets were included in the contract, only the requirement to report periodically on the progress of the project and the results obtained.

Operations of Ghana Community Network The vision was to transform a ‘spaghetti’ type network of connection, which has been in operation amongst and between the various agencies and entities involved in the trade transaction process into an interconnected network of members of a trading community. Operations are carried out by the deployment of two systems, that is, the Ghana TradeNet and the Ghana Customs Management Systems. Through the Ghana TradeNet’s Electronic Data Interchange platform, users of the systems are able to interface with the Customs Management system, and also transmit messages and receive replies electronically between the various parties connected to the system. These parties include key public sector agencies such as the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Presidential Special Initiatives, Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana, Customs Excise and Preventive Service and the private sector (e.g. the shipping lines, AFGO, the freight forwarders, banks, etc). The TradeNet thus provides a medium for exchanging trade information between businesses on one hand, and Government agencies on the other, thereby making the initiative a “B2G” or “Business to Government” company.

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The Community Network website is geared at providing useful information to key stakeholders, especially those engaged in trade and customsrelated operations. The web pages highlight what these organizations do, their “modus operandi”, and how they can be contacted. To operate and automate such a system in a country where the infrastructure is not as highly developed as in other countries, the Chief Executive Officer, (Omaboe, 2007) notes, it had to invest heavily; specifically in the telecommunication infrastructure. It had to build fibre optic networks, including combinations of satellites and radio-wave links, because the system covers all entry ports in Ghana. Currently, about 99% of Government revenue from customs goes through the system. There is a link-up to Paga in the northern region, Aflao in the South -east, the Kotoka International airport in Accra, and the harbour cities of Tema and Takoradi in the Western region, and all other parts through the telecommunications system. “It is a big challenge, but it has been extremely successful (Omaboe, 2007).” Previously, the situation on the ground presented a situation where each agency requires a unique set of documents, that must be submitted only to it and that are not shared with other members of the trading community. These data are often duplicative and must be transcribed for further processing. Lots of paper work is involved, multiple copies are required, and the transcription is error prone. All this was time consuming and costly. Various studies reported processes that range from 25-32 stages that needed to be tackled before a consignment could be cleared. These included an Import Declaration Form, inspection reports, certificate or permit from the relevant regulatory bodies (e.g. Food and Drug Board, Ministry of Interior, Free Zone Board, certificates of origin issued by the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, etc.). In meeting these diverse agency requirements, trade operators were obliged to crisscross from one agency to the other to chase documents

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being processed, as these agencies were neither networked to communicate with each other nor had access to a common data base. 13 copies of the shipping manifest had to be submitted to Customs by the carrier. This information was then transcribed by Customs, and used as a basis for the manifest so as to ensure that all cargo that was brought in by the carrier had been subjected to a declaration. This process was time consuming, error prone and did not provide a transparent method to audit whether in fact all cargo had been declared. Statistics were compiled by the Statistical Service gathering all paper documents, or collecting these on diskettes, and compiling them into different sets of statistical tables (nature of the trade, countries of origin and destination, etc.) The transmittal and manipulation of the data necessary to produce the desired statistical data again took lots of time, was not very accurate, and statistical data was produced with great delays. This situation created lots of opportunity for soliciting and providing “facilitation money” to speed up transaction, to be permitted to jump the queue, or simply to adjust the Customs declaration to suit the particular objectives of various persons involved in these transactions. The lack of transparency for these transactions left a very weak audit trail, and in most instances none at all. All this impeded competitiveness of the economy. Between 1991 and 2002 Ghana Customs used the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) in the processing of declarations at the major ports of entry. Declarations as described above were keyed into the ASYCUDA software for further processing. Ghana Community Network currently works with the deployment of two systems, that is, the Ghana TradeNet and the Ghana Customs Management Systems as already mentioned. To enable users access its service, the automated service has established its own private communication network. This is made up of a

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fiber optic broadband link between its office and Customs. This link is complemented by radio links, which also cover other Customs Collection Stations plus dedicated leased lines and points of presents in locations outside Accra. Development of this private network also ensures that the system will always be up and running, and not suffer any communication hiccups, given the unreliable nature of the normal communication networks. In detailing the idea, it is important to note that the trader submits only one document to the TradeNet, a document that contains the information required by all agencies that require information either to fulfill their regulatory function or to provide the necessary permits. TradeNet then sends selectively the information to the relevant agencies, which respond immediately either with requests for further information or with the necessary permits. The objective of the integration of all traders into a community is to reduce the transaction cost for the trader, and to make Government regulatory operations more transparent, more effective and more efficient. On 14 November 2008, a new e-service was introduced when TradeNet’s SMS Short Code service for exchange rates was launched. The service enables users to quickly identify the prevailing foreign currency rates for use during the clearance process.Users simply type the word ‘rates’ into a text message and send it to short code 1945. Seconds later the user receives back a full set of applicable foreign currency rates. The system has an added-value technology called i-Transit launched in October 2007. This allows officials to monitor cargo in transit along designated routes to neighbouring landlocked countries. Ghana has become a key transit point for the Sub-Saharan region, and there have been lots of abuses in transportations. Some products that were to be sent to Burkina-Faso ended up in local markets. Now, every transit truck and cargo traveling north, east or west has a Global Positioning

System device and can be tracked from Tema to Burkina-Faso. Previously, the trucks arrived at the borders after a fortnight, because drivers interrupted their journeys with leisure stops. Goods currently, cross the border within two days with maximum control by Customs Service. The system is constantly upgraded to enhance revenue collection for government. The satellite tracking system, which is the first to be deployed by any African Customs administration, enabled Customs to withdraw escorts. Previously, escorting Customs Officers were exposed to undue dangers thus delaying the transit process. It is instructive to note that, Ghana is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa using an integrated system. Other countries in the region depend on manual systems. The Network’s Call Centre for enquiries about the system is also a plus to this well-thought out e-Governance initiative. For the future, the Network intends to roll out additional services using this SMS technology. Even though this automated Customs system was introduced in 2002, the SMS module came alive 6 years later. This is an indication of a very, very gradual and slow process.

Benefits of GCNet In a comparison with Singapore’s success, evaluatory questions to ask include the following; a) Has there been commitment at the highest level? Can we identify a very senior government official as project champion and a lead agency responsible for the project success? As the history of GCNET illustrates, it took a while for a succeeding government to buy into the idea. Government now gives full backing to the process. In Singapore, the Minister of Trade and Industry (now PM) provided full support to the TradeNet team. b) Does Ghana have a setup of multistakeholders committees? Have important

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stakeholders from both public and private sectors been co-opted as part of the implementation (steering and working) committees chaired by project champion and lead agency? There is no evidence of any such committees in existence. The GCNET is a Public-Private-Partnership which includes banks, government agencies and the shipping agency of government. One would expect that as shareholders, they would be involved in running the system even if there is a dearth of information on the subject. c) Did Ghana have a phased implementation plan? Was GCNET developed and implemented as an integrated system of limited scale or scope followed by a full-scale or scope implementation? Yes. This is why it is now ready for valuation services in 2010. d) Was GCNET structured as a viable business model, ensuring project success through appropriate Public-Private Partnership model for mutual commitment and risk-taking? Indeed. Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) was incorporated in November 2000 as a private-public sector partnership (PPP). Its Shareholders are as follows: (i) Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) (ii) Ghana Shippers Council (GSC) (iii) Ecobank (Ghana) Limited (EBG) (iv) Development Finance Holdings (DFH), a subsidiary of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) (v) Societe General de Surveillance (SGS) This strong public-private partnership, which is made up of very credible Shareholders, who have all been and supportive “project champions” has been one of the critical factors to GCNET’s success so far (Ghana Trade Net). Other obvious critical success factors include;

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a) Improved Revenue -there has been improved trade facilitation and its related improved revenue for government. 81% of consignments at Ghana’s major international airport, Kotoka, are cleared in a day instead of 2-3 days in the pre-automation era. At the harbour in Tema, goods take 1-3 days to be cleared instead of 2-3 weeks and at the sister harbour in Takoradi, importers can get their goods cleared in a day as against 2 days earlier. In the face of a 114% increase in duty/tax exemptions over 2004 levels, and a 10% increase in declaration volume at Kotoka, 8% increase in volume at Tema, and an overall 9% in declaration volume, the improved revenue levels were sustained in 2005. In 2006 also global revenues increased by 22% in spite of nearly 25% growth in duty/exemptions over 2005 exemptions level. b) Productivity - in personal communications with a clearing agent by the author, (Sidem, 2008) noted, his work has been made easier by integration of all the required clearing networks. He was also happy to save 50% more, from not giving out ‘facilitation fees which were suppose to hasten clearing processes. c) Clearance Speed - with the provision of accurate “Real Time” reporting of revenue collection and transaction reconciliation, reporting on “Real Time” trade statistics, accurate and reliable database for development planning and programming, it is no wonder that importers, exporters and other end users of customs services in Ghana are not complaining about delays as they previously used to. Above facts show how valuable the introduction of automation has been not only to government in its improved rate at revenue collection through Customs Service, but also to the many stakeholders in the area of international trade.

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The Ghana Community Network however, is a single agency solution and it is also the first major e-governance initiative in Ghana. Even though such single agency solutions are seen as narrow answers to the e-governance question, it is a step towards the realization or recognition of good governance, for a developing country such as Ghana.

IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES As the Singapore experience shows, development of the UAIS entails challenges, from the design of a master plan, to the system’s phased implementation and maintenance. It also requires the training of staff and management of changes, which tend to receive less attention than investment activities. Singapore’s experience shows that human resource development and change management are as important as the other aspects in the development of the UAIS. In order to resist these challenges, Singapore put a strong focus on hiring a holistic eGovernment Solutions specialist with deep experience in working with governments to: • • •

achieve national competitiveness for their nations improve administrative transparency and efficiency and, create positive spin-offs for their constituencies (businesses and citizens) (Sathasivam, 2009)

Political Will Ghana’s GCNET roll-out was plagued with peculiar teething problems apart from the typical ones mentioned earlier. Principal of the challenges was the timing of its incorporation in November 2000, which was only one month ahead of the December 2000 national elections in Ghana.

The opposition won the elections, and it took up to March 2001 for a new Cabinet to be installed. This power vacuum and the transition period before the new Cabinet members, reviewed policy decisions made by the previous Government for due diligence purposes, seriously affected the implementation of the Gateway Program, and prevented operational decisions to be taken by its Secretariat, amongst which were the procurement of computer hardware to be used by Customs as its operational contribution. Also, with many new Ministers being appointed, the automation did not get the political backing that had been expected at its creation, when a powerful Ministry of Trade and Industry stood behind the project and its vision of integrating the various trading partners into one trading community. As in Singapore, ‘champions’ have to be identified to push for such an agenda to be successfully operational, and without government support or understanding, challenges prevail. At CEPS, the leadership was initially tentative of the reforms that the introduction of the new Customs management system required, particularly the document and process simplification it required. Consequently, and with the uncertain political direction, it took Customs 14 months to bring in its capital to the table. It also took a while (till July 2002) for the legislation to be modified to permit the automation of Customs operation. However, once the new administration had completed its due diligence on the relevance of the project, and the operational modalities to be followed, the administration supported it as a key feature of its revenue mobilization and facilitating role for trade operators. The basic need of political will therefore, was initially, an obstacle to the achievement of this e-Governance initiative.

Attitudinal Constraint One of the most obvious challenges in an agency such as Customs is that of attitudinal constraint

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which comes about as a result of the non-.creation of an environment for the adoption of information and communications technologies in Ghana. Since most officials enjoyed patronage from importers, automation of the clearing system has not been fully welcomed. There is a lot of resistance to changing the business process which was manual and allowed the demand of ‘facilitation fees’ by Customs officials of clearing agents who also passed these exorbitant fees on to the importers. In investing in such public service delivery, the Network jointly with government, should have paid attention to teaching Custom officers about the overall benefits of such service delivery which leads to improved decision-making by government; trust in government and most especially transparency and accountability. Three years after automation begun with the clearance procedure in Ghana, Cofie (2005) Managing Director of the multinational Unilever Group of companies, complained of frequent breakdown of the system and slow technical support. Excessive paperwork and lack of equipment at the ports defeated the good intentions of the system, he added. These complaints can easily be attributed to the attitudinal constraint by customs officials who were suspicious of a new system which ‘dug’ into their facilitation fee regime. With 78.5% of the population earning less than USD$2.00 a day according to the MDG Monitor for 2007, it is not surprising that corruption will eat deep into the fabric of Customs. The previous manual system made it very easy for Customs officials to collect ‘facilitation fees’ at each step of the clearing process. The Network system was thus not a welcome tool. Darko (2008) Executive Director of Ghana Community Network in a recent personal communication with the author mentioned certain excuses given by some customs’officials to explain frequent so-called ‘breakdown’ of the automated system as bordering on the ridiculous. Although,

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one must admit, that from time to time, machines do break down. It depends on the causes. Ineffective use therefore, is a very challenging impediment to the successful implementation of the automated clearing process in Ghana. Resistance to change, is not experienced only at the Customs level but also with the declarants, some of whom, according to Owusu (2008) Executive Secretary of Ghana Revenue Agencies Governing Board in personal communication with the author, under -declare the invoice value of their imports by their ability to access the Network. Does this mean there is no Role- Based Access Control feature in the system? Is it not possible that these declarants are ‘shopping’ for values from different Destination Inspectors and using the lowest values? One does not need to go behind the software to do this since it is the values presented by the declarants that are keyed into the system. Such actions can only mean that the system is not an intelligent business solution, but a basic static tool. It has been reported that certain trucks bound for neighbouring countries have been diverted even though they had been equipped with i-Transit technology. Not being an intelligent tool it has been possible to have security breaches - serious implementation concern since this undermines the systems’ objectives.

Capacity Building Constraint It is not very clear that the Network has ensured that there is enough understanding, sharing and partnership building in order to make the ICT strategy work. ICTs require technical expertise and human capabilities which are built through a lot of experience. However, in a new ICT environment as pertains in Ghana, most of the experienced Customs officials are not technically advanced and Sidem (2008) remarked that, government should be able to promote younger and more IT conscious customs officials to handle the system.

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It is clear that capacity building for e-governance success is missing here. The absence of more qualified persons manning the system, he continued, may be due to the fact that the older non-ICT conscious officials prefer not to give room to younger more IT-conscious officials. It is clear though, that to efficiently deploy ICTs for effective customs clearance processes, it is necessary to develop human resource strategies. Even though Ghana has a well acknowledged ICT Development Policy, since 38.1% of the population is already illiterate; IT knowledge appear a far off dream for the illiterates. The trade-offs are about basic survival needs of water, shelter, good health, clean markets and well-run schools. E-Governance means nothing to the ordinary man if he cannot feed his family, even though access to information would certainly add value to his living standard. With severe infrastructural and illiteracy constraints in the country, even with the ICT4AD Policy in place, there is still an inadequate enabling environment impeding e-inclusion and e-participation. Customs keeps training its officials in the use of computers, but money invested in these training sessions could be saved for investment into upgrades of the software in use if the Service employs officials who are already IT savvy. It is argued that even though it is costly to build national infrastructure for national information, it is even costlier without such structures. The Ministry of Public Sector Reform, must therefore, focus on the difficulties of using ICTs to transform data and information into useful knowledge by creating an environment that is better able to adapt to the knowledge economy. This is the only way to build trust in government.

Institutional Constraint There are also institutional constraints that are needed for a successful change management.

Declarants and operators have to be compliant with the system, but the inability to afford personal computers by all clearing agents and to afford IT training has affected smooth operation of the system. Since access to ICTs is still in its formative stage here in Ghana as mentioned earlier in this chapter, so many people are e-illiterate and therefore outside the inclusive net of IT benefits. Clearing Agents, who are this marginalized, have to depend on others who are e-literate at a cost, which cost is further dropped to the importer. Non-compliance means not being able to get your goods cleared fast enough, since all agents, have to go through the system to have goods cleared. The value –added to this service seems ‘pinched’ in the light of these constraints. There are certain regulatory agencies that are also finding it difficult to interface with the Network. It is expected that in future, the system will pursue interfaces with other agencies through its system, to produce seamless clearance of goods so that collaboration with neighbouring countries’ Customs Services would improve transit processes. This initiative has already begun with Cote d’ivoire and Niger. Planned continuous training of Customs officers and trade operators is also worthy of mention. Three years after the introduction of the Network in 2005, Amanhyia (2005) an Education Officer with the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders Association, observed that despite the length of time the automation has been in existence, the bulk of information passing between the various sectors are still in hard copies necessitating numerous manual operator data input much of which is usually a duplication of information already in the system. Much of the reluctance to change is due to the fact that because the greater part of the country’s revenue is derived from duties; customs has a mandate to ensure maximization of revenue collection which often conflicts with efforts at fa-

223

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

cilitating movement of cargo. In addition because importers and exporters are not well represented in the country, there is little continuing pressure on customs to expedite trade’. Amanhyia (2005) Added that, there is therefore a need now for a comprehensive national strategy to focus on the requirements of the nation’s trading community. The strategy needs to be jointly developed by all sectors involved in the nation’s external trade, so that a clear understanding of the objective; to deliver the goods on time, and at a competitive cost, is achieved. By September 2007, the Network had not been connected to the Tema State Warehouse at the Tema Port. Paper transactions continued to take place adding to operational problems of officers at the State Warehouse, (Apeadu, 2007). Testifying before the Justice Samuel Glenn Baddoo Committee that is investigating operational irregularities at Customs, Apeadu (2007) said the Uncleared Cargo List was also not connected to the system. It is quite logical that whereas automation would make all stakeholders compliant, it was not, in Ghana’s e-illiterate environment, wise to use the system everywhere at once. Funding for infrastructure, hardware and its installation, and training, take a lot of time to put in place, and this has been illustrated with the slow process of implementation.

LESSONS LEARNED AND FUTURE PLANS

•

which is key in a modernization exercise and Remedy the existing government salary structure which does not incentivize good performance (also key in a modernization exercise).

Automation of Ghana’s port clearing procedures anchored the reforms and assured continuity and focus on the reform objectives during a period of political transition. It showed that drawing on IT can yield quick results. It took three-and-a-half years to roll out the Ghana Community Network and Ghana Customs Management Systems in ports that account for more than 90% of all Ghana’s trade. Unlike previous years and inspite of its implementation challenges, there is a much stronger audit trail. Also, a modern customs might be in a position to take over from the Network when the service contract expires. Benefits of automation have been well acknowledged by the WCO and World Bank not because it has no challenges. A critical look at the Table 1 from the Revenue Agencies Governing Board website, shows annual tax revenue from Customs increased appreciably Table 1. Ghana - MDG Indicators (Revenue Agencies Governing Board, 2007)

Private–public sector partnerships along the lines of the Build Operate and Transfer format can work. The use of a Public Private Partnership with the Network allowed government to;

Ghana Country Data

•

•

224

Overcome the limited government resources available to modernize the customs processes, Remedy the lack of a large pool of technology savvy personnel in Government ranks

Population (m)

22.5

Per-capita GDP (PPP US$)

2,480

HDI rank (/177)

135

Life expectancy (years)

59.1

Combined gross enrolment (%):

50.7

% of population under $2 per day

78.5

Cellular subscribers (per 1000)

129

Internet users (per 1000)

18

Source: (UNDP, 2007)

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

from 2002 when automation was introduced into clearing of goods at the country’s ports. Keen observation shows that the volume of goods is what eventually translates into achieving higher tax revenue. Introduction of the automated system has sped up the process of goods clearance and not necessarily increased revenue; even though, it can be argued, that the faster the process, the more goods that are cleared and the more revenue that accrues, if the volumes are right.

This is illustrated by Table 2 which shows the actual percentage contribution to total tax revenue by the various revenue agencies including CEPS during the same years under review. The percentage contribution to total tax revenue by CEPS between 2000 and 2007 as shown has not seen any fantastic rise since 2002 when the Network was introduced. It is the clearing process that has seen a lot of improvement.

Table 2. Revenue Agencies Governing Board. Annual Tax Revenue (Revenue Agencies Governing Board, 2007) ANNUAL TAX REVENUE (IN MILLION GH¢) AGENCY

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

IRS

140.94

212.38

284.47

408.28

538.20

644.65

734.12

910.26

PAYE

48.32

67.74

92.40

142.21

182.62

228.59

315.07

372.22

SELF-EMPLOYED

7.54

11.38

15.83

21.73

27.12

31.30

35.95

45.59

COMPANIES

69.67

96.66

127.11

179.46

251.19

317.62

315.37

423.37

OTHERS

15.41

36.60

27.36

40.61

37.77

35.94

51.91

60.07

NRL

0.00

0.00

19.41

19.42

34.55

24.59

10.26

3.19

AIRPORT TAX

0.00

0.00

2.37

4.85

4.94

6.61

5.56

5.82

VATS

59.98

76.28

109.01

152.68

215.09

279.07

354.74

466.78

DOMESTIC VAT

38.52

50.88

72.31

102.56

143.41

177.33

233.45

337.34

EXCISE

21.46

25.40

36.70

50.12

62.22

66.50

74.72

62.07

NHIL

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

9.46

35.24

46.56

67.37

CEPS

240.54

367.04

467.33

717.33

933.21

1,133.88

1,281.96

1,663.19

IMPORT DUTIES

80.79

126.85

162.61

236.72

288.31

340.35

399.01

566.07

IMPORT VAT

88.69

145.53

159.83

230.78

312.12

346.53

389.54

534.62

NHIL

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

27.35

68.80

78.19

106.56

PETROLEUM

53.18

64.66

108.00

170.59

300.75

376.30

415.17

455.94

EXPORT DUTY

17.88

30.00

36.89

79.24

4.68

1.91

0.05

0.00

TOTAL REVENUE

441.46

655.70

860.81

1,278.28

1,686.50

2,057.60

2,370.82

3,040.23

Source: http://www.ragb.gov.gh

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The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

Table 3. % Contribution to Total Tax Revenue PERCENTAGE CONTRIBUTION TO TOTAL TAX REVENUE AGENCY

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

IRS

31.9

32.4

33.0

31.9

31.9

31.3

31.0

29.9

PAYE

10.9

10.3

10.7

11.1

10.8

11.1

13.3

12.2

SELF-EMPLOYED

1.7

1.7

1.8

1.7

1.6

1.5

1.5

1.5

COMPANIES

15.8

14.7

14.8

14.0

14.9

15.4

13.3

13.9

OTHERS

3.5

5.6

3.2

3.2

2.2

1.7

2.2

2.0

NRL

0.0

0.0

2.3

1.5

2.0

1.2

0.4

0.1

AIRPORT TAX

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.4

0.3

0.3

0.2

0.2

VATS

13.6

11.6

12.7

11.9

12.8

13.6

15.0

15.4

DOMESTIC VAT

8.7

7.8

8.4

8.0

8.5

8.6

9.8

11.1

EXCISE

4.9

3.9

4.3

3.9

3.7

3.2

3.2

2.0

NHIL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.6

1.7

2.0

2.2

CEPS

54.5

56.0

54.3

56.1

55.3

55.1

54.1

54.7

IMPORT DUTIES

18.3

19.3

18.9

18.5

17.1

16.5

16.8

18.6

IMPORT VAT

20.1

22.2

18.6

18.1

18.5

16.8

16.4

17.6

NHIL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

1.6

3.3

3.3

3.5

PETROLEUM

12.0

9.9

12.5

13.3

17.8

18.3

17.5

15.0

EXPORT DUTY

4.1

4.6

4.3

6.2

0.3

0.1

0.0

0.0

TOTAL REVENUE

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Source: http://ww.ragb.gov.gh

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION Since the GCNET service contract with government ends in 2010, this should be an appropriate period to do an impact assessment of the use of ICTs in public service delivery in Ghana. It is important for government to note that the value of e-government will increasingly be defined by its contribution to development for all. Citizencentricity, inclusiveness, connected government, universal access and use of new technologies will be the benchmarks against which electronic and other innovative forms of public service de-

226

livery should be assessed, notes the UNDESA’s 2010 e-Government Survey titled “Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis.” Research attention to the current pervasive use of mobile telephony in Ghana as an alternative to computer usage both in infrastructural and accessibility terms in trade facilitation would be interesting. Such research could certainly lead to a more systemic and holistic approach which would undoubtedly be better suited for its multipurpose technologies which necessarily impact in a systemic manner.

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

SUM UP The World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2003–2004 provides a comprehensive analysis of the ICT readiness of individual countries and regions (Dutta, 2004). It takes account of the environment, readiness, and usage of information and telecommunications technologies. The research suggests that a certain threshold needs to be reached before there can be effective usage of, and consequent impact from, ICT. Customs authorities do not necessarily need to employ the very latest and most sophisticated technological solutions available, but rather the ones that are most appropriate for their own operating environment, resource base, telecommunications infrastructure, and realistic development ambitions. In other words, the solutions should be coordinated, relevant, appropriate, and achievable to meet national needs, given local conditions and resources. They should be affordable and sustainable in the long-term, taking into account resource obligations, resource availability, political and administrative will, and long-term system support, maintenance, and flexibility. This chapter has been devoted to the primary challenges faced by a developing country in its attempt to use ICTs to increase its revenue Recently, Quarcoo (2008) correctly noted that, ‘IT Service Delivery involves structured processes or activities that include negotiating work items and schedules, seeking and providing information and expertise, and, using and sharing custom tools and practices. As such, it is imperative that adequate training be given to all stakeholders of IT Service Delivery to ensure application of best practice’. Clearly, there is no “one size fits all” approach for implementing IT in customs. The Ghana Community Network has nevertheless, been one e-Governance initiative in Ghana that has been quite successful in its approach. TradeNet was well adapted to suit the Ghanaian conditions especially where the inadequate infrastructural environment is concerned and this

was achieved by the Network building its own technological infrastructure. The initiative does fully illustrate the vision of the government, which is to “develop policies and programmes to transform Ghana into a country with sufficient, efficient, cost effective and accessible communications infrastructure to propel appropriate technological applications and innovations to enhance socio-economic development” (Ghana Government, 2008). However, an approach at finding what you need, when you need it, would be less challenging and more likely to occur when a community of interest participates in building a comprehensive resource. Successful e-Governance implementation is not only dependent on physical and infrastructural requirements, but a country has to have in place, a well marketed vision i.e. an environment that makes citizens eager to adopt ICTs; and also enough well trained personnel to enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across government departments.

REFERENCES Bertucci (2007). Development Administration: Enhancing Public Sector Performance through ICTs. UN Newsletter 2007, 1(113). Bridges Across Borders. (2007). Fostering Outsourcing Partnership in Financial Services and Information Technology. 6-9 November 2007, Accra, Ghana Calvillo, & Gamez E.H. (2002). Information Infrastructure Enhancement Initiatives: A Case Study in Ghana. MIT, DHP P232/ESD.127 Clift, S. (2006). E-Democracy, E-Governance and Public Net-Work. Retrieved from http://www. opensourcejahrbuch.de/Archiv/2006/abstracts/ kapitel_04/abstracts/2004/pdfs/IV-5-Clift.pdf

227

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet):

Cofie (2005). Industry Experience: The Case of Unilever in Ghana Workshop on Trade Facilitation in Ghana. October 17-19 2005

Omaboe (2007). Winnie World Investment News. Retrieved from http://www.winne.com/dninterview.php?intervid=2114

Darko (2008, November). Executive Director, Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet). November 2008. Retrieved from http://www. gcnetghana.com

Owusu (2008, October). Executive Secretary, Ghana Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB). Retrieved from http://www.ragb.gov.gh

de Wulff (2004). Customs Modernization Initiatives: Case Studies. Dutta (2004). The Global Information Technology Report towards an Equitable Information Society. Oxford University Press.

Premchand (2001). Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Idea and Reality. Paper prepared for the workshop on Financial Management and Accountability, Rome, Nov 28-30, 2001. Pufmarp (1996). Retrieved from http://www.wds. worldbank.org/.../wdsp/ib/a997

Ghana Government. (2008). ICT Highlights- Ghana, Baah-Wiredu 2008 Budget Speech. Retrieved from http://mofep.gov/gh/downloads.htm

Quarcoo (2008). IT Service Delivery: An Essential Component for Competitive Advantage. 2nd West African CIO Summit Accra 27-28 May 2008

Government of Ghana (2003). Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I & II. (GPRS I&11)

Sidem (2008, May). Managing Director Sidem Logistics Limited. Accra Ghana. Retrieved from www.sidemlogistics.com May 2008

Hill (2005). Current Trends in Public Sector Modernization. Speyer University, Germany ICT4AD (2003). Ghana, ICT for Accelerated Development (GICT4AD) Lempiainen (2005). 7th International Export Control Conference. Stockholm, Sweden. September 20-22 2005. Mamosi (2007). Modernization of Public Services and Governance: II. Research and Studies. Retrieved from www.cafrad.org/cafrad/ news/Web_News/Copie%20de%20News%20 Letter%20juin%202006-juin%202007_Eng.pdf -McMaster (n.d.). The Evolution of Electronic Trade Facilitation: Towards a Global Single Window Trade Portal – Information Technology and Trade Facilitation and Promotion. MDGs (2000). United Nations 2000 Okot-Uma. (2004). The Road Map to e-Governance Implementation: Selected Perspectives. Presented at the Commonwealth Regional Pacific Workshop on Law and Technology 1-5 November, 2004. Wellington, New Zealand. 228

UK Commission for Africa (2005). UK Commission for Africa Report, 2005. UNDP. (2007). Ghana Human Development Report 2007: Towards A More Inclusive Society. Retrieved from http://www.undp-gha.org/docs/ human%20development%20report.pdf UNECE (2006). UNESCA, 2006 b. United Nations (2008). UN Global e-Government Readiness Survey 2008. University of South California. (n.d.). Singapore Trade Net. Retrieved from http://www.ref.usc. edu/-fulk/545/tradenet.htm WCO. (2003). Revised Arusha Declaration. Retrieved from http://customs.bg/document/3107 WCO. (2007). Retrieved from http://www. wco200md.org/home.htm World BANK (2006). World Bank External Review of Public Management. Main Report. Number 36384 -GH.

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World Bank (2000). Governance and Corruption Survey 2000. World Bank (2001). World Bank Ghana Survey – Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition 2001.

ADDITIONAL READING Arunachalam (2003). Information for Research in Developing Countries- Information Technology, a Friend or a Foe? Beaumaster (1999). Information Technology Implementation Issues: An Analysis. Partial fulfillment of Dr. Of Philosophy Degree. Boateng (2009). Electronic/Mobile Government in Africa. Building capacity in Knowledge Management through Partnership. Ghana Country presentation. Castells (2000). Towards a Sociology of the Network Society. Contemporary Sociology.

Lewis (2008). Impact of ICT on Customs. LIBRI(2003). A Moral Reflection on the Information flow from South to North: An African Perspective. Mai, N. (2008). Leveraging Networks for Public Service Delivery Ministry of Communications, Republic of Ghana (2006). eGhana Project: Implementation Manual. Nzepa (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.wgig.org/ docs/book/Olivier_Nana_Nzepa.html OECD - DAC Network on Good Governance & Capacity Development (2002). Improving Service Delivery through Public Service Reform: Lessons of experience from Select Sub-Saharan African Countries. Opoku (2004). Ghana and ICT: Strides, Challenges and the Way Forward.

Commonwealth Secretariat (2000). Fighting Corruption: Promoting Good Governance.

Schuppan (2009). From Implementation to Adoption: Challenges to Successful e-Government Diffusion.

Etta (2003). Information and Communication Technologies for Development in Africa: Experience with Community Telecentres.

Siddique (2007). Transforming Government: People, Process & Policy. Service Delivery Innovations & Governance: The Malaysian experience.

Garrido (2004). A Comparative Analysis of ICT for Developing Evaluation Frameworks.

The Ghanaian Journal. (2009). GCNET’s dividend to Government. Retrieved from http://www. theghanaianjournal.com/2009/08/14/gcnetpresents-19-million-ghana-cedis-dividend-togovernment/

Ghana Business News. (2010). GCNET’s Valuation Services Retrieved from http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2010/05/30/gcnet-to-providevaluation-services/ Hai Teo, H.(1997). Organizational Transformation using Electronic Data Interchange: The Case of TradeNet in Singapore Harvard Business (1995). Singapore TradeNet: Beyond TradeNet to the Intelligent Island Kimberley (2007). e-Governance in Trade Facilitation: Transparency & ICT as Prerequisites.

The World Bank (2005). Staff Incentives & Project Implementation: Lessons from e-Government. UNCTAD (2008). Use of Customs Automation. World Development Report - The World Bank (1989). Financial Systems and Development. Zeleza (2006). IDRC Part 5: Conclusions. Chapter 21 Postscript: Challenges of the ICT Revolution in East Africa

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Challenges: Impediments to solutions. Corruption: Misuse of one’s official position to cheat and undermine government policies. e-Government: The use of ICT online for public services and digital collaboration between ministries and government departments and agencies. Public Administration: The practical use of such policies by government ministries, departments and agencies.

230

Public Policy: Any government related rule (s) which deal(s) with the vision of that government or country. Trade Facilitation: Ensures efficient use of service delivery in clearing goods from ports by related government agencies. Transparency: Integrity in service delivery.

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Chapter 13

Danish eGovernment Success Factors:

Strategies and Good Practice Examples Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen Danish Technological Institute, Denmark

ABSTRACT Denmark has been at the forefront of eGovernment development and implementation for the last ten years. ICT facilitated modernisation has been a focus area for increase efficiency and effectiveness since the mid-1980s with eGovernment national initiatives and strategies in place since 1999. Still the current state (May 2010) of public sector digitisation in Denmark face a number of eGovernment related challenges and opportunities in relation to the shift to Government 2.0 and a greater focus on use-centricity, reuse of public sector information and a network society. As illustrated by the specific eGovernment strategies, initiatives and good practice examples Danish authorities, at all levels of government, posses a number of strengths equipping them well for further digitisation and a move to Government 2.0. Strengths which include: Well developed strategies, goals and activities; single point of entry initiatives; attended and aligned development, common standards and enterprise architecture; joint development, strategies, corporation and marketing; guidelines and methodologies developed specifically to optimise the use of ICT etc. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch013

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

INTRODUCTION Over the years, digitisation has become a natural part of providing services throughout the public sector. Many elements of the actual production and provision of services and communication between citizens, businesses and the public sector have become electronic. A consequence of this development is that ongoing efforts need alignment with emerging and future challenges. This alignment is needed to fully exploit the possibilities arising from, and within, an increasingly digitalised society. In this context, Denmark has in the last decade repeatedly been highlighted as one of the most advanced examples in the world of eGovernment and technology use in the public sector - including good rankings in various Eurostat statistics, European Commission benchmarking (see Table 1), a second position on the 2005 and 2008 United Nations eGovernment Readiness Ranking etc. In this respect the 2007-2010 Danish eGovernment strategy has raised the level of ambition, and sets new standards, for the development of citizen services and for an improved cohesion

across the public sector. Nonetheless the upcoming OECD review of the Danish eGovernment strategies and progress since 2005 is expected to highlight a number of challenges related to the optimisation the potential of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the public sector, user take-up, clarity of the national vision etc. (the OECD review is expected mid-2010). While this chapter does not constitute an academic discourse of global eGovernance strategy and practice, but an analysis of the Danish eGovernment experience. The objective of the chapter is through key experiences and examples to highlight factors which have facilitated the successful introduction of ICT into the Danish public sector. In light of this objective the basic approach taken by the author in the analysis will be anchored in key strategy and policy documents, initiatives, management documents and presentations. The first part will therefore outline the key difference between eGovernance and eGovernment. The second part of this analysis will therefore highlight the Danish policy background and strategies since 1999 while illustrating the change from an early focus on the conversion to a network

Table 1. Selected ICT and eGovernment statistics and rankings for Denmark and EU27 (2009) (Eurostat (2010)) Denmark 2009

EU27 2009

Ranking

Total DSL coverage (as % of total population)

100.0

94.0

1

3G coverage (as % of total population)

99.5*

N/A

2

% of population who regularly use the internet (min. once a week)

82

60

4

% of population who use the internet daily (daily or almost daily)

72

48

3

% of population who have never used the internet

11

30

3

% of households with broadband connection

76

56

3

% of enterprises with (fixed) broadband connection

80

83

17

% basics public services for citizens fully available online

75

66

11

% of basic public services for enterprises fully online

100

86

1

% of population using eGovernment services

67

30

1

% of publication using eGovernment services for returning filled in forms

33

13

1

% of enterprises using eGovernment services

90

71

4

% of enterprises using eGovernment services for returning filled in forms

66

55

8

232

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

society and the creation of digital public sector to one aiming to realise the potential of increased efficiency and quality through measurement and joint collaboration. The third part will in turn outline some of the success factors and good practice examples which have enabled Denmark to reach its current status as an international leader in eGovernment and public sector ICT use. Aspects covered include: the importance of alignment and atonement to ensure interoperability; enterprise-architecture for increased efficiency; joint development necessitates joint operation; but also some of the challenges still faced.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EGOVERNANCE AND EGOVERNMENT eGovernance and eGovernment are concepts which the majority of governments have embraced in their attempts for more economical and swifter ways to provide services to their citizenry. This embrace have in the last two decades contributed to the growth of online services and initiatives within, and from, government departments as illustrated by the multitude of national, regional, local and even international initiatives and strategies (e.g., eGovernment Action Plans from regions, large cities, national government or the European Commission). eGovernance is the process of governments moving online to electronically deliver services and programs, provide information, and interact with the citizen. eGovernance constitutes the application of proven governance principles that drives the public service to the world of electronic government. This includes the formation of new relationships and partnerships across the different levels of government, with the private sector, citizens and other stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations (NGO’s). In essence eGovernance constitutes the development,

deployment and enforcement of the policies, laws and regulations necessary to support the functioning of a knowledge society as well as of eGovernment. Or to paraphrase the Victoria eGovernment Resource Centre (2010), Oman’s Information Technology Agency (2010) and the Riley Report (2008): eGovernance is the successful and innovative applications of eGovernance across government departments and agencies determine the success of the development of eGovernment programs and initiatives. In contract to eGovernance, eGovernment is the actual ICT enables transformation of internal and external public sector relationships in order to optimise service delivery – and increasingly with Web 2.0 and citizen participation. Digital society is a society or community that is well advanced in the adoption and integration of digital technology into daily life at home, work and play. eGovernment constitutes the way in which public sector institutions use and apply technology to conduct the business of government i.e., how government use new tools to enhance the delivery of existing services. The degree of application of eGovernment programs very much and depends on the amount of personnel and financial resources a given public sector organisation has available to implement specific programs and initiatives. Thus the degree of application of online services will vary widely between developed, medium developed and developing countries.

INITIATIVES, STRATEGIES AND CHANGING FOCUS ICT enabled modernization of the public sector goes back some 40 years in Denmark. In the 1970s and 1980s the focus was mainly on process automation to increase efficiency in the public sector, thus following a similar pattern as other OECD countries (OECD, 2005, pp. 6-7). In 1983 the government introduces a “modernisation programme” in which the introduction of IT-based

233

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

office systems in all public sector organizations was an integral part. This was followed by the 1994 “Information Society 2000” report (also known as the Dybkjær report) (Forskningsministeriet, 1994) also lead to the establishment of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (VTU), as well as the National IT- and Telecom Agency (ITST).

Digital-Denmark: Conversion to the Network Society In 1999, the Digital Denmark Committee publishes “Digital-Denmark - Conversion to the Network Society” report. The report outlined a number of specific targets for the development of a ‘network society’ plus a number of recommendations for initiatives in this area. The objective of the targets and initiatives was to make Denmark a leading information and knowledge society while preserving the welfare state model and associated values. The “Digital Denmark” report was in other words published ahead of the 2000 European Union (EU) Lisbon Strategy to make Europe the world’s foremost knowledge and information society. The “Digital Denmark” report and the Digital Denmark Committee were in 2000 followed by the establishment of the Committee for Digital Administration – a cross-organisational committee placed under the authority of the Ministry of Finance. The work of the Committee resulted in two major initiatives to: 1. Ensure the implementation of XML as the communication standard in the public sector. 2. Develop the use of digital signatures. The Committee for Digital Administration is today know as the Digital Taskforce and is housed in the Centre for Efficiency and Digitisation in the Ministry of Finance. Another development is that the Digital Taskforce implemented www. modernisering.dk – a virtual one-stop-shop with the objective to assist public sector organizations

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(at local, regional, national) in efficient ICT facilitated modernization and efficiency improvements.

Towards eGovernment: Vision and Strategy for the Public Sector in Denmark The first ‘real’ eGovernment strategy in Denmark was published in 2001 under the heading “Towards eGovernment: Vision and Strategy for the Public Sector in Denmark” (2001-2004). Following the 1999 “Digital Denmark” initiative the strategy marked the start-up of a joint digitisation efforts and cooperation among the municipal, regional and state level administrations. Joint development and cooperation have since formed the basis for the Danish approach to eGovernment and public sector modernisation. Similarly this joint, crossorganisational, approach is an early example of eGovernance in practice. The strategy document was prepared by the Digital Taskforce in the framework of the “Project eGovernment” initiative. “Project eGovernment” set out the countrywide vision for the systematic utilisation of digital technologies with the objective of introducing new ways of thinking. But also to facilitate the transformation of organisations and work processes to improve the efficiency of the public sector and the quality of service delivered (ePractice.eu, 2010a). In addition to the overall objectives the strategy outlined a number of targets and priorities for achieving that vision. Targets included (ePractice. eu, 2010a): 1. eGovernment should actively contribute to the development of network society. 2. The public sector should work and communicate electronically. 3. Public sector services should be delivered in a comprehensive way with recipient citizen and business at the centre.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

4. The tasks of the public sector should be carried out where they are handled in the best possible way (i.e.,subsidiarity principle). Priorities included (ePractice.eu1, 2010): 1. Flexible public sector organizations. 2. Cooperation in the form of service communities. 3. Slimmer administration facilitated by more efficient work processes. 4. Multiple public sector access points. 5. Full electronic services in all major public sector service areas. 6. Electronic infrastructure in all public organizations enabling them to communicate electronically, have the necessary document handling systems and use XML as the technical standard. 7. Secure eGovernment to ensure public trust and the security and privacy of electronic communication. 8. Support and knowledge sharing. During this initial eGovernment Strategy the concept of the eDay (eDag) was developed and implemented. The basic concept of the eDay is to identify a specific date on which a given type of digitization initiative should be available to all in the target group, implemented in all involved public sector organisations and fully functional whether at national, regional or local level. In 2003 the eDay (eDag) was implemented to ensure that digital communication became the rule rather than the exception when public authorities communicate with one another (see promotion and encouragement below for further details). Despite the well developed vision, goals and objectives of the 2001-2004 strategy and a good progress a number of challenges were still unsolved in 2005. The 2005 OECD e-Government Study of Denmark (OECD, 2005) for example indicated that the overall momentum had been difficult to maintain across various levels of

government. It was also highlighted that a better understanding of the purpose and scope of the eGovernment strategy was required. Similarly that the level of cooperation between organisations and across levels of the public sector was required if the right balance between centralised coordination and decentralised implementation was to be achieved – this despite the existence of the joint Digital Taskforce initiated under the framework of “Project eGovernment” and the 2001-2004 strategy (OECD, 2005, p. 7). In essence, the organisational and governance model needed to be strengthened and communication with stakeholders and partners intensified to ensure a better understanding of the strategic objectives of the eGovernment strategy.

Realising the Potential Published in 2004 under the title “Realising the Potential” (2004-2006), the second eGovernment strategy, added impetus to the development of the public sector’s internal digitization. Following the 2001 “Towards eGovernment” initiative the main goal of the 2004-2006 strategy was to achieve a highly effective, customer-focused public sector capable of delivering top quality services to citizens and businesses. The strategy, which was developed by the government in cooperation with the country’s regional and local authorities, called for a change of focus. The strategy emphasized the enhancement of organisational and managerial aspects (i.e.,aspects of eGovernance), and not merely a primary focus on technology. Organisational and management aspects was thus elevated in importance and emphasized as key elements for the actual development and implementation of a modern public sector (ePractice.eu, 2010b). Technology use was as a result of pervious initiatives no longer seen as goal in itself but increasing as a key enabler. Albeit an enabler who’s benefits could be optimized through appropriate management in combination with process and organizational re-

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engineering. In short the strategic vision for the period was that “Digitalisation must contribute to the creation of an efficient and coherent public sector with a high quality of service, with citizens and businesses in the centre” (ePractice.eu, 2010b). To ensure the materialization of the 2004-2006 vision and to monitor the progress of its realisation, the 2004-2006 strategy included five ‘signposts’ (or targets), each comprising a number of specific priority objectives to be fulfilled by public sector organisations in the period. The strategy also emphasized the need to evaluate concrete project outcomes to ensure that eGovernment investment delivered measurable improvements in the quality of public services. The five signposts were: 1. The public sector must provide coherent services with citizens and businesses at the centre. 2. eGovernment must result in improved service quality and the release of resources. 3. The public sector must work and communicate digitally. 4. eGovernment must be based on a coherent and flexible infrastructure. 5. Public sector managers must lead the way to ensure that their own organizations are capable of realizing the vision. For each of the five signposts specific targets to be achieved by 2006 were outlined. For example, targets for signpost 1 was to ensure that by 2006: At least 60% of the population used the public sectors digital services (up from 40% in 2003); a minimum of 95% of all businesses use the public sectors digital services (up from 72% in 2002); at least 60% of all public sector organizations received minimum of 25% of all documents from citizens and business electronically (up from 15% and 21% for citizens and business respectively in 2003) (ePractice.eu 2010b). Building on success of the first eDag in 2003, the 2005 eDag2 was designed to ensure that citizens, businesses and public authorities were

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able to communicate securely with each other, thus enabling the digital exchange of documents containing confidential information (see promotion and encouragement below for further details). An interesting aspect of the “Realising the Potential” strategy was the refocus and redevelopment and implementation of “Project eGovernment” initially launched with the “Digital Denmark” initiative in 2001. This included an outline of the overall programme plan and the responsibilities of different key actors.

2004-2006 eGovernment Strategy: Programme Plan The 2004-2006 programme plan outline the strategic vision including five signposts, six focus areas and major initiatives within the business area, major cross-organisational digitization projects while allowing room for local initiatives. The focus areas should insure that the right framework conditions are present for eGovernment initiatives in the public sector organisations. The work with a number of business areas had a duel aim i.e.,to advance public sector digitization in key areas and to serve as good examples for others. Lastly a number of major ICT projects were included to significantly contribute to the fulfilment of the strategic aims and the vision. In addition a number of specific reviews were build into the strategy to follow up on the specific targets set for each of the five signposts.

Towards Better Digital Service, Increased Efficiency and Stronger Collaboration Under the title “Towards Better Digital Service, Increased Efficiency and Stronger Collaboration” the third eGovernment Strategy for 2007-2010 was jointly adopted by the Danish Government, the association of municipalities, “Local Government Denmark” (LGDK) and the association of the five regions, “Danish Regions”. Published in

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

Figure 1. 2004-2006 eGovernment Strategy programme plan (Adapted from the Danish eGovernment Strategy 2004-2006 (2004)

June 2007, the 2007-2010 strategy build upon the experience gained during the implementation of the two previous eGovernment strategies (Modernisering.dk, 2007). The 2007-2010 strategy not only entails better, but a more binding form of, cooperation among all levels of government. While consultation and cooperation between different levels of the public sector in a Danish context by no means is a new development, the emphasis on deeper corporation is all the more interesting in relation to eGovernance as a concept. This is also reflected by the third strategy being jointly adapted - and not merely an area for consultation with the govern-

ment ultimately having the final say as the case in previous strategies. The implementation of specific digitisation measures continue to be anchored in the respective public authorities. Public bodies are in the strategy specifically requested to implement cohesive digital solutions enabling the transfer of resources from the administration to citizencentred services. This change indirectly highlights a greater emphasis on governance and organisational aspects of eGovernment as well as a move from Government 1.0 to 2.0. In this respect the strategy focus on three overarching and mutually interacting priority areas. Each of the priority areas

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includes a number of objectives and initiatives (Modernisering.dk, 2007): 1. Better digital service including: citizens and businesses must experience and accessible and services minded public sector; the public sector must offer cohesive and user-centric services; communication channels must be targeted and strengthened in order to promote digital channels as much as possible; the public sector must make it a targeted effort to involve users in the development of digital solutions; safe and secure data handling in the public sector must be guaranteed. 2. Digitisation to facilitate increased efficiency including: managerial commitment and focus on digitization must ensure that the public sector is among the best at realizing gains from ICT use; and consistent impact assessment and documentation of digitization efforts must target ICT initiatives. 3. Stronger collaboration to create digital cohesion including: increased number of decisions must be made as part of a binding community; public sector IT systems must be interoperable and speak the same language; and joint development should be strengthened trough joint operation. Thus, the strategic objective is to support the long-term development goal of a cohesive and more efficient digitisation of the public sector. In regard the strategy provides the individual authorities with a new framework for their digitalization efforts up to 2010 (e.g.,those outlined under modernisation.dk in the section on joint development necessitates joint operation below) (Modernisering.dk, 2007). Under the third eGovernment strategy the concept of the eDay plays an important role. eDay3 in 2010 will see the full implementation of the digital signatures EasyLog-in on Borger.dk and

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the eBox document archive (see promotion and encouragement below for further details).

SUCCESS FACTORS AND GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES In light of past and present eGovernment initiatives a number of aspects have facilitated Danish eGovernment development and successes. One has been the strong focus on collaboration to create a high degree of digital cohesion and alignment across government (i.e.,eGovernance aspects). Naturally such a common direction warrant joint decisions through e.g.,collective fora and bargaining leading to binding agreements. In addition there has been a focus on creating individual domain areas for either citizen (www.borger.dk, www.it-borger.dk or www.sundhed.dk) or business focused services (www.virk.dk) – indeed even joint solutions for both citizens and businesses such as tax related services (www.skat.dk). These initiatives are in turn anchored in joint digitization and interoperability standards.

Alignment and Atonement to Ensure Interoperability Public sector initiatives have in Denmark long been align and attune IT developments through both the formulation of interdisciplinary projects and joint general initiatives. The aim has been to keep development costs down while promoting the reuse of data and thus ensure that public IT systems are interoperable. In practice, individual authorities are compelled to adhere to a unified set of requirements and recommendations in a joint framework on architectural methods, security policy, and standards.1 Examples include the OIO-XML and OIO-UBL standards (see box below) and in particular when new cross cutting ICT solutions are put in place for use on the common public portals.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

Offenlig Information Online (OIO: Public Information Online): Approved and Recommended Standards to Ensure Public Sector Interoperability The Danish government’s interoperability framework and the Offenlig Information Online (OIO – Public Information Online) catalogue contains more than 600 standards recommended or approved by the National IT and Telecom Agency. These standards are either proved through their track record in archiving interoperability, de facto industry standards (e.g.,XML or UBL) as well as standards and frameworks currently being developed for e.g.,operations, processes, technical aspects, interconnectivity, electronic identity management, data and document exchange, XML schemas, electronic service provision, meta date definitions etc. The interoperability framework has been compiled in accordance with the European Interoperability Framework (http://ec.europa.eu/ idabc/en/document/3473), seen as a supplement to this national initiative, and offers a set of policies, technical standards and guidelines that outlines the Danish governments policy on how to achieve interoperability at any level of public administration including authorities that request to interoperate with other national authorities or abroad with the EU and its Member States. Denmark has facilitated the UBL 2.0 standards interoperability with the UNCEFACT standard, the Northern European Subset (www.nesubl.eu) of the UBL 2.0 and a key member of the PanEuropean Public Procurement OnLine initiative (www.peppol.eu)

Enterprise-Architecture for Increased Efficiency The enterprise-architecture approach is another key factor for the successful digitisation of Danish public sector organisations. The core objective of

the approach has been to ensure ICT facilitated efficiency improvements in the public sector. In practice this has been ensured through the development of a strategic overview of the public sector’s services, processes and IT solutions. Architecturally the focus has been on links between individual systems (interconnectivity) and the identification of opportunities for joint solutions, framework conditions and modules. The approach has in other words focused on the improvement of digital services while simultaneously facilitating the reuse of data among public bodies, streamlining of processes and organisations and economies of scale. The efficiency of this approach have been proven by a number of recent examples including the eDays (eDag – see also promoting and encouragement section below), the electronic invoice (den elektroniske regning), EasyLog-in (NemLog-in), EasyAccount (NemKonto) and NemHandel, all of which have generated substantial financial savings and/or improvements in service quality. In relation to eGovernance it is worth nothing that the electronic invoice in 2005 was the first eGovernment solution which was made legally mandatory to use by the target users (although with some exceptions in an interim period). In practice Danish approach to enterprise-architecture highlight the need for cross-organisational collaboration and governance and particularly linking digitisation efforts by municipal, regional and national authorities with one another. It approach also emphasise the need to ensure that the strategic principles of public sector IT are adhered to: Including coherent efforts within and between different areas of public sector standardisation and the common cross-government reference model for enterprise-architecture.

Genvej: Self-Service Solution for Citizens (www.gentofte.dk/genvej) Self-service access to all relevant public sector information and services is the founding principle

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of Genvej. This online service is developed by the Gentofte Kommune municipality (municipality in suburban Copenhagen). Through its integration with a number of regional, national and private partners, including tax authorities and healthcare providers, Genvej directs users to data and eServices that are useful to them (related to online passport applications, school enrolment, healthcare, etc.). More than 20% of local households regular use the municipality portal which is accessed with the national digital signature and incorporate EasyLog-in and EasyAccount plus links to the national citizen portal www.borger.dk.

NemHandel: Open, Shared eBusiness Infrastructure for Advanced Services via The Internet (http://en.itst.dk/architectureand-standards/nemhandel) NemHandel is a national, open eBusiness framework that facilitates the exchange of electronic business documents via the internet, both businessto-government and business-to-business. NemHandel allows businesses to send standardised electronic invoices from their PC in a secure and reliable fashion. The purpose is to replace less cost effective solutions, reduce the administrative burden and make the most of ICT in businesses, particularly SMEs. Like EasyLog-in (see below) and EasyAccount, NemHandel is available on the national business portal www.virk.dk is part of pallet of interrelated ICT solutions.

Joint Development Necessitates Joint Operation Like public sector digitisation around the world, Denmark has traditionally been characterised by silo thinking and continue to be so. Following early successes an increasingly horizontally focus between ministries and across levels of government have nonetheless emerged. Given that a public sector organised in silos cannot support the

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joint provision of services the focus have moved to a more horizontally oriented governance set-up supported by eGovernment. While a joint strategy and framework to promote and coordinate the transition to eGovernment across all levels of government has been in place since 2001, further digitisation and qualitative and quantitative efficiency improvements require a more holistic approach. To date the shift away from silos has produced positive results. This includes an increased scope and greater importance given to coordination and cooperation across levels of government and functional areas (OECD, 2010). This shift is in part facilitated by a general teamwork and consensus seeking work ethic and Danish authorities has found it expedient to approach the development, implementation and operation of standards and services jointly. For example, “Project eGovernment” launched in connection with the 2002 Financing Agreement is an example of this joint approach between the government, the counties (as of January 2007 the 15 counties have been emerged into five regions) and municipalities (ePractice.eu, 2010a). Also, the June 2003 decision to extend “Project eGovernment” until the end of 2006 due to the successes achieved was a joint decision between government and municipal representatives. Following the June 2004 launch of the second eGovernment strategy, representatives of national, regional and local government in 2005 decided to establish the Steering Committee for Joint Cross-Government Co-Operation (STS) with representatives from all levels of public administration as illustrated in Figure 2 below. The aim of STS was, and continues to be, to ensure a concerted focus on digitalization as an integral part of public modernization policy. Equally STS provides a forum for consultation and consensus making in relation to the Danish eGovernment efforts. With the launch of the third eGovernment strategy and the 2008 Financing Agreement the mandate of STS and “Project eGovernment” was extended until 2010 – following the same time

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

Figure 2. Danish eGovernment Structure (From An introduction to Danish ICT Policies (2010)

frame as the current present strategy (ePractice. eu 2010a). In other words, STS is essentially an eGovernment board of permanent secretaries from the main ministries and the managing directors of the local and regional government organisations. The implementation responsibility nevertheless remains with the individual authorities – but must respect to the joint strategy. In addition to STS, joint initiatives include various interdisciplinary communities such as the national knowledge centre www.modernisering. dk and the Digital Taskforce. The joint interdisciplinary approach is especially relevant when back-office processes and front-office service delivery are closely interconnected across different authorities or between different administrative levels (i.e.,local, regional and national). As part of the 2007-2010 strategy an increasing number of decisions are made as part of binding community commitments. Specific domain boards are therefore appointed for digitization, channel strategies and standardization in different selected areas. STS in turn has the overall responsibility for coordination and preparation of joint framework decisions related to public sector development (Modernisering.dk, 2007). Similarly marketing of key digital solution such as the

digital signature/EasyLog-in or NemHandel with relation to the citizen (Borger.dk) and business portals (Virk.dk) are coordinated to maximise the impact from marketing efforts and to facilitate greater take-up by the target groups. In practice joint development and operation requires a well-defined allocation of roles and responsibilities amongst the involved authorities. Thus, guidelines are as a rule developed – often by the National IT and Telecom Agency or Modernisering.dk – for setting up collaborative digital solutions cutting across the public sector. In addition joint solution for authentication and authorisation has been put in place in form of the digital signature (i.e.,EasyLog-in) (Modernisering.dk, 2007). Or as Adam Lebeck (2009) (Acting Deputy Director General, VTU - ITST) emphasised at the 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference: There is a need for agreements and consensus for standardisation across government levels (the “comply or explain governance” model), open standards (mandatory for semantic data interoperability, eID, eInvoicing, document and record management), central initiatives on key infrastructure components and standards (Presentation, 19 November 2009). But simultaneous ensure enough flexibility to allow for specific

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local and regional initiatives and implementation models. In this regard first set of compulsory, open standards became operational on 1 January 2008 and only authorities with substantiated reasons for none-compliance are graded a period of grace before the full implementation become mandatory (Modernisering.dk, 2007). Despite the allocation of specific roles and responsibilities in the joint for the current set-up to a large extent favour certain stakeholders and initiatives. For example, with the Ministry of Finance formally hosting the STS, the Digital Taskforce and Modernisering.dk these cross-organisational entities may have resulted in a short- to medium-term focus on economic efficiency gains within existing organisational silos rather than more wide reaching process and organisational reengineering than would otherwise have been the case. In this respect the VTU with its associated agencies for research and innovation and IT- and telecom, would be a more appropriate host with more details and practical insight. To facilitate the ICT take-up in the public sector Modernisering.dk has developed a number of guidelines: 1. FORM – Forretningsreferencemodellen: The business reference model is centred on a catalogue of public sector citizen and business services. The catalogue is essentially an analysis and organisation tool enabling a complete overview and “joint language” across the public sector. Cross-sector projects and individual authorities may use the FORM model when they describe and analyse ICT investments, cooperate across organisational divides and not least support modernisation and digitalisation of a user-centric public sector (Modernisering.dk, no date). 2. STORM – Service- og teknologireferencemodellen: The service and technology reference model aim to facilitate a common public classification for description of IT services. The current version is an independent reference model developed for use across

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the entire public sector (Modernisering.dk, no date). 3. SYSTEM – IT-systems moderniseringsmetoden: The IT system modernisation methodology is currently under development but is expected in the cause of 2010 (Modernisering.dk, no date). 4. FOKUS – Methodology Guide for domain boards digitization work: The methodology is designed to support the development of domain boards action plans and the continuous digitizing in public sector organisations. FOKUS is a method and strategy tool bringing to the forefront experiences, tips and practices, development, prioritization, portfolio management and coordination related to digitization efforts. The guide may be applied generally by public authorities and used as inspiration on how strategic development and prioritization efforts can be organized (Modernisering.dk, no date). The Modernisering.dk guidelines should be seen in light of government requirement for annual measurement of progress for related ICT projects from 1 January 2010. In this regard ITST have for IT-architecture developed a set of standards and methods for progress measurement, whereas Borger.dk and Virk.dk both have implemented statistical modules analysing actual use of online services on the portal – with the Borger.dk solution now being offered free of charge to all public sector organisations who wish to implement it. Other tools available for public sector organisations include the general business case model (Modernisering.dk, 2010a), the Digital Taskforce project model (Modernisering.dk, 2010b) the ITST OIO-architecture method (IT- og Telestyrelsen, 2010a) as well as the agile methodology for IT based projects in the public sector published by ISTS in February 2010 (IT- og Telestyrelsen, 2010a).

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

EasyLog-In: Log in Once To Access All Public Services (https://login.sikker-adgang. dk/fobslogin/visomlogin.do) EasyLog-in is considered the world’s first pangovernmental Single Sign-On (SSO) solution. Based on international standards, EasyLog-in makes it possible for a user to log in to multiple public digital services, ranging from local to national services. The functionality is built on the existing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). EasyLog-in is implemented in 22 pan-governmental digital services. EasyLog-in facilitate access to the national citizen and business portal – www.borger.dk and www.virk.dk respectively. EasyLog-in replaces the existing digital signature in 2010.

Borger.dk: Single User-Centric and Personalized Access to Public eService (www.borger.dk) Launched in January 2007 and updated in October 2008 to include, amongst other, MyPage (Min Side) functionality Borger.dk constitutes the citizen portal for public sector eServices. The portal gives access to more than 600 eServices at from all levels of government (local, regional, national) and the MyPage function is accessible with the digital signature and users have access to their personal data. Borger.dk is organized around four individual themes. Each theme provides an easy way to organize content by theme/topic that relate to users. Themes include: MyHome, MyPension, MyChildren and MyMoney. The portal contains texts and self-service solutions within 17 broad subjects: work and jobs; housing and moving; daily transportation and travel; Danes abroad; foreigners in Denmark; family, children and adolescents; consumption, money and insurance; disability; culture and recreation; environment and energy; pension; police, justice and defence; society and rights; schools and education; health and disease;

elderly; economy and taxation. User centricity and personalisation are integral parts of the portal. Borger.dk is part of the government’s Globalisation Strategy, the “Strategy for eGovernment 2007-2010” and will be continuously developed in the coming years including further development of the user-statistics and management module, debate and voting solutions, user-rating and commenting solution, re-use of public sector information etc.

Virk.dk: New Danish One-StopPortal for Businesses (www.virk.dk) Launched in 2001 Virk.dk is the one-stop-shop portal for businesses in Denmark. Virk.dk is the result of a co-operation between authorities at all levels. All Danish authorities involved with business regulation participate in the development of Virk.dk and provide digital solutions to the portal. More than 1300 business forms and service solutions are integrated on the portal as intelligent eForms and the companies can report data and retrieve business relevant information from more than 52 authorities. The portal is builds on open source technology and all transactions between public authorities in the Danish OIOXML standard/format. The portal offers a host of services that the public authorities can use in their deployment of digital solutions on the portal. Most noticeable is the Single Sign-On (i.e.,EasyLog-in) component which is now providing secure login on a range of digital solutions and also a number of other public websites. Virk.dk is unique in its design and build on a new “search paradigm” that offers a scalable platform, user-friendly and fast one-stop-shop for all business related communication. This paradigm creates a platform that not only scales effectively for the Danish authorities but also provides ease of use for multilingual solutions (incl in English, German, and Polish). Virk.dk is a user-centric solution offering a number of comprehensive workflows that are customized to ensure all information already given by the individual user automatically identifies the

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relevant forms. A case in point is the company start-up workflow where the user is automatically guided through a questionnaire concerning the scope of the new business. Based on the answers, the system will prevent the user from filling out irrelevant forms and answering questions not related to the individual user and her business. The success of Virk.dk is illustrated by the traffic on the portal, which is steadily rising from c. 60.000 monthly transactions in March 2008 to more than 180.000 in March 2009 plus a doubling in the number of registered companies using the portal. Virk.dk is part of the government’s Globalisation Strategy, the “Strategy for eGovernment 2007-2010” and will be continuously developed in the coming years. From the above it becomes clear that one of the key success factors of the Danish approach to eGovernment and strategies have been the political and administrative culture of consensus and compromise. This culture has supported the involvement of all levels of the public sector in the development of eGovernment through joint fora like the Digital Taskforce and STS. That said it has been important to simultaneously positioning ICT as a key enabler for other major policy initiatives including the 2007 Structural Reform2 in which local and regional public authorities receiving new service responsibilities vis-à-vis citizens and businesses. To ensure successful digitisation it is nonetheless essential to allow local and regional governments to fully engage in the development national eGovernment strategy and initiatives – as part of a general governance model. Not only as the key provider of public services at local and regional level but to ensure understanding of the national vision and objectives and thus commitment (OECD, 2005). The importance of eGovernance in a Danish context come to light in a need to further formalise joint initiatives and strategies, which in turn could consolidate and facilitate existing and future digitisation efforts. A point the OECD

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also highlighted in the 2010 review of Denmark’s eGovernment efforts (Grønlykke Mollerup, 2010) (OECD, 2010) when recommend that: •

•

The role and mandate of STS be strengthened especially in the budget agreement between central government, regions and municipalities and that STS help ensure adequate funding for digitisation locally. The strengthening of political commitment and that eGovernment initiatives are soundly anchored in other policy areas. In this regard clear national but also local leadership, commitment and a clear understanding of the associated responsibilities needs to be clearly communicated.

Interestingly the OECD recommends stronger central guidance and coordination across organisations and government levels (OECD, 2010). Although this would counter act the consensus seeking culture and the work of joint fora like STS and the Digital Taskforce which have proven so successful in Denmark’s digitisation efforts – and who’s mandates are accepted by the vast majority of stakeholders and public sector actors. This last point was also indirectly made by Lars Frelle-Pedersen (2010) (Head of Digitisation and the Digital Taskforce) when given a status of eGovernment in Denmark on the annual Digitalisé conference (Presentation 14 April 2010). Still the OECD recommendation highlights an interesting eGovernance aspect i.e.,the role of high-level political commitment and communication. For instance one could imagine expanding the existing STS or Digital Taskforce mandate and embed these in the Prime Ministers office as seen in elsewhere, or in the VTU giving the minister a wider mandate in relation to eGovernment.

Promotion and Encouragement In addition to the joint marketing efforts of key digital solution such as the digital signature/

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

EasyLog-in, NemHandel, the citizen and business portals Borger.dk and Virk.dk two other interesting initiatives to promote greater use of ICT are the eDay (eDag) and Top of the Web (Bedst på Nettet/ BpN) initiatives. Both the eDay and BpN have at their core the promotion and encouragement of ICT use in the public sector, in particular at local and regional level. The first eDay (eDay1) was implemented in 2003 to ensure that digital communication became the rule rather than the exception in public authority communication (internally and between authorities). A subsequent evaluation the impact of eDay1 indicated that (Hansen, 2004): • • •

93% of responding authorities saw it as an important step towards eGovernment 70% indicated that it had a direct impact on the authority’s digital strategies 70% had subsequently established targets for eDay1 and that 72% of these targets/ objectives had been achieved within a month of the eDay initiative

The evaluation also showed that a mere 7% of responding public sector organizations continued to receive large quantities of paper mail/ correspondence after the eDay1 and that 1% send large amount of paper based correspondence (Hansen, 2004). The success of eDay1 led to national, regional and local stakeholder representatives launching eDay2. Set for 1 February 2005 eDay2 build on the success of the first eDay with the aim of creating a more efficient public sector through optimum utilization of digital tools. Thus eDay2 sought to ensure that electronic documents containing confidential information could be exchange securely (though encryption) between citizens, businesses and public authorities. eDay2 was therefore an important step in moving eGovernment from 1st generation information provision, one-way communication and back office process to 2nd generation eGovernment with fully digital

two-way correspondence and service provision. In addition eDay2 lead to a large share of the public postal mail being converted to fully digital workflow, thus saving resources in the form of smaller quantities of mail handling, less scanning, copying and postage, while enabling faster processing time for queries and services requests (Moderniser.dk, 2010c). The continuation of the eDay initiatives has lead to the development of the e2012 programme (not to be confused with an eGovernment strategy) which outlines the objectives and timeline for eDay3 and eDay4 respectively. e2012 constitutes a clearly defined and jointly agreed roadmap and guide to stakeholders on how to achieve fully digital communication between and within the public sector, as well as between authorities, citizens and businesses by the end of 2012 (Krieger Røyen, 2009). eDay3 is scheduled for 1 November 2010 under the heading “easy online access to government”. The purpose of eDay3, as previous initiatives, is constitute a joint agreement between government, regional and local representatives with the aim to provide citizens with more efficient and flexible service via the internet (Modernisering.dk, 2010). Importantly the three objectives of eDay3 builds directly on the achievements of previous eDays, seek to increase the value-added and use of these plus past and present eGovernment strategies ie: •

•

•

Any national citizen-oriented self-service solutions requiring secure identification should be able to provide such identification through EasyLog-in or digital signature use. All national self-service solutions for citizens are to be integrated into citizen portal Borger.dk. All public authorities should be reachable and respond via the eBox (the national eDocument box available for all citizens and business free of charge) plus all authori-

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ties must send all relevant mass mailings to registered citizens and businesses eBox. While neither the achievement of eDay3 nor the focus of eDay4 are know at the time of writing eDay4 will in all likelihood focus on a further deepening of digital communication forms within the public sector and between the authorities, citizens and businesses. This deepening of use will be required if the goals of e2012 of mandatory, fully functional digital communication is to be achieved by 2012 thus highlighting the importance of regulations as an eGovernance tool to ensure take-up. What is also interesting in relation to promotion is the marketing campaign supporting eDay3 which will include objectives of the initiative, EasyLog-in, the updated eBox and Borger.dk. The eDay3 marketing initiative is nonetheless limited in time and scope and one of very few promoting eGovernment in Denmark. In fact further promotion could facilitate additional take-up: As services are not only available online, but Danish citizens and businesses are generally well equipped with ICT skills and competences, broadband coverage is 100% and households are well connected but the majority of Danes are online on a weekly if not daily basis as seen in Table 1. Bedst på Nettet (BpN), or Top of the Web in English, (www.bedstpaanettet.dk) has since 2001 measure the best public sector eSolution and eServices in Denmark annually. Since commencing there has been a revolutionary change in webbased communication and digital administration. In this period BnP have been one of several key development drivers of digitisation, greater ICT and presence of Danish public sector organisations on the World Wide Web. The objective of BpN is to act as a catalyst promoting the development of digital services of value to the citizen, society and the public sector. The prize focus on the effect and value to citizens and society of web-based solutions as well as the opportunities for cross-organisational cooperation and efficiency improvements through ICT. The

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long-term goal of the initiative is for the individual user to experiences an increased level of quality and flexibility when in contact with the public sector – in the end making everyday life easier. The application and submission process of BpN is currently undergoing change. In the past the prize was based on a screening of the websites and eServices provided by a pre-defined target group within the public sector (e.g., municipalities, educational or health care institutions. Websites and their digital services are checked for navigation, usability, and utility value. User satisfaction monitoring is employed and the public website owners are asked to evaluate their own strategies and work behind the websites. Since 2009 the process has involved four types of evaluation: screening of the web-based and self-service eSolutions by the BpN secretariat; self-evaluation by the case owner/developer; user-evaluation of the relevant solution; final decision by a jury panel. For the first three phases there will in 2010 be a dialogue between the case owner and the BpN secretariat to avoid any misinterpretation, ensure full knowledge of a given case plus facilitate “knowledge exchange”. This exchange is expected to be available to all interested parties on www. bedstpaanettet.dk and thus constitute a platform for knowledge exchange. Nominees and winners for each of the selected categories (usually between 5 and 7) are announced at an annual conference (usually in November). What makes BpN different from other such Awards initiatives (e.g.,the Swedish Guldlänken, the European eGovernment Awards) is its volume. In 2009 for instance BpN examined around 600 public websites in seven different categories. Interestingly the initiative received praise from the European Commission in November 2001 for its demonstration of good practice in digital administration: Praise given during the first European Ministerial eGovernment Conference, an event which hosted the forerunner for future European eGovernment Awards initiative.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

SUCCESS FACTORS AND POST-2010 DEVELOPMENTS As highlighted in the above sections the first eGovernment strategy for 2001-2004 primarily marked the start-up of cooperation between the municipal, regional and state level public sector organisations in their efforts to create a more efficient and effective ICT enabled public administration. The early strategy has formed a basic concept for the joint cooperation approach to eGovernment since. The second eGovernment strategy for 20042006 added impetus to the development of internal public sector use of ICT and digitisation. In turn, the strategic aims of the 2004-2006 period was to increase the overall level of ambition and set new and higher standards for the development of citizens’ services and cohesion across the public sector. What the strategy also marked was an increased focus on joint and cross-organisational initiatives and the use of regulation to ensure takeup of eGovernment, thus marking an increased focus on eGovernance. The current strategy for 2007-2010 entails a further emphasis on governance related issues through a deepening and more binding form of cooperation between public sector actors at local, regional and national level. It also emphasise the implementation of specific digitisation measures and projects will continue to be anchored in the individual public authorities. The success of the Danish approach to eGovernment is supported by the 2010 OECD review of Danish eGovernment achievements since 2005 which highlight that “the latest follow-up peer review of e-government in Denmark….shows significant progress and places Denmark firmly in the forefront of leading e-government countries in the world.” (OECD, 2010). That said the current eGovernment strategy expiring in 2010 and a new plan will replace it. It is currently not sure what the targets for said plan will be, but according to the head of the

Digital Taskforce Lars Frelle-Pedersen, work on the 5th eGovernment Strategy will commence in the summer 2010. Of relevance for the 5th eGovernment Strategy is the recently published 2020 vision, the 20072010 strategy and the 2006 Globalisation Plan each of which outline a number of possible focal areas. The latter for instance state that: “By 2012, all relevant written communication between businesses, citizens and public sector could be done digitally. For citizens, there is an opportunity, not an obligation. Compared to industry is goal that all relevant letters, reports, applications, etc. then only be sent via digital channels”(Krieger Røyen, 2009) and thus constitute the kick-off for the e2012 initiative. Also of relevance are the January 2010 recommendations from the High-speed Committee (independent committee established by the Minister for VTU). The committees recommend a number of public initiatives to stimulate supply as well as demand of high-speed broadband. Recommendations have already lead to the specific VTU proposal for 100% 100MB broadband coverage by 2020. Other relevant recommendations include, cloud computing, eSkils, R&D, green IT (see Figure 3), open source and open standards (High-speed Committee, 2010). Indicated by different eGovernment stakeholders during various presentations, e.g.,by the Ministry of Finance, the following seven potential targets and focus areas for a 2010-2015 initiative seem likely (Krieger Røyen, 2009): 1. Where relevant, all communication between citizens, business and public sector organizations should be through efficient and effective digital solutions – including all correspondence (i.e.,letters) from public authorities being delivered to citizens and companies digitally via online platforms such as the upgraded eBox (or document/ post box).

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Figure 3.

2. Authorities should generally strive towards increased use of digital communication and solutions. 3. Citizens and businesses should be assisted and encouraged to make greater use of digital solutions available. 4. The extent of actual use of digital communication solutions should be documented and evaluated. 5. Areas where the above leads to excessive costs or increased inconvenience to citizens, businesses or the public sector will be exempted from the goal of full digital communication. Still, these seven goals do not fully take into account a number of the challenges facing the Danish digitalisation efforts outlined in the 2010 OECD review. Here the external peer review highlight a need to coordinate the visions and goals of the modernisation and efficiency initiatives in the public sector in order to fully realise the potential of ICT. Specifically it is note that (Grønlykke Mollerup, 2010) (OECD, 2010): •

•

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The digitalisation efforts are primarily administrative in nature and focused on the back office That ICT use is still anchored in existing administrative silo’s and holds back crossorganisational and holistic thinking and cooperation

•

Initiatives are primarily technocratic in nature and the political anchoring of these does not seem strong

In addition the there is a need to increase the efficiency of the domain construction and to strengthen cross-organisational and holistic goals. Also a clear eGovernment leader with a defined mandate and responsibility would according to the review improve Danish digitisation efforts in particular as they the STS mandate is unclear and lacking cloud (OECD, 2010). Political commitment, a clear vision and cloud of the eGovernment strategy is particularly important in light of the depressed economic situation and public budget deficit following the 2008 financial crisis. Clout and clear objectives are particularly important to ensure optimal use of resources in the modernisation and digitisation process in the public sector. This importance is further cemented by: A raising number of public sector employees reaching retirement; a lack of labour as the proportion of elders in the population increase in coming years; increased citizen expectation to the quality of public services; and international competition. Put simply, the OECD review and recommendations reflects the fact that Denmark in practice is faced with the challenge of converting from Government 1.0 to 2.0. A situation where ICT use in government is mainstream but still expensive, in need of further user take-up, requiring a refocus existing thinking focusing on existing rule sets, organisation and, silo and government centric structures.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

Ideally the 4th eGovernment strategy should therefore build on past successes and initiatives while addressing the Government 2.0 paradigm. A challenge that which require increased focus on the demand side for public services, user empowerment and engagement, benefits and impact addressing specific societal issues – like an aging population and increased global competition. More specifically there is a real need for Danish digitisation efforts to increase the current focus further on issues such as: Service design and delivery channels; but also process and organisational re-engineering within and across the public sector and public governance to move away from silo- and government-centricity towards user driven and centred government (Millard, 2010). In practice earlier successes could be utilised to overcome the challenges faced Danish digitisation and governance issues including: •

•

•

Increased marketing to ensure user take-up of existing solutions and consider making the use of online solutions compulsory for specific user-groups as the case with businesses and the electronic invoice or for certain age groups as seen in e.g.,Singapore. Encourage authorities and municipalities in particular to pool their resources and corporate to develop easy to use and usercentric online solutions and include these on existing portals such as Borger.dk (citizens), Virk.dk (businesses), Skat.dk (taxation) and Sundhed.dk (health). Here the Borger.dk MyPage solution could act as infrastructure for municipality (as currently being explored) to increase user-centricity of service delivery channels while reusing and improve existing solutions – in the spirit of Government 2.0. Similarly Virk. dk could implement a MyBusiness functionality along similar principles. Continued encouragement of joint and cross-organisational initiatives e.g.,through the steering groups of the various portals

•

•

and let these act as innovation and development hubs. Hubs which could also be platforms for relevant machine readable data thus facilitating the reuse of public sector data for innovation and further digitisation. Realign past strategies to include not only a focus on short- and medium-term economic efficiency gains within existing organisational structures. But rethink organisational patters and processes thus facilitating ICT act as a key enabler of public sector modernisation. This includes allowing for changes in existing legislative frameworks to ensure that popular technologies such as mobilephones become real tools of empowerment, channels of access and service delivery for citizens and businesses – for instance could Borger.dk (for citizens) and Sundhed.dk (for health) develop standard solutions for mobilephone applications which municipalities and health care providers could adapt to their own use and different types of services. Increase the actual and visible political support and cloud of eGovernment strategies and ensure that all layers of the society, the public and private sector are aware of the goals, objectives and importance of the digitisation in the modernisation efforts of the government and the increased efficiency and effectiveness of the Danish governance and welfare model. This could be done either by embedding STS and/or the Digital Taskforce in the Prime Ministers Office or with VTU and associated agencies for research, innovation, IT- and telecom while giving these joint fora additional responsibility and decision making power. In this connection the finance model could be revisited to allow for the reinvestment of parts of the ICT facilitated efficiency gains (i.e.,savings) in new eGovernment initiatives – as currently the case in Australia.

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CONCLUSION In conclusion, the current state (May 2010) of public sector digitisation in Denmark face a number of eGovernment related challenges and opportunities as outlined in the section above and the 2010 OECD review. Challenges include includes a shift to Government 2.0 and a network society as well as a need to emphasise user take-up, use-centricity, reuse of public sector information and greater joint and horizontal cooperation to increase not only ICT enabled economic gains improve service delivery and quality. Still Denmark and national authorities, at all levels of government, also posses a number of strengths which equip them well for further digitisation and a move to Government 2.0. To sum up, a number of key factors, which have enabled Denmark to achieve its current level of eGovernment sophistication and success, will also be beneficial in the future. These success factors include: •

•

•

•

•

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ICT infrastructure is in place in terms of broadband coverage and critical mass of online service availability. Citizens and businesses are well connected to the World Wide Web, relatively digital literate and are online on a weekly if not daily basis. Well developed eGovernment strategies building on past successes and failures to ensure a consistent development trajectory in the short-, medium- and long-term. Defining goals and specific follow-up activities for digitisation through well-documented impact assessments and the systematic use of project control methods. Single points of entry for different levels of governance and service delivery (e.g.,municipality solutions like Genvej

•

•

•

•

•

•

or Borger.dk’s MyPage), target group (e.g.,Borger.dk for citizens or Virk.dk for businesses) or services area (e.g.,taxation like Skat.dk or health like Sundhed.dk). Attune and align IT developments across organizational levels and disciplinary (e.g.,specific projects such as EasyLog-in and the digital signature) Development and use of common standards and enterprise-architectures to ensure interoperability, flexibility and cost minimization for all levels of government and in the medium- to long-term (e.g.,OIOXML and OIO-UBL and NES). Joint development necessitates joint operation especially for interconnected backoffice processes and front-office service delivery across different authorities or between different administrative levels (i.e.,local, regional and national such as EasyLog-in). Joint marketing initiatives, promotion and encouragement through events and implementation of key ICT infrastructure through the various eDays and BpN initiative awarding good practice and innovation in the public sector. Methodologies and guidelines developed specifically for concept development, implementation and running of ICT initiatives in the public sector (e.g.,Moderniser. dk’s FORM, STORM, FOKUS or ITST’s agile management methodology) ensuring that methods and tools are available for organizations who do not necessarily have the in-house competences. Knowledge of project management and systematic business case methodology developed and made available (see also point above) for public sector organisations to use in their digitisation efforts.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

REFERENCES Accenture (2009). From e-Government to eGovernance: Using new technologies to strengthen relationships with citizens. London: Accenture, Institute for Health & Public Service Value. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/Global/ Research_and_Insights/Institute_For_Public_Service_Value/From-e-Government-to-eGovernance.htm Bay, K. (2010). An introduction toDanish ICT Policies. Copenhagen: IT- og Telestyrelsen. Bedst på Nettet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from www.bedstpaanettet.dk Borger.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from www.borger.dk Danish government, Local Government Denmark (LGDK) and Danish Regions. (2007). The Danish eGovernment Strategy 2004-06. Copenhagen: Den Digitale Taskforce Retrieved from http://www. epractice.eu/files/media/media_275.pdf Danish government, Local Government Denmark (LGDK) and Danish Regions. (2007). Danish eGovernment Strategy 2007-2010. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk Retrieved from http:// modernisering.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Projekter/digitaliseringsstrategi/Danish_Egovernment_strategy_2007-2010.pdf Den Digitale Taskforce. (2002). Towards egovernment – Vision and Strategy for the Public Sector in Denmark. Copenhagen: Den Digitale Taskforce. Retrieved from http://www.epractice. eu/files/media/media_362.pdf EasyLog-in. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from https://login.sikker-adgang.dk/fobslogin/ visomlogin.do

ePractice.eu. (2010a). Retrieved March 10, 2010 from http://www.epractice.eu/files/media/ media_362.pdf ePractice.eu. (2010b). Retrieved March 10, 2010 from http://www.epractice.eu/files/media/ media_275.pdf European Commission. (2010). Commission Staff Working Document: Europe’s Digital Competitiveness Report, Vol. I SEC 627. Brussels: European Commission Retrieved from http:// ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/ documents/edcr.pdf European Commission. (2010). Commission Staff Working Document: Europe’s Digital Competitiveness Report, ICT Country Profiles Vol. II SEC(2010) 627). Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/ information_society/digital-agenda/documents/ countryprofiles.pdf European eGovernment Awards (2003-2010). Various internal and confidential documents. Copenhagen: Danish Technological Institute and European eGovernment Awards Consortium. European eGovernment Awards (2009). 5th Ministerial eGovernment Conference Proceedings. Brussels: European Commission and European eGovernment Awards Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.epractice.eu/sites/default/files/download/mediakit/Conference_Proceedings.pdf. European Interoperability Framework. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from http://ec.europa.eu/ idabc/en/document/3473 Eurostat. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from Eurostat Information Society database http://epp. eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/information_society/introduction

eGovernment Resource Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10 to June 12, 2010 from http://www.egov. vic.gov.au

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Forskningsministeriet (1994). Rapport fra udvalget om Informationssamfundet år 2000 (Dybkjær -rapporten). Copenhagen: Denmark. Retrieved from http://vtu.dk/filer/publikationer/1994/ rapport-fra-udvalget-om-informationssamfundetaar-2000/html/index.htm Frelle-Pedersen, L. (2010). Status på offentlig digitalisering – på vej mod nye udfordringer. Presented at Digitalisé conference, 14 April 2010. Århus. Genvej. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2010 from www. gentofte.dk/genvej Grønlykke Mollerup, A. (2010). OECD review: Efficient e-government for smarter public services – the case of Denmark. Presented at Digitalisé conference, 14 April 2010. Århus.

Krieger Røyen, J. (2009). Fuld digital kommunikation med borgere og virksomheder i 2012. Presented at the Ministry of Finance, 2 April 2009, Copenhagen. Retrieved from www.cdn.netamia. com/itst/itak09/paa_vej_mod_2012.pdf Millard, J. (2010). Government 1.5 – is the bottle half full or half empty? In D. Osimo (Ed.), Government 2.0 – Hype, Hope, or Reality? European Journal of ePractice, 9. Retrieved from http:// www.epractice.eu/en/journal/volume/9 Moderniser.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2010c from http://modernisering.dk/da/projekter/edag2/ faq_alt_om_edag2 Modernisering.dk. (2005). eDag2. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http://modernisering.dk/da/projekter/edag2/faq_alt_om_edag2/

Hansen, G. (2004). Presented at Bibliotekslederforeningens medlemsmøde, 8 September 2004 by Copenhagen.

Modernisering.dk. (2010). eDag3. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http://modernisering.dk/da/projektside/andre_projekter/edag3/

High-speed Committee. (2010). Denmark as a high-speed society. Copenhagen: IT- og Telestyrelsen. Retrieved from http://en.itst.dk/thegovernments-it-and-telecommunications-policy/ the-high-speed-committee

Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). FOKUS. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http:// modernisering.dk/da/vaerktoejer_vejledninger/ vaerktoejer/fokus/

Information Technology Agency. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2010 from http://www.ita.gov.om/ITAPortal/Info/FAQ_eGovernmen.aspx#What_is_ the_difference_between_e-Government_and_eGovernance IT- og Telestyrelesen. (n.d.). OIO Arkitekturguide – Enterprise Arkitekture. Copenhagen: IT- og Telestyrelsen. Retrieved from http://ea.oio.dk and www.itst.dk IT- og Telestyrelsen. (2010a). Retrived March 10, 2010 from http://ea.oio.dk IT- og Telestyrlesen. (2010). Agile metoder i itbaserede forretningsprojekter: Vejledining om agil udvikling i den offentlige sektor. Copenhagen: IT- og Telestyrelsen.

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Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). FORM. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http://modernisering.dk/da/projekter/forretningsarkitektur/ forretningsreferencemodellen_form/ Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). STORM. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http://modernisering.dk/da/projektside/staerkere_samarbejde/ forretnings_og_it_arkitektur/storm/ Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). SYSTEM. Copenhagen: Modernisering.dk. Retrieved from http://modernisering.dk/da/projektside/staerkere_samarbejde/ forretnings_og_it_arkitektur/system/ Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2010a from http://modernisering.dk/da/projekter/ business_case/

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Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2010b from http://modernisering.dk/da/projekter/ redskaber_og_vejledninger/projektmodel/ Modernisering.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2010 from www.modernisering.dk NemHandel. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2010 from http://en.itst.dk/architecture-and-standards/ nemhandel Netleksikon.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2010 from http://www.netleksikon.dk/k/ko/kommunalreformen__2007_.shtml Northern European Subset. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2010 from www.nesubl.eu OECD. (2005). OECD e-Government Studies Denmark, Preliminary Edition. Paris: OECD. OECD. (2005). OECD e-Government Studies Denmark: Efficient e-Government for Smarter Public Service Delivery, Preliminary Copy. Paris: OECD. Pan-European Public Procurement OnLine initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2010 from www.peppol.eu Riley, T. B. (2008). Riley Report March 2008, The Changing World of Information Technology: New Futures. Melbourn: eGovernment Resource Center. http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/trends-andissues/e-governance/the-changing-world-ofinformation-technology-new-futures.html Virk.dk. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2010 from www.virk.dk Wikipedia.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2010 from http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunalreformen_(2007)

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS “e” as in eGovernment etc: The “e” refer to “electronic” and thus closely associated with

ICT and digitization. It refers to hardware (PCs, databases, network infrastructure), software (offof-the-shelf, open source, proprietary, customized solutions), the internet, PDAs and mobile devises, cellular technology like mobile telephones etc. Digital Literacy: Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology (e.g.,pc, mobilephones, the internet). Involves a working knowledge of current technology and an understanding of how it can be used (incl hardware and software) and critically evaluate the information found using these media (e.g.,in relation to source, date etc). A person using these skills to interact with society may be called a digital citizen. Digital literacy is also referred as ICT competences and IT skills. Digitisation: Digitisation in a Danish context is closely associated with eGovernment and the introduction of ICT in the public sector. Digitisation to a large extent is used as synonymous with eGovernment. That said, digitising or digitization may also be defined as the representation of an object, image, sound, document or a signal (usually an analog signal) by a discrete set of its points or samples. The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal. Put simply digitizing is the capturing of an analog signal in digital form. For a document the term means to trace the document image or capture the “corners” where the lines end or change direction. eGovernance: In essence eGovernance constitutes the development, deployment and enforcement of the policies, laws and regulations necessary to support the functioning of a knowledge society as well as of eGovernment. eGovernance is the successful and innovative applications of eGovernance across government departments and agencies determine the success of the development of eGovernment programs and initiatives. eGovernment: eGovernment is the actual ICT enables transformation of internal and external public sector relationships in order to optimise 253

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service delivery – and increasingly with Web 2.0 and citizen participation. Digital society is a society or community that is well advanced in the adoption and integration of digital technology into daily life at home, work and play. eGovernment constitutes the way in which public sector institutions use and apply technology to conduct the business of government i.e.,how government use new tools to enhance the delivery of existing services. Government 2.0: The Government 2.0 paradigm relates to the increased focus on the demand side for public services, user empowerment and engagement, benefits and impact addressing specific societal issues – like an aging population and increased global competition. More specifically Government 2.0 relates to: Service design and delivery channels; process and organisational reengineering within and across the public sector; public governance and a move away from silo- and government-centricity towards user driven and centred government. Information Communication Technology: Information and communications technology (or ICT or technologies or “e”) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application (e.g.,radio, television, mobilephones, PCs and network hardware and software, satellite systems). ICT also include the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. The importance of ICTs lies less in the technology itself than in its ability as a key enabler to create greater

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access to information and communication as well as process and organizational re-engineering. ICT is often referred to as a tool to help bridge divides (e.g.,geographically or as an alternative service channel) or to create a digital divide (e.g.,between those with or without access and digital literacy). Web 2.0: Describe a second generation of the World Wide Web and focus on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online e.g.,social media and networks. Web 2.0 refers to the transition from static HTML webpages to a more dynamic web. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication (e.g.,blogs, wikis, web services) with an emphasis on web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Web 2.0 was previously used as a synonym for Semantic Web, but while the two are similar, they do not share precisely the same meaning.

ENDNOTES

1



2

Note: The first sets of compulsory, open standards have been made operational on 1 January 2008. The 2007 Structural Reform saw 279 municipalities merge into 98 and 15 counties becoming 5 regions with substantial reorganization of service delivery in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. See also http:// www.netleksikon.dk/k/ko/kommunalreformen__2007_.shtml or http://da.wikipedia. org/wiki/Kommunalreformen_(2007)

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Chapter 14

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process as an Emerging and Innovative Public Policymaking Area Asım Balcı Selçuk University, Turkey Tunç Durmuş Medeni Türksat, METU, Turkey Ahmet Nohutçu Kocaeli University, Turkey

ABSTRACT Use of (Information Communication Technologies) ICTs by governments all over the world has opened new avenues in terms of redesigning the relationship between the state and the society as well as between the state and the businesses. These new forms of relationships create wider meanings especially for the society as a whole, and bring fresh ideas and practices to be put in place regarding policy making process. While enjoying centralist tendencies and a strict hierarchical bureaucratic model intrinsic to the inner cycles of the organizational levels, the Turkish administrative system has been trying new forms of governance models exemplified in e-government policies. This paper tries to analyze and discuss the main tenets, actors, coordinating and partnership mechanisms, undertakings, evaluation techniques and prospects of e-government policies as a newly emerging policy area with specific reference to Turkish e-transformation efforts, policies and initiatives. The paper would concentrate on the “formation” and “participation” (formulation) dimension and stage of the ICT policy process. Presenting up-to-date information and analyses regarding the developments in recent and current stage of evolution, guidelines and suggestions for future are provided. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch014

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

INTRODUCTION Use of ICTs by governments all over the world, has opened new avenues in terms of redesigning the relationship between the state and the society as well as between the state and the businesses. These new forms of relationships create wider meanings especially for the society as a whole and bring fresh ideas and practices to be put in place regarding policy making process. With the extensive use of ICTs and global transition to information/knowledge society; structures, techniques, and mechanisms of public policy making process have radically and swiftly been transformed in accordance with the principles and dynamics of governance. In addition to changes in the traditional policy areas, new public policy fields have also emerged as a repercussion of the revolution of information and communications technologies. E-government emerged as a quite new and unprecedented public policy sphere in terms of decision-making structures, implementation and evaluation techniques. In this context, e-government as a public policy area contains participation, coordination and partnerships of many different public and private actors such as public bureaucracies, civil society institutions, political bodies, non-governmental organizations, private sectors, local governments and even international organizations (Nohutçu, 2009: 409). The effects of ICTs in policy making process could be seen as important from a variety of perspectives. Historically there is a one way communication between states and their citizens (Altınsoy, 2009: 237). However, there are certain limitations of this approach. The communication channels should be enhanced so that there is a two way communication and even interaction between states and citizens. This is where ICTs could take apart and the communication channels are improved. With the enhanced communication, the policy process is positively affected and a mutual recognition and understanding in the society towards the policies to be adopted could be

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achieved. Also, the civil societal institutions and pressure groups can take the advantages of ICTs so that they can network among themselves and create more pressure towards the policy makers. For example, in a case analyzed by Altınsoy, with the increasing communication opportunities some youth groups have been using ICT facilities successfully to exert pressure on policy makers (Altınsoy, 2009: 246). While enjoying centralist tendencies and a strict hierarchical bureaucratic model intrinsic to the inner cycles of the organizational levels, the Turkish administrative system has been trying new forms of governance models exemplified in e-government policies. Thanks to the developments that have been taking place towards the information society, the politicians and as well as the higher levels of the bureaucracy finally has captured the idea of including wider segments of the society to realize the full benefits of the e-government applications. E-government policies in Turkey could be seen as a new avenue of this transformative trend of public policymaking. In decision-making process, for example, all related actors from a wide spectrum of public and private realms have a say about the content and direction of the policies, unlike other classical policy areas. The head of the official Internet Committee, given a role in transition to information society, was chosen from among the members of a wide range of civil society organizations. This was, for example, a radical challenge to classical bureaucratic policy-making process (Nohutçu, 2009: 410). Also, in the formation of e-Transformation Turkey Executive Committee, the representatives of the related stakeholders and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have included so that their voices could be taken into account in the ICT related policy making processes. In this vein, this paper tries to analyze and discuss the main tenets, actors, coordinating and partnership mechanisms, undertakings, evaluation techniques and prospects of e-government policies

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

as a newly emerging policy area with specific reference to Turkish e-transformation efforts, policies and initiatives. The paper would concentrate on the “formation” and “participation” (formulation) dimension and stage of the ICT policy process. Providing up-to-date information and analyses regarding the developments in recent and current stage of evolution, guidelines and suggestions for future are provided.

SOME OF THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TURKISH ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM AND E-GOVERNMENT With the advent of ICTs new policy making mechanisms have been tried in the Turkish public administration system. In order to make a thorough assessment on the e-governance developments in Turkey, it should be taken into account of a brief historical background of the state-society relationships will be crucial. In Turkey, there is a legacy of bureaucratic tradition from the very beginning of the republic (Heper et al., 1980: 152). This tradition goes back to as early as the Ottoman periods. The traces of an authoritarian state-society relationship still exist in the political culture (Ünsal, 1998: 3). Even it is claimed that traditionally an opposition has existed between the state and civil society (Özgür, 2001: 228). Since the Ottoman period, the state has not taken the citizens seriously (Heper, 1998: 47) and has always had an emphasis of “law and order” (Heper, 1990: 301). Historically, the state has been perceived as an important instrument for providing national unity by the bureaucratic elite (Heper, 1985: 16). The main administrative values of the bureaucracy were authoritative-benevolent interpersonal relations and action avoidance (Özen, 1994: 29). However, from 1980s onward, the governments in power started to initiate more liberal reforms underlying some issues in the bureaucracy such as de-bureaucratization, privatization, decentral-

ization, minimum state, professional expertise, rationality, openness to innovation, and effectiveness. Since “the unquestionable state has a cultural value in Turkey by itself,” up until 2000s, (Emre, 2000: 43) this belief could be a big obstacle to transparency (Emre: 2000) and an important barrier to e-governance applications. Overall, the Turkish public bureaucracy can be described as having characteristics of strictly bureaucratic, hierarchically based, politically driven, and harmony oriented, Also, the public servants are mostly seen as having centralist tendencies, status quo oriented and authoritarian (Balci, 2002: 125). Within this realm of historical conditions, modifying the state-society relationships into a healthy and fruitful ground is not an easy task. However, there are important attempts to cope with the problems. The very nature of the ICTs could foster the centralist tendencies of the bureaucracy. On the other hand, becoming an information society goal forces this transition and transformation a little bit easier. As stated by Nohutçu (2009), the thrust and content of e-government policies in a global information society is not establishment of technical infrastructure and completion of ICTs, on the contrary, involvement of different actors of society at different levels at each stages of policy process to realize efficient, transparent, accountable, qualitative, and at the end, more democratic system of polity and governance in an information era. In that manner, in a recent publication, namely UN e-Government Survey 2008, it is stated that “e-government is a driver of not only more sophisticated service channels for the most sophisticated technological users (a critically important group often spurring innovation and service improvement), but also a platform for expanded participative capacities for the citizenry as a whole, improvements in the relevance and transparency of public policy decisions and a vehicle for building trust in government” (UN, 2008: 167).

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Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Table 1. Good governance indicators, 2008 Governance Indicator

Sources

Year

Percentile Rank (0-100)

Governance Score (-2.5 to +2.5)

Standard Error

Voice and Accountability

16

2008

41.8

-0.19

0.12

Political Stability

11

2008

21.5

-0.73

0.20

Government Effectiveness

14

2008

62.6

+0.20

0.17

Regulatory Quality

13

2008

58.9

+0.22

0.16

Rule of Law

19

2008

55.5

+0.09

0.13

Control of Corruption

17

2008

60.4

+0.10

0.14

Kaufmann D., A. Kraay, and M. Mastruzzi 2009: Governance Matters VIII: Governance Indicators for 1996-2008 (http://info.worldbank. org/governance/wgi/sc_chart.asp#, accessed April 17, 2010)

The centralist tendency of the administrative system as a whole in Turkey could be traced in the areas of e-government. The major e-government projects are planned and implemented from the center of the bureaucracy without receiving sufficient input from local authorities, private sector and NGO’s. Once the planning is made from the central administrations of the public organizations, the implementation is left to the individual public agencies and local authorities. However, this way of implementation causes additional problems as well. First of all, the individual public agencies may not have sufficient administrative capacity to carry out the projects including budget, qualified personnel and necessary knowledge and sufficient expertise. Second, if successfully implemented, these separate ICT projects after a while require a central coordination due to fact that interoperability reasons. If they stay in a specific environment this does not cause much problems, however, once implemented in one agency, the next step would be communicating with other ICT projects. In this stage, there occurs the problem of interoperability. And, solving the interoperability problems after project implementation is more difficult than addressing the specific standards beforehand even in the initial designing stage.

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According to a study conducted by D. Kaufman, et. al, which consists of six indicators of good governance Turkey ranks in the middle areas. Using the database gathered from different sources, the authors construct quantitative measures for six dimensions of governance: (1) Voice and Accountability; (2) Political Stability; (3) Government Effectiveness; (4) Regulatory Quality; (5) Rule of Law; and (6) Control of Corruption. Based on these figures, it could be said that Turkey scores more on government effectiveness and control of corruption while troubles with the areas of political stability and voice and accountability. The latter indicators reflect important aspects of governance in terms of a public policy making perspective. Without having a secure political environment, one should not expect a positive and open policy making process through which all segments of the society participate and communicate all relevant issues regarding a specific policy to be put in place. Also, if the citizens and non-governmental institutions as well as all stakeholders cannot be able to raise their voices in the policy making process, then nobody can talk about a free expression of voice and open dialogue during policy making.

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENTS IN TURKEY According to the latest UN report (2008), then, increased integration in service delivery based on commonality of infrastructures, data, and business processes, and service innovation achieved by multi-channel service delivery and smaller and smarter use of back-end processes and systems to support bigger and better front-end operations encourage more collaborative models of service delivery (UN 2008). These models of “connected or networked government” request government agencies rethink their operations, to move towards a chain-oriented paradigm with respect to structure, culture, knowledge and management, and to look towards technology as a strategic tool and an enabler for public service innovation and productivity growth. (ibid.) Following a systemic approach to collection, reuse, and sharing of data and information, networked government is then based upon interoperability as the ability of government organizations to share and integrate information by using common standards. Potential common standards, policies, and frameworks should be flexible enough to respond to changing conditions and varying requirements. Networked governance encourages creative and collective societal action to advance the public good, influencing and incorporating the strategic actions of multi-stakeholders regionally and inter-nationally. (ibid.) Beside the UN initiatives, specifically taking a citizen-centred approach in e-Government applications is on the agenda of the EU, as well. The provision of high quality public services is one of the keystones of the i2010 program for achieving a European Information Society. Public services play an important role in the route to an inclusive European society. According to a recent report, “The e-Government policy environment has evolved from ‘bringing public services online’ to a concept of effective and user-centric service delivery in an inclusive and competitive

European society”. Based on this idea, the i2010 e-Government Action Plan emphasizes five priorities (Capgemini, 2007): 1. No citizen left behind, 2. Making efficiency and effectiveness a reality, 3. Implementing high-impact key services for citizens and businesses, 4. Putting key enablers in place, 5. Strengthening participation and democratic decision-making. Having participated to the e-Europe+ Initiative in 2001 (which was designed for the countries in the way of the EU accession process) Turkey, as an ambitious and enthusiastic candidate, has undertaken the e-government applications as a high priority policy agenda. Although there were e-government-like endeavours before this year, due to lack of coordination, overlapping of projects and unduly usage of resources, the outcome was somewhat unsatisfactory. During the early months of 2003, these different studies, which had been carried out separately until that time, were gathered in an umbrella policy that aimed to encompass all relevant segments of the country, the e-Transformation Turkey Project. Since then, e-government policies have been occupying the political agenda by the coordinating, guiding and steering efforts of the State Planning Organization (SPO) (Nohutçu, 2009: 415). e-Transformation Turkey project has been initiated in 2003 to achieve the country to Information Society standards. The main responsibility of project coordination is given to the State Planning Organization of Turkey. The major step towards the information society in the country is the preparation and activation of Information Society Strategy covering the period between 2006-2010 (Table 2). In 2006, the Information Society Strategy document published by SPO continued the development of e-Government services for transforming Turkey into an information society (SPO, 2006). The Information Society Strategy together with the attached action points prepared by the SPO aims to become an information society and to increase the global competitiveness of

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Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Table 2. Priorities of the information society strategy Priorities

Number of Actions to be done

Social Transformation

14

2

ICT adoption by business

12

3

Citizen focused service transformation

41

4

Modernization in public administration

21

5

A Globally competitive IT sector

13

6

Competitive widespread and affordable telecommunications infrastructure and services

7

7

Improvement of R&D and innovations

3

Total

111

1

. Source: Rehan and Koyuncu, 2009: 385.

the country in many areas using the advantages of the ICT (Nohutçu, 2009: 242-243). As discussed earlier, the major characteristics of the administrative system in Turkey is its centralistic bureaucratic structure. Although the issues of modernizing and reforming public administration system have a long history in Turkey, unfortunately certain steps and actions have always been delayed due to some reasons such as unrest in the political climate and bureaucratic resistance. Also, participation and open policy making are among other neglected issues in the administrative processes. According to the Information Society Strategy in Turkey (SPO, 2006), in 2011, 70% of all the e-Government services will be ready. In the 2008 Progress Report by SPO (2008), nevertheless, it is noted that among the 111 actions defined in the strategy document, only 3 are concluded, 51 are works-in-progress, 34 are in their infancy, and 23 are yet to start. In the report, SPO (2008) highlights the idea that the priorities and objectives of the Strategy still need to be appreciated and owned by all stakeholders, and other responsible and interested entities in the society. Problems experienced in the implementation of the strategy are described in the report under the headings of Legislation (and Legal) Issues, Financial Issues, Personnel (and Human Resources) Issues, Issues of Intra-Institutional Coordination, Issues

260

of Inter-Institutional Coordination, and Other Issues (SPO 2008). Recently, a new progress report has also been issued in March 2010 (SPO 2010). Accordingly, by 2009 22 actions have been completed, 62 actions have recorded significant progress, 19 actions are at initial stage, 8 actions are yet-to-start. Information on problems based on the same categories is also presented. Based on the analysis of the overall Information Society Strategy Progress Report (SPO 2008, 2010), problems experienced in the implementation of the Strategy according to these categories (excluding Others), with respect to the overall ratings of problem impacts (from 1 to 5) as well as the numbers of specific projects (action points) that experience these problems/impacts are presented below (Table 3, Figure 1). Although how the provided data has got these values can be open to different discussions and interpretations (that are out of the scope of this work), after all these data are official and their analysis with respect to problem areas and impact strength provides useful information and insights. It is worth-noting that from 2008 to 2010, intra-institutional, internal coordination problems have a relative decrease, while inter-institutional, external coordination problems have increased. Besides, legislative problems increasingly continue and their relative percentage also rises re-

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Table 3. The problems experienced in the implementation of information society strategy Year

Total Weight of the Problem Impacts Legislative

Financial

Personnel

Int. Coordination

Ext. Coordination

Total

2008

101

74

88

63

98

424

2010

141

82

109

55

134

521

Number of Projects Started as Problem Legislative

Financial

Personnel

Int. Coordination

Ext. Coordination

Total

2008

29

27

27

25

29

137

2010

40

31

34

28

42

175

Figure 1. The percentage of experienced problems in the implementation of information society strategy

spectively. Personnel problems also increase, although their relative percentage remains constant or becomes lower. Financial problems, meanwhile, does not record such an increase, on the contrary have a tendency to remain constant or become lower (Figure 1, Table 4, Figure 2). These analyses also suggest the necessity of cross-cultural interaction among various societal entities for the integration and interoperability of

e-Government services in Turkey. The European Interoperability Framework identifies three aspects of interoperability: Organizational, Semantic and Technical (European Commission, 2004). Within this framework, in order to make collaboration possible one of the basic requirements is to identify common norms and standards and develop information systems and integrated eGovernment services with respect to these norms

261

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Table 4. The rate of change in the problems experienced from 2008 to 2010 Number of Projects Stated as Problem Legislative

Financial

Personnel

Int. Coordination

Ext. Coordination

2010

40

31

34

28

42

2008

29

27

27

25

29

Change %

38

15

26

12

45

Total Weight of the Problem Impacts Legislative

Financial

Personnel

Int. Coordination

Ext. Coordination

2010

141

82

109

55

134

2008

101

74

88

63

98

Change %

40

11

24

-13

37

Figure 2. The change in the problems experienced from 2008 to 2010

and standards. Another important issue is enabling coordination and collaboration within and among public institutions. Recognizing that not all the actions and projects aimed by the Information Society Strategy will be realized, lately, specific e-Government projects have been prioritized for managing e-government innovation and leading a large-scale transformation in Turkey (Yildiz, Sadioglu, Altinok, 2008, Table 5). A critical analysis of the process, outcome and outlook of the general Strategy and prioritised projects, as well as the related developments in the political arena are out of the scope of this work; nevertheless, it should be noted that interlink

262

between public sector reform and e-Government development has not been able to be fully established in Turkey (Balci, Kirilmaz 2009). The approach to prioritize specific projects that would lead to a large-scale transformation could also be considered to reflect that in Turkey e-Government is led by a specific community of e-Government technicians (Uçkan 2009b). This community of technicians knows the standards of this business and has fought for development based on these standards for the last 15 to 20 years (Uçkan, 2009b). During this period there seems to have been no strong citizen demand for eGovernment. Moreover, Alican (2007), and Gök-

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Table 5. High-priority e-government projects and their selection criteria in Turkey (Adapted from: Yildiz, Sadioglu, Altinok, 2008) Project Title Responsible Agency 1. Online Vehicle Registration Ministry of Internal Affairs 2. e-Criminal Record Ministry of Justice 3. Online Establishment of Firms Ministry of Industry & Trade 4. e-Appointment in Healthcare Ministry of Health 5. e-Procurement Public Procurement Agency 6. e-Taxation in Municipalities Ministry of Internal Affairs 7. Online Trial Procedures Ministry of Justice 8. Consumer Portal Ministry of Industry & Trade 9. Culture Portal Ministry of Culture & Tourism 10. Foreign e-Trade Undersecretary of Customs & Undersecretary of Foreign Trade 11. e-Environment Permits Ministry of Environment & Forestry Based on the following criteria-weight % (Total-100): Impact-20, Supporting/Pledged Senior Management-15, Time-15, Extra Cost-10, Supporting/Pledged Project Team-10, External Support for the Project (Private Sector, NGOs, etc.)-10, Does it Appear on the Information Society Action Plan Document?-5, Number of Affected Government Agencies-5, Is it One of the 20 EU Basic Public Services?-5, Is it on the 2008 Turkish Government Program?-5

men (2009) criticize the Information Society Strategy of Turkey for having a weak social content. Specifically these authors argue that the development of Turkey’s e-Government capabilities ignores underdeveloped regions and that it does not consider that more than 10% of the population is illiterate, or lack the necessary ICT capabilities. Thus, low citizen demand and a persistent digital divide remain issues that hinder e-Government development in Turkey. As recently identified by research conducted by Saruç (2009), a lack of trust is another important handicap to the development of e-Government services. Fifty two percent of 650 research respondents indicate that they do not trust making payments to government offices over the Internet. There are important deficiencies of the Information Society Strategy (Gökmen, 2009: 245). Some of the problematic features of the strategy could be summarized as follows: First, the projections set out in the strategy document are based on some rough estimates and a perfunctory collection of data. Also, the risks and threats are not clearly elaborated in the documents. Moreover, such a big size strategy could not be completed within a relative short period of time (6-12 months).

Furthermore, the social aspects of the document could be seen as weak as well (Gökmen, 2009: 245-246). In addition to these, the strategy document favours the public sector (Uçkan, 2009a: 408) while neglecting other important parts of the society such as private sector and NGOs. The issues of coordination, collaboration, leadership and ownership have become more apparent in the latest discussions regarding the establishment of a new Information/Knowledge Society Agency that coordinates all the e-government initiatives. Currently, the discussions are still going on. Nevertheless, all these discussions and issues point out a highly complicated, multidimensional and multilevel interactive policymaking process, which can be illustrated as in the Figure 3 (Nohutçu 2009). According to this process, there are a number of issues to be taken into account during policy making such as bureaucratic system, sociopolitical culture, technical infrastructure, legal framework, cultural environment, democratic culture, ethical setting and economic welfare, all of which affects the process to some extent. Without giving sufficient attention to these factors, it is likely that any kind of a policy enacted will suffer from some form of deficiency.

263

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Figure 3. Policymaking process and actors in governance context (Nohutçu, 2009)

Table 6. Characteristics and differences of government and governance, e-government and e-governance GOVERNMENT

GOVERNANCE

Superstructure

Functionality

Decisions

Processes

Rules

Goals

Roles

Performance

Implementation

Coordination

Outputs

Outcomes

e-Government

e-Governance

Electronic Service Delivery

Electronic Consultation

Electronic Workflow

Electronic Controllership

Electronic Voting

Electronic Engagement

Electronic Productivity

Networked Societal Guidance

Özbilgin and Ege: 2009: 432 (Adapted from Riley: 2003: 6)

While making assessments on the e-governance matters, one should take into account some important aspects and differences between the concepts of government and governance as set out by Riley. These differences are then closely in relation with e-government and e-governance issues (Table 6).

MAJOR PLAYERS OF E-GOVERNMENT IN TURKEY There are a number of major players in the area of e-government in Turkey. These players and their roles and functions are listed and explained below: The ministerial level: The State Minister responsible from SPO and related ministries such as Minister of Transport, Minister of Education, Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Finance are among the main players in the formulation and execution as well as decision making part of the ICT policies. State Planning Organization (SPO): The SPO is responsible from preparation of public investment programs and allocation of funds to

264

these projects of various public agencies. ICT projects are also assessed and reviewed by the SPO, who is also responsible for drafting guidelines on assessment and evaluation of public ICT projects. The SPO coordinates as well as reviews and monitors e-Government applications of public agencies (eGovernment Factsheet: Turkey, November 2010, p, 15). There is a department, Information Society Department, in the SPO responsible from over-heading the information society strategy and developments. e-Transformation Turkey Executive Committee: The Committee, as being the highest level institutional body that has the task of identification of major policies, strategies and decisions, overseeing, directing and evaluating information society projects, was first established in 2003 and redesigned in 2007 after Information Society Strategy adoption. In the composition of the committee there are the Minister of State, Minister of Education, Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Transport, Undersecretary of State Planning Organization (SPO), chief advisor to the Prime Minister and high level representatives from key public institutions.

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

The meetings of the Executive Board are open to the heads of some private business sector and NGOs such as e-Transformation Turkey Project Advisory Board, TUBITAK (The Scientific and Research Council of Turkey), the Council of Transformation Leaders, e-Transformation Turkey Advisory Council, Telecommunications Authority, TÜRKSAT A.Ş. (Satellite Communication and Cable TV Corporation), KOSGEB (Small and Medium Enterprise Development and Support Organization), TOBB (The Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Maritime Trade and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey), TÜSİAD (Turkish Industrialist’ and Businessmen’s Association), TBV (Turkish Informatics Foundation), TBD (Turkish Informatics Association), YASAD (Software Industrialists Association), and TUBISAD (Informatics Industrialist’ and Businessmen’s Association of Turkey) (Nohutçu, 2009). The committee meetings are planned to be held four times a year. However, there are always overlappings in the committee meetings which make decision making a little bit difficult. According to the procedures, the committee is seen as the highest level of policy and decision making, assessment and steering body in the Information Society Strategy implementation process (SPO, 2007). Also, the SPO is given the role of secretarial support to the Committee. Therefore the formation of e-Transformation Turkey Executive Committee, with participants from private sector and related NGO’s, could be seen as a big step towards e-governance mechanism in Turkey. However, the structure of the board could be supplemented with a meaningful participation of the parties involved. Uçkan sees the formation of the board as “a Public Relations (PR) operation and not a participatory invitation” because of the fact that the board lacks an executive power (Uçkan, 2009a: 404-405;Whether this criticism could be seen as a negative one or a positive one depends on where one stands and sees the glass as half empty or half full.)

As a result, the formation of the committee should not be seen as a sufficient step, rather the politicians, the higher level bureaucrats, the private sector representatives and the NGOs should form and exemplify a good governance model in the country so that this new structure is applicable to the other areas of the policy issues. Council of Transformation Leaders: The Council established in 2007, includes a group of selected persons from various public institutions, academicians from universities and representatives from selected municipalities. The Council is assigned to provide coordination among institutions, apply common principles and standards, and direct e-transformation efforts at the policy level in each public agency. The leaders are expected to be playing a mediating and facilitating role for e-government projects. However, the leaders have not come together for more than a couple of times (www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr) which makes the expected transformation a little bit difficult. The e-Transformation Turkey Advisory Council: The council is composed of the representatives of professional institutions, universities and the related NGOs. The Advisory Council acts as a discussion and deliberation platform by benefiting from the knowledge, views, experiences and considering demands and expectations of the related parties. While this list provides information for the establishments until present time, the future functions of these players are not certain and subject to change. Especially, the end of the 2006-2010 Information Society Strategy brings new discussions and initiatives into consideration. The discussions regarding the establishment of a Information/Knowledge Society Agency that have emerged at the end of 2009 as a result of the efforts proposed by the working-group on legislative issues, or ongoing restructuring initiatives can be considered as an example. Yildiz (2008: 163) discusses that “cultural factors both facilitate and inhibit e-Government policy-making in Turkey.” Value attributed to

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Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

strong leadership, secretive bureaucratic culture, fascination with technology is among these cultural factors that mould e-government development. Yıldız (2008: 175) continues that “the emergence and development of e-government projects are highly political processes”, in which various actors forces to dominate, thus mould e-government as a part of political power struggle. Afterall, successful implementation of egovernment projects requires a firm understanding about of the social and political environment of the organization(s) in question, knowledge about the power relations among all stakeholders, and an awareness and understanding of the project’s technical nature and requirements (Creswell and Pardo, 2001; Kling, 1999.) (2008:183). The social and political environment, the power relations and struggles among major players and stakeholders will continue to influence and mould the future e-government developments. Thus they need to be better analysed and understood, which could also be subject to future research work, as this paper has concentrated on the general “formation” and “participation” (formulation) dimension and stage of the ICT policy process, rather than focusing on specific players and their power-based relations.

CONCLUSION As stated by Saidi and Yared, e-Government can improve decision-making process in governments and enable better policy implementation as well. The main reason behind this fact is that ICT enables better use and management of information in a more accurate and timely manner, which directly improves decision making and the implementation of these policies (Saidi and Yared, 2002). E-government policies, as a key component in transition to information/knowledge society which embodies a more participative, efficient, transparent, accountable, proactive, and democratic modes of governance, should ensure a transformation

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in mechanisms, relations and forms of public policymaking process. In the Turkish Case, to what extent and to what degree this transformation has been accomplished should be evaluated. As put in a recent study (Yıldız, 2007:40), egovernment literature focused more on outputs of the e-government applications (such as analysis of public web pages and e-government-based public service provisions) rather than on decision-making and planning processes. However, e-government processes as a critical public policy area deserve much more attention than already exists so as to elevate the quality and efficiency of the pertinent public services and to eliminate the setbacks. (Nohutçu, 2009). The involvement of several stakeholders and dispersion of decision-making power and control will increase both the social acceptance of policies and commitment of parties on the one hand and participative democratic culture on the other. The actors who are directly affected by this development will bring their knowledge, attitudes and skills to the policymaking process which will create a synergy leading to greater innovation, improvement, and effectiveness. Partnerships can promote learning more about the work, skills and potential of the other partners and also develop the group interaction and negotiating skills that help to make them successful. Nevertheless, there are several shortcomings for effective implementation of these models about which necessary precautions should be taken. In the context of the socio-economic, political, cultural and legal constraints and pathologies of the country, power within collaborative arrangements could pass to groups or individuals, in clientelistic relationships, with effective political skills. Those stakeholders with less power, however, may be excluded from the process of collaborative working. The complexity of involvement of diverse partners in decisions makes policy-making both costly and time-consuming. Furthermore, equal engagement of all partners is a difficult task to achieve.

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

In this context, despite all its shortcomings and limitations, the concept of governance could serve many purposes in both e-government policies and other policy domains in various new forms, processes, and structures of public-private partnerships, participative policymaking and democratization, accountability, and transparency. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to use balanced and moderate approaches. In other words, governance in Turkey has gained a new dynamic independent of its original point of emergence, time period, rationale and goals. Some of its principles concurred with the transformations of economic, political, and social spheres of Turkey. Therefore, what needs to be done is to create a new synergy suitable for Turkey’s own conditions, priorities, and needs. This process has already started in Turkey and it is expected that this trend will continue in the future as well. The main problem of Turkey towards eGovernment developments is weakness of ICT usage and ICT infrastructure (Rehan and Koyuncu, 2009: 385). Therefore some necessary actions to improve ICT usage and further develop the current infrastructure should be realized within a short period of time. •

• •

•

• •

While Turkey is among the 17h place in terms of economic power, it ranks in the middle positions in the e-government measurements: e-gov readiness, etc. On the governance side monitoring is done by the SPO A kind of a stewardship role is needed, sometimes enforcement is prioritized while sometimes encouragement would be best While individual public agencies implement their own e-government projects without taking into account of much broader projects Ownership of the e-government projects is needed as a whole. Promotion of good applications as best examples and practices will be beneficial.

•

•

For a long time e-Transformation Executive Board has not been meeting despite the deficiencies in its functioning and decision making. If the upper level of an agency does not have an awareness on the importance and necessity of the e-government applications, either the projects are most likely fail or little progress is achieved. On the Technical side:

• •

•

•

•

•

•

Interoperability is a highly needed issue to underline. Also without metadata standards, use of current databases by other public agencies would be problematic. Back office technical experience sharing and directing is an important issue for other agencies to succeed in similar cases. There does not exist sufficient technical expertise in certain agencies, therefore this gap is fulfilled by suppliers or other experienced public agencies. Turksat, being as a public company, has been playing important roles sometimes as a supplier and sometimes as another fellow institution. Most important problems faced are bureaucracy, qualified personnel, budgetary constraints. Inter and intra organizational communication plays important roles for succeeding in the projects.

After having analyzed the main developments, major players and trend of e-government policies in Turkey, it could be concluded that e-government policies have been gradually and slowly evolving from state-centred and managed development to various patterns of public-private partnerships, participatory decision-making, and new forms of accountability and communication (Nohutçu,

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Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

2009). The same pattern could be seen from the policy making perspective as well. Another conclusion that could be drawn from the analysis is that public policymaking in general has also been shifting from its traditional strict hierarchical bureaucratic-centered, state-led decision-making and implementation structure to a multi-actor, participative structure which is essentially based on sharing authority, responsibility and resources. The involvement of several stakeholders and dispersion of decision-making power and control will increase both the social acceptance of policies and commitment of parties on the one hand and participative democratic culture on the other. The actors who are directly affected by this development will bring their knowledge, attitudes and skills to the policymaking process which will create a synergy leading to greater innovation, improvement, and effectiveness. To conclude, despite all its shortcomings and limitations, the concept of governance could serve many purposes in both e-government policies and other policy domains.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to sincerely thank Emin Sadık Aydın for his invaluable comments for the improvement and finalization of this work.

REFERENCES Alican, F. (2007). Experts without expertise: Esociety projects in developing countries – The case of Turkey. Information Polity, 12, 255–263. Altınsoy, G. (2009). Information and Communication Technologies and Civil Society: Bottom up Pressure Building in Turkey. The Proceedings of International Conference on eGovernment Sharing Experiences (pp. 235-248). 8-11 December 2009, Antalya Turkey.

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Balci, A. (2002). Implementation of Total Quality Management in Public Sector: An Empirical Analysis of a Turkish Case. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Balcı, A., & Kirilmaz, H. (2009). Kamu Yönetiminde Yeniden Yapilanma Kapsaminda E-Devlet Uygulamalari. Türk İdare Dergisi. Capgemini (2007). The user challenge benchmarking: The supply of online public services 7th measurement. Emre, C. (2000). Cultural Values, Morality and Public Administration in Turkey. In Mutlu, S., Emre, C., & Hazama, Y. (Eds.), Emerging Changes in Turkish Politics and Society (pp. 30–47). Japan: Institute of Developing Economies. European Commission. (2004). European interoperability framework for pan-european egovernment services. Retrieved December 6, 2008 from http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/servlets/Doc?id=19528 Gökmen, A. (2009). Developments and Prospects in e-Government from an Institutional Perspective: The Case of Turkey. In Selected Proceedings of First International Conference on e-Government and e-Governance (Vol. 2, pp. 235-250). 12-13 March 2009, Ankara Turkey. Heper, M. (1985). The State Tradition in Turkey (p. 16). The Eothen Press. Heper, M. (1990). The Executive in the Third Turkish Republic: 1982-1989. Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration, 3(3), 299–319. Heper, M. (1998). Türkiye’de Unutulan Halk ve Birey. Bilanço 98: 75 Yılda Tebadan Yurttaşa Doğru (p. 47). Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.

Turkish Case of E-Government Policy-Formulation Process

Heper, M., Chong, L. K., & Seong-Tong, P. (1980). The Role of Bureaucracy and Regime Types; A Comparative Study of Turkish and South Korean Higher Civil Servants. Administration & Society, 12(2), 137–157. doi:10.1177/009539978001200202 Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Mastruzzi, M. (2009). Governance Matters VIII: Governance Indicators for 1996-2008. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/ sc_chart.asp# Nohutçu, A (2009). The Journey and Experiences of eGovernment Policies of Turkey: An Emerging and Innovative Policymaking Experience. The Proceedings of International Conference on eGovernment Sharing Experiences (pp. 409- 422). 8-11 December 2009, Antalya Turkey. Özbilgin, İ. Ö., & Ege, İ. (2009). e-Governance and Best Practice Information Security Management System: Case of Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB). Selected Proceedings of First International Conference on e-Government and e-Governance (Vol. 2, pp. 429-442). 12-13 March 2009, Ankara Turkey. Özen, Ş. (1994). Political and Administrative Attitudes of Turkish Bureaucrats: An Explanatory Framework for Change and Stability. Turkish Public Administration Annual, 17-19, 17–37. Özgür, H. (2001). Türkiye’de Merkezi Yönetim-Yerel Yönetim Ilişkilerinin ve Yerel Yönetim Anlayışının Liberal Tez Açısından Değerlendirilmesi. Liberal Düşünce, 24, 214–230. Rehan, M., & Koyuncu, M. (2009). Towards e-Government: A Survey of Turkey’s Progress. Selected Proceedings of First International Conference on e-Government and e-Governance (Vol. 2, pp. 381-396). 12-13 March 2009, Ankara Turkey.

Saidi, N., & Yared, H. (2002). e-Government: Technology for Good Governance, Development and Democracy in the MENA countries. World Bank-Mediterranean Development Forum IV. Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://www.iimedu.org/associates/nassersaidi/EGovernmentforDevelopment.pdf Saruç, N. T. (2009). The factors effecting use of e-government services and perceived quality of public services: an empirical study. In Proceedings of ICEGEG2009, Turkey. State Planning Organization. (2006). Information Society Strategy (2006-2010). Retrieved November 22, 2008 from http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov. tr/eng/docs/Information_Society_Strategy.pdf State Planning Organization. (2007). e-Dönüşüm Türkiye İcra Kurulu (e-Transformation Turkey Executive Commitee). Retrieved April 17, 2010 from http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/Documents/1/ Icra_Kurulu/20071025_Icra-14.pdf (in Turkish) State Planning Organization. (2008). Information Society Strategy Progress Report. Devlet Planlanma Teşkilatı. (in Turkish) State Planning Organization. (2010). Information Society Strategy Progress Report. Devlet Planlanma Teşkilatı. (in Turkish) Uçkan, Ö. (2009a). Weakness of National ICT Policy-Making Process in Turkey: The Governance Phobia. In Selected Proceedings of First International Conference on e-Government and e-Governance (Vol. 2, pp. 397-410). 12-13 March 2009, Ankara Turkey. Uçkan, Ö. (2009b). Everyone is governed as they deserve. Retrieved January 19, 2009 from http:// arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2009/01/04/pz/haber,0499516 A4921456CA2DA627988C1E222.html

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United Nations. (2008). UN E-Government Survey 2008. From E-Government to Connected Governance. Retrieved November 2, 2008 from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/ documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf

Lee, H., Irani, Z., Osman, I., Balci, A., Ozkan, S., & Medeni, T. (2008). Research note: toward a reference process model for citizen-oriented evaluation of e-government services. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 2(4).

Ünsal, A. (1998). Yurttaşlık Zor Zanaat. Bilanço 98: 75 Yılda Tebadan Yurttaşa Doğru (p. 3). Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yayınları.

OECD. (2006). OECD e-government studies. Turkey: OECD.

Yildiz, M. (2008) e-Government Policy Processes from a Grounded Theory Perspective: The Case of Turkey. Lambert Academic Publishing. Yildiz, M., Sadioglu,U, & Altinok, R. (2008, September 3). Managing E-Government Innovation In Turkey: The Case Of E-Government Advisory Group In The Office Of The Prime Minister. Rotterdam European Group of Public Administration e-Government Study Group

ADDITIONAL READING Andersen, K. V., & Henriksen, H. Z. (2006). E-government maturity models: Extension of the Layne and Lee model. Government Information Quarterly, 23, 236–248. doi:10.1016/j. giq.2005.11.008 Balci, A., Kumaş, E., Medeni, T., & Medeni, İ. T. (2009). Development and implementation of e-government services in Turkey. In Cunha, M. M., Oliveira, E. F., & Antonio, J. T. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Social Dimensions of Semantic Technologies and Web Services. Information Science Reference. doi:10.4018/9781605666501.ch045 Bannister, F., & Wilson, D. (2009). O(ver)-government: E-government and the limits of the desirable. Selected Proceedings of First International Conference on e-Government and e-Governance, 12-13 March 2009, Ankara, Turkey

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TÜİK. (2008). Retrieved August 1, 2009 from http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo. do?istab_id=46

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Council of Transformation Leaders: Established in 2007 in Turkey, a group of selected persons from various public institutions, academicians from universities and representatives from selected municipalities assigned to provide coordination among institutions, apply common principles and standards, and direct e-transformation efforts at the policy level in each public agency. e-Transformation Turkey Advisory Council: Composed of the representatives of professional institutions, universities and the related NGOs, an Advisory Council that acts as a discussion and deliberation platform for transformation efforts in Turkey by benefiting from the knowledge, views, experiences and considering demands and expectations of the related parties. e-Transformation Turkey Executive Committee: The highest level institutional body that has the task of identification of major policies, strategies and decisions, overseeing, directing and evaluating information society projects. The Committee was first established in 2003 and redesigned in 2007 after Information Society Strategy adoption. e-Transformation Turkey Project: Initiated in 2003, e-Transformation Turkey project aims to achieve the country to reach Information Society standards. The main responsibility of project

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coordination is given to the SPO of Turkey. The major step towards the information society in the country is the preparation and activation of Information Society Strategy covering the period between 2006-2010. Information Society Strategy: The Strategy document published together with the related action points by SPO in 2006 for transforming Turkey into an information society. Facilitating the continuity of the e-government services development, the Strategy also aims to increase the global competitiveness of the country in many areas using the advantages of the ICT. Ministerial Level: The ministers that are involved with e-Government and e-Transformation initiatives in Turkey: State Minister responsible

from SPO and related ministries such as Minister of Transport, Minister of Education, Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Finance; among others, these are main players in the formulation and execution, as well as decision making part of the ICT policies. State Planning Organization (SPO): The central institution that is responsible from preparation of public investment programs and allocation of funds to these projects of various public agencies in Turkey. ICT projects are also assessed and reviewed by the SPO, who is also responsible for drafting guidelines on assessment and evaluation of public ICT projects. The SPO coordinates as well as reviews and monitors e-Government applications of public agencies.

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Chapter 15

E-Turkey:

Turkey’s Way to the Information Society İbrahim Arpacı* Middle East Technical University, Turkey

ABSTRACT This chapter focuses on e-Turkey. In other word, this chapter is about electronic government (e-government) activities, developments and improvements in Turkey. The success and challenges of e-government are analyzed in a national context. The purpose of the study is to analyze ongoing e-government projects held in Turkey and identify stakeholders, drivers, and challenges of the e-government projects. This study is a qualitative research. During data collection, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with top and middle level managers within public organizations. Moreover, the study involved information and data from the literature and the Turkish governmental organizations. Results of the study indicate that there are many successful e-government projects carried out by the interaction of stakeholders. In spite of some challenges, Turkey is advancing rapidly on the way to the information society.

INTRODUCTION Turkey’s Facts Turkey’s implementation of e-government is shaped by many factors including its size, centralized governance structure, e-government goals, DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch015

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, etc. Turkey is very large country with a land area twice size of Germany and a population of 71.9 million in 2009. By 2015, Turkey’s population will have increased to 82.6 million, overtaking Germany as the most populous country in Western Europe. Turkey has the highest birth rate in Western Europe at 20.1 births per 1,000 inhabitants and as a result the youngest population with a median

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E-Turkey

age of 27.1 years in 2006 (Euromonitor, 2010). All these factors influence the development of e-government in Turkey both negatively and positively. Table 1 illustrates some statistics about Turkey belonging to 2010.

E-Government Development Process in Turkey E-government has developed in distinct phases in Turkey. During 70s and 80s, the focus was mainly on automating back-office functions such as processing of the census and taxes. During 90s, there was a drive to define the Information Society and the knowledge-base economy. In 2000-2002, main implementation phase began in e-government. Today, almost all public services are offered over the e-government gateway such as collection of taxes, social security payments, and passport services. In addition, many successful e-government projects are implemented such as e-justice, e-health, and e-procurement. Successes of e-government efforts are closely related with the e-readiness of a country. Turkey is a candidate country for being regional e-readiness leader in the Middle East having 43rd e-readiness rank in the world (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010). Connectivity and technology infrastructure, Table 1. Turkey’s facts Population (Millions)

71,5

Population Growth (Annual %)

1,312

Life Expectancy at Birth (Years)

72,2

GDP (US$ Billions)

729,051

Inflation, Consumer Prices (Annual %)

8,59

Unemployment (% of Total Labor Force)

11,3

Number of Internet Users (% of Population)

41,6

Number of Internet Subscribers (% of Population)

10,7

Household Possession of Personal Computers (% of Population)

43,2

Mobile Telephone Subscriptions (% of Population)

90,5

Source: Turkish Statistical Institute (2010)

business environment, consumer and business adoption, legal and policy environment are main criteria in this ranking. Taking into context these criteria and other factors, it can be said that young and dynamic population demographics, legal and policy environment that is transforming as per European Union (EU) legislations and developed stable business environment are strength sides of Turkey. However, low e-literacy level, insufficient and expensive connectivity and technology infrastructure are weaknesses of Turkey. Turkey’s national e-government vision is outlined in its most recent Information Society Strategy (2006-2010). According to this strategy, Turkey’s ongoing transformation into an information society is to be pursued around seven fundamental strategic priorities: social transformation, ICT adoption by businesses, citizen-focused service transformation, modernization in public administration, a globally competitive it sector, competitive, widespread and affordable telecommunications infrastructure and services, improvement of research & development and innovation. During the implementation process of the strategy, the initial years (2006-2007) spent for preparation to transformation. In the second phase (2007-2008), essential and comprehensive e-government projects for the transformation into information society were implemented. In the final phase (2009-2010), major e-government projects were completed, and some expected benefits have been obtained. Total cost of the strategy implementation was 10.5 billion US$ whilst expected benefits of the strategy for future 30 years were annual average 0.6% employment growth, 1.4% productivity growth, and 2% gross national product (GNP) growth.

Major E-Government Projects in Turkey Today, several e-government projects that are undertaken by the ministries in order to provide online services to citizens, businesses and gov-

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ernmental organizations are on the service. Major completed e-government projects are listed below: • • • • • • • •

Central Census Management System Project Land Registry and Cadastral Information System Project Internet Tax Office Project National Judicial Network Project Accounting Offices Automation Project National Police Network Project Government Supply Office’s Electronic Sale Project Custom Administration Modernization Project

Central Census Management System Project (MERNİS) is the most important system that affects most of the other e-government projects. It has a long story, but it is operational since January 2003. Total cost of the project is 5.5 million USD. Its main objective is to automate all census events and to store the census information in a more reliable and computerized environment. The system assigns a unique ID number for about 120 million Turkish citizens, both alive and passed away, which is to be used in many e-services. Land Registry and Cadastral Information System Project (TAKBİS) aims to establish a country-wide land information system through the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) and to develop several GIS-based applications, using software required by the end-users. Total cost of the project was 150 million USD. Internet Tax Office Project (VEDOP) started as an automation project of tax offices all over the country in 1998. The Turkish tax system includes a variety of different tax types with different periods of collection. A typical taxpayer has to hand over more than 30 tax returns and declaration forms annually. This causes taxpayers to walk in tax offices and leave their tax returns almost 3 times a month. This results in large amounts of individual

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circulation in the tax offices and the employment of a considerable number of personnel for the front desk operations. Internet Tax Office web site was established within VEDOP to serve the taxpayers to follow-up their status in the tax office, check their account balances and get informed about regulations and updates. National Judicial Network Project (UYAP) aims to establish an electronic network and program development covering all Courts, Offices of Public Prosecutors and Enforcement Offices together with the Central Organization of the Ministry of Justice. The project has the objective of abolishing the use of written documents and typewriters. Thanks to this project now, the cases can be transferred to electronic environment starting from its petition to the courthouse, repetitions can be avoided, and the information gathered by the Office of the Public Prosecutor can be available online. Accounting Offices Automation Project (say2000i) designed to automate all daily tasks of accounting offices and to gather all detailed public accounts information at the central organization on a daily basis. Since all detailed information is stored at a central location, government accounts can be analyzed thoroughly and information can be shared between related public organizations. National Police Network Project (POLNET) is a comprehensive store of information; providing a secure on-line aid to criminal investigation. The project enables police officers in the field to access national information via a police network. It also contributes to the detection of vehicle theft offenders through the Vehicles Database, and of criminals through the Criminal Records Database. It also houses important data about Terrorists and Organized Crime Groups. It will also provide the citizens with information concerning police services through internet. With this project, surveillance period is shortened and operation of collecting evidences is accelerated. All police officers are able to benefit from contemporary

E-Turkey

methods, such as comparing fingerprints, DNA analysis, ballistic, blood and tissue researches by using POLNET. In addition, traffic supervision is accelerated. Passport, regulatory licensing and similar procedures concerning the processing of criminal background checks are carried out online via POLNET. Government Supply Office’s Electronic Sale Project (e-Sale) aims to transform all the purchase services, which have been managed traditionally by paper, phone, and fax to electronic environment. Government Supply Office (GSO) has been serving with its 22 regional office as a centralized public purchase institution in Turkey. GSO has more than 1,100 supply types in 203 different categories. Thanks to e-Sale, the order and shipment processes have became much faster and communication costs have decreased sharply. Moreover, human resources have also been used much more efficiently and effectively with the new system. Custom Administration Modernization Project (GIMOP) aims to modernize the custom administration, increase the efficiency, ease legal trade and prevent illegal trade, and automate all the custom transactions. With this project, all the transactions can be materialized in the electronic environment leading to a decrease in paperwork and bureaucratic affairs.

METHODOLOGY The purpose of the study was to analyze ongoing e-government projects held in Turkey and identify stakeholders, drivers, and challenges of the e-government projects. This study is a qualitative research. Information and data were collected using guided face-to-face semi structured interviews with top and middle level managers in Turkish public organizations who are performing and coordinating e-government projects. In addition, data about organizations and the projects were

collected from documents, books, and governmental reports.

Research Questions Research questions were prepared before interviews to meet the research problem. Following research questions were prepared to guide data collection: RQ 1: What are the e-government projects that are performed by the organization? RQ 2: Who are the stakeholders of the e-government projects? RQ 3: What are the drivers of the e-government projects? RQ 4: What are the challenges you are facing during the implementation of e-government?

Participants Fourteen public organizations have been conducted to participate in the study. In addition, twenty-seven e-government projects were examined (See Table 2). Research questions that meet objectives of the study were answered by top and middle level managers during the research. Fourteen managers who hold executive positions in the public organization and have at least five years experience in strategic management were interviewed during the study.

Data Collection This study interviewed a sample of fourteen top and middle level managers in governmental organizations to gather qualitative data. The interview procedure was initiated conducting with the participants by a telephone call or e-mail. The interview reason and purpose of the research were discussed, the time and place for the interview was set. Interviews were performed face to face in the interviewee’s office. The interview was initiated with a short explanation of the topic.

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Table 2. Organizations and e-government projects Organization

Projects

METU-Techno polis

Innovation Relay Center Anatolia, Business Support Network

Ministry of National Education

ILSIS, E-School

Ministry of Public Works and Settlement

Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems Project, Land Registry and Cadastre Information System, Disaster Information System

Ministry of Finance

Finance SGB.Net Project, Strategic Management Project

State Planning Organization

E-Transformation Turkey Project

Ministry of Transport

Land Automation Project, National Transport Portal

Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources

ENEBIS, Ministry of Energy Portal

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Farmer Registry System

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce

Electronic Commerce Project, SME Information Collection Project

Small and Medium Industry Development Organization

KOBI-NET Project

Ministry of Health

Health-NET Project, Tele-Medicine Project

Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Turkey Tourism Portal, Turkey Culture Portal

Ministry of Justice

Better Access to Justice, National Judiciary Informatics System

Ministry of Labour and Social Security

Worker Entry and Exit Declaration Project, Work Inspection Project, Zone Automation Project

The interview was semi structured; the questions were preplanned. The researcher throughout the conversation recorded the interview and the interviewee was aware of this.

Data Analysis During the analysis of the interviewed data, grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) was utilized. The grounded theory uses a systematic set of procedures involving open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a phenomenon (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). First, critical codes were emerged from the raw data analyzing interview transcripts and categorizing similar words and phrases. After identification of the codes, they are grouped into similar concepts. The categories were formed examining these concepts. Lastly, the categories were compared, combined, and then represented into the tables.

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FINDINGS The results enable us to identify ongoing e-government projects and challenges of e-government. Table 2 illustrates identified ongoing e-government projects that are performed by the listed public organizations. Detailed information about the projects can be found in Appendix. Many of the organizations emphasized in the interviews that one of the most important drivers for e-government projects is the increasing collaboration between private sector, universities, public sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They also identified other drivers as; policies favorable to e-transformation, public demand, Turkish Information Society Strategy Studies realized by State Planning Organization (a governmental organization under the Prime Ministry), establishment of the strategy development units, performance based budget studies, improvement in standardization in the public services, cost savings, difficulties and delays on the services.

E-Turkey

Table 3. Stakeholders of the e-government projects (N=14) Stakeholders

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Table 4. Challenges of the e-government (N=14) Challenges

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Bureaucracy

14

100

Private Sector

14

100

Approval authority

13

92.8

Public Sector

13

92.8

Legislation

13

92.8

University

9

64.2

Lack of qualified employee

10

71.4

NGOs

5

35.7

Work environment

5

35.7

Financial constraints

5

35.7

Management hierarchy

3

21.4

Low wages policy

2

14.2

Government program

1

7.14

The interviews indicated that all public organizations cooperate with other organizations during the implementation of e-government projects. Stakeholders of the e-government projects are private organizations, other public organizations, universities, and NGOs. The percentage scores in Table 3 indicate that all of the public organizations work with private organizations during the implementation of egovernment projects. It is interesting to note that all participated public organizations complete reliance on a contractual relationship with a private sector service provider. Furthermore, most of the public organizations collaborate with other public organizations. However, some public organizations collaborate with universities and NGOs. The organizations participating in the study were asked to identify challenges that they faced during implementation of the e-government. The results received from the interview are illustrated in Table 4. According to results, there are nine organizational challenges; bureaucracy, approval authority, legislation, lack of qualified staff, work environment, financial constraints, management hierarchy, low wages policy, and government program. However, the most encountered challenges are bureaucracy, approval authority, legislation, and lack of qualified staff. It is important to note that in some cases the laws and regulations can restrict e-government projects because one cannot act out of legislations. Another important point is that in order to accomplish e-transformation qualified staff is required. However, because

of low wages policy of the Turkish public organizations qualified staffs prefer to work in private sector. Unfortunately, this challenge requires public organizations work with private organizations during the implementation of e-government.

FUTURE RESEARCH This study analyzed e-government activities, developments and improvements in Turkey that is on the way to the information society. In this context, significant e-government projects that are in progress and carried out by Turkish public organizations were analyzed. Stakeholders of the e-government projects, drivers that accelerates e-transformation process, and challenges faced during the implementation of e-government were identified. It is important to note that Turkey is almost completed e-transformation process and soon all governmental transactions can be performed online. Hence, future studies investigating acceptance of e-government services are quite respectful. Some recent studies are related to this matter. Lean et al (2009) try to identify factors that are influencing intention to use e-government service among citizens in Malaysia. In another study, Shalini (2009) explores the factors facilitating and inhibiting citizens’ e-readiness of the citizens

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of a small island developing economy, Mauritius in Africa. In their study, Verdegem and Verleye (2009) present a conceptual model derived from technology acceptance theory for measuring user satisfaction of e-government services. In addition, future studies would be useful to explore mobile government (m-government). Etransformation is almost completed in developed and developing countries by the implementation of e-government projects. Consequently, m-government will gain importance in the near future.

CONCLUSION Lee et al. (2008) claim that there are two primary aspects to the benefits of e-government. The first is the transformation of government operations to met needs of citizens and businesses and help government through reducing operational costs via increasing the efficiency of internal operations. The second aspect is the transformation of governance positively affecting the relationship between citizens and governments through improving the interactivity between government and citizens and making it smoother, faster and more responsive. Successful implementation of e-government improves processes within public organizations increasing efficiency and better management and delivery of public services (Irani et al., 2008). Moreover, there are vital functions of e-government including easy access to government information and services, service integration, citizen participation, increased efficiency, strengthening of democracy, enhanced openness and transparency in government operations, and better and more versatile services to citizens and businesses (Flak et al., 2009; Arpacı, 2010). E-government projects held in Turkey not only improve the interactivity among governmental bodies, citizens, schools, students and businesses but also provide easier, faster and more responsive services. Transforming government, operations

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such as paying utility bills, monitoring decisions of the court, effecting birth and death registrations can be performed online. In conclusion, as a developing country, Turkey is advancing rapidly on the way to the information society and almost completed e-transformation process.

REFERENCES Arpacı, İ. (2010). eGovernment and Technological Innovation in Turkey: Case Studies on Governmental Organizations. Transforming Government: People. Process and Policy, 4(1), 37–53. Economist Intelligence Unit. (2010). Digital economy rankings 2010: Beyond e-readiness. A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Retrieved December 21, 2010, from http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/EIU_Digital_economy_rankings_2010_FINAL_WEB.pdf Euromonitor International. (2010). Technology, Communications and Media: Turkey. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://portal.euromonitor.com Flak, L. S., Dertz, W., Jansen, A., Krogstie, J., Spjelkavik, I., & Ølnes, S. (2009). What is the value of eGovernment - and how can we actually realize it? Transforming Government: People. Process and Policy, 3(3), 220–226. Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company. Information Society Strategy Action Plan. (2006). State Planning Organization. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr Irani, Z., Love, P. E. D., & Jones, S. (2008). Learning lessons from evaluating eGovernment: reflective case experiences that support transformational government. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 17(2), 155–164. doi:10.1016/j.jsis.2007.12.005

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Lean, O. K., Zailani, S., Ramayah, T., & Fernando, Y. (2009). Factors influencing intention to use eGovernment services among citizens in Malaysia. International Journal of Information Management, 2(2), 458–475. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2009.03.012 Lee, H., Irani, Z., Osman, İ. H., Balcı, A., Özkan, S., Lee, H., & Medeni, T. (2008). Research Note: Toward a reference process model for citizenoriented evaluation of eGovernment services. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 2(4), 297-310. OECD. (2005). Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data (3rd ed.). Paris: OECD Publishing. Shalini, R. T. (2009). Are Mauritians ready for e-Government services? Government Information Quarterly, 26(3), 536–539. doi:10.1016/j. giq.2008.12.016 Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory, procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Turkish Statistical Institute. (2010). Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http:// www.tuik.gov.tr

Chen, A. J., Pan, S. L., Zhang, J., Huang, W. W., & Zhu, S. (2009). Managing e-government implementation in China: A process perspective. Information & Management, 46(4), 203–212. doi:10.1016/j.im.2009.02.002 Cordella, A., & Iannacci, F. (2010). Information systems in the public sector: The e-Government enactment framework. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19(1), 52–66. doi:10.1016/j. jsis.2010.01.001 Gauld, R., Goldfinch, S., & Horsburgh, S. (2010). Do they want it? Do they use it? The ‘DemandSide’ of e-Government in Australia and New Zealand. Government Information Quarterly, 27(2), 177–186. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2009.12.002 Heeks, R. (2006). Implementing and Managing eGovernment: An International Text. London: Sage Publications. Irani, Z., Love, P. E. D., Elliman, T., Jones, S., & Themistocleous, M. (2005). Evaluating eGovernment: learning from the experiences of two UK local authorities. Information Systems Journal, 15(1), 61–82. doi:10.1111/j.13652575.2005.00186.x

Verdegem, P., & Verleye, G. (2009). User-centered E-Government in practice: A comprehensive model for measuring user satisfaction. Government Information Quarterly, 26(1), 487–497. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2009.03.005

Van Velsen, L., van der Geest, T., ter Hedde, M., & Derks, W. (2009). Requirements engineering for e-Government services: A citizen-centric approach and case study. Government Information Quarterly, 2(3), 477–486. doi:10.1016/j. giq.2009.02.007

ADDITIONAL READING

Yildiz, M. (2007). E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward. Government Information Quarterly, 24, 646–665. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2007.01.002

Brown, M. M. (2007). Understanding EGovernment Benefits. American Review of Public Administration, 37(2), 178–197. doi:10.1177/0275074006291635

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Approval Authority: The authorizing officer who decides acceptance of the project. It can be

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head of the unit, undersecretary or minister according to the financial limit of the project. Bureaucracy: Procedures, protocols, and set of regulations that people are expected to follow. E-Government: Delivering public services to businesses, other governmental organizations, and citizens using information and communication technologies (ICTs). E-Literacy: The knowledge and skills needed to use ICTs. E-Transformation: Transforming all transactions to the electronic environment.

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Information Society: A new society form that is shaped by the advances in ICTs. Legislation: The regulations, rules and laws legislated by parliament. Management Hierarchy: The body of authoritative officials arranged according to levels.

ENDNOTE *



Faculty member of the Gaziosmanpaşa University.

E-Turkey

APPENDIX Innovation Relay Centre (IRC) Anatolia Innovation Relay Centre (IRC) Anatolia established in April 2004. Middle East Technical University Techno polis (the coordinator), Small and Medium Industry Development Organisation (SIMIDO), and Ankara Chamber of Industry form the IRC Anatolia Consortium. IRC Anatolia undertakes to build and develop an organizational infrastructure, for promoting the transfer of research results and technologies, in accordance with the needs expressed by the industrial structure of Southeast, Middle, and East Anatolia regions in Turkey in order to improve its competitiveness through innovation.

Business Support Network Business Support Network project has been started in March 31, 2008 as a second phase of the IRC project. BSN project consists of two projects, which are IRC and Europe Information Centers projects. BSN project aims to supports small and medium enterprises, universities, and research and development centers about technology transfer, European funds and intellectual property rights. BSN project is separated from IRC project by some additional features such as, e-news letter and call center.

ILSIS ILSIS project has been established to execute the functions of provincial and district directorates of national education with the support of information technologies. The main objective of ILSIS is to ensure current, continuous, fast and secure information flow between the central and provincial organization of the Ministry of National Education (OECD, 2005). ILSIS provides a web based management information system for appointment, personnel, examination, investment, audit, and investigation operations that are executed by the provincial and district directories of national education.

E-School E-School Project started by Ministry of National Education in May 2006. According to Mehmet Altınsoy, General Co Director of Educational Technologies, in accordance with the project, all the identification information found in the Central Population Management System, namely MERNIS, and school registration information such as class, branch of each student has been recorded into the central information system by the schools using the unique identification numbers. All of the students found in formal education are aimed to be recorded into the system in the near future. Transferring a student to another school is carried out electronically by the system.

Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems project aims to form a technological base for the activities of public work and planning procedures to be more accurate and faster. In scope of the project, a pilot region is selected and related data such as land use classification, forest areas, soil classes and degree of explosion to erosion were transferred to digital environment and several thematic

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maps are comprised at the first phase of the project. Expanding the scope of the project among all the departments of the ministry to all levels of the workflow by building a Geographical Database that will produce regional analysis on physical and social changes and development is the next step of the project.

Land Registry and Cadastre Information System The General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre accomplishes Land Registry and Cadastre Information System. Land Registry and Cadastre Information System Project provided the following solutions; digital production and back up of the cadastral data, production of data in accordance with the National Geographic Network, definition of producing standards of data, integration of graphic or non graphic data, cooperation with Private Sector in the matter of data collection, storing, processing and getting ready to use.

Disaster Information System Disaster Information System aims to store all of the damage that are because of disaster in a database. Moreover, it facilitates holder of rights studies and house acquisition studies. It stores the data to use in these studies. After disaster, it sends the data of the damage assessment studies to the General Directorate of Disaster Affairs.

Finance SGB.Net Project Ministry of Finance Directorate of Strategy Development started to service according to Public Finance Management and Control Law beginning from 2006. It performs Finance SGB.Net project to build infrastructure necessary for an effective and productive work environment. Finance SGB.Net project is designed as an institutional solution to meet all of the requirements of the Public Finance Management and Control Law. Software development studies are ongoing but user and menu management module, allocate fund module, expenditure tracking module, audit module, movable property registry and tracking module, and receivable tracking module have been put into practice since 2007.

Strategic Management Project Strategic Management Project aims to connect performance program with strategic plan and budget. It also aims to provide a module for tracking and assessment for the use of strategic management.

E-Transformation Turkey Project E-Transformation Turkey Project was initiated by State Planning Organization (SPO) Information Society Department in March 2003. In the context of the project policies, laws, and regulations regarding ICT will be re-examined and changed with respect to the EU. Participation of citizens to decision-making process in the public domain via usage of ICT, enhancement of transparency and accountability for public management will be provided. Moreover, good governance principles in government services will be formed, widespread usage of ICT will be ensured, coordination of public IT projects in order to avoid duplicating or overlapping investments and guidance to private sector will be provided.

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Land Automation Project Land Automation project aims to provide an automation system for the road sector within the frame of the highway transportation law and legislations. By means of the Land Automation System, all of the operations related to passenger and cargo transportation will be performed online.

National Transport Portal National Transport Portal provides a secure and fast digital environment for the staff of the Ministry of Transport and citizens. All applications and requests will be made online because of the portal. Also all document transmissions will be performed using the portal and digital signature will be used to sign the documents online.

Ministry of Energy Information and Document Management System (ENEBIS) Ministry of Energy Information and Document Management System (ENEBIS) is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project generated for the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. All business processes and document transmission can be carried out online because of this project. In addition, huge databases and multi layered software architecture were used to store important data in a secure fashion.

Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Portal Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Portal provides a secure and fast environment for the staff of the Ministry of Transport and citizens. All of the business processes will be operable online at the end of the project. Digital signature will be used for document transmission. This portal will be an intelligent system and it will comprehend Content Management System, Geographic Information System, and data mining and statistic applications.

Farmer Registry System Farmer Registry System is a new system for the ministry aims to detect number of farmers in Turkey and determine cultivated lands and fields all over the Turkey. The information obtained through this project will be used to improve the services offered to the farmers.

Electronic Commerce Project Electronic Commerce Project aims to adapt all of sales services that are performed on paper and via telephone or fax in to electronic environment. The system accelerates order and shipment process and enables productive and effective usage of the human resources cutting cost of the communication expenditures such as fax and telephone.

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Small and Medium Sized Industry Information Collection Project (KOSBILTOP) KOSBILTOP Project stores information of the small and medium sized industries in a database. It allows access to this information by demanding firms. It also provides chance to the enterprises to be informed from bids and to receive tender.

KOBI-NET Project KOBI-NET is an e-commerce gateway for enterprises providing rapid access to up to date information to increase their competitive power and offering an electronic environment to communicate with the world. KOBI-NET is an e-commerce center that brings together enterprises with all scale and from different sectors. It offers to the enterprises the infrastructure that they will need to take part efficiently in the internet world called as “virtual free trade zone”. It intends to contact basic industry with sub industry by bringing together small and medium sized enterprises that are serving in the production and service sector with large sized enterprises in a virtual environment. It is the first project in Turkey that EU supported financially to enhance e-commerce and to support small and medium sized enterprises.

SIMIDO Management Information System SIMIDO Management Information System aims to perform business processes of the services offered by SIMIDO in an electronic environment and to provide online evaluation of the applications.

Health-NET Project This project aims to collect and store all of personal health data of citizens living in Turkey in a central system. Health-NET is an integrated reliable and fast information and communication platform. It is capable of collecting information in proper format from where it was created and produces proper information for shareholders in the health sector to increase quality and to obtain benefits.

TELE-Medicine The aim of this project is to share radiologic images in an electronic environment in the ministry. TELEMedicine project accomplishes three basic issues remote patient monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of disease, medical education and research.

Turkey Tourism Portal The project aims to increase awareness for natural richness and historical places of Turkey removing wrong and negative images.

Turkey Culture Portal The project aims to provide an interactive environment to the citizens that will present information about cultural and historical values.

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Better Access to Justice The objective of the project is to strengthen the rule of law in Turkey and guarantee all citizens access to justice in line with the EU standards. The primary target group is citizens of Turkey. The project has social and technological dimensions. The social side of the project is providing mediation between courts and supplying legal aid for poor citizens who cannot hire a lawyer. Technological side of the project is recording trials developing a system.

National Judiciary Informatics System The system establishes an electronic network covering all Courts, Offices of Public Prosecutors and Law Enforcement Offices together with the Central Organization of the Ministry of Justice in order to ensure fast, reliable, soundly operated and accurate judicial system.

Worker Entry and Exit Declaration Project Currently, Worker entry and exit declaration information has been delivered on papers. Thousands of papers should be entered the database, hence it takes too much time and effort. The objective of the project is to deploy entrance of the entry and exit declaration information task to the employer. Hereby, paper based applications will be transformed and better services will be delivered to the citizens.

Work Inspection Project The objective of the project is to provide a system for inspectors to faster the inspection process in a secure and electronic environment. Inspections will be performed faster and reports will be prepared quicker because of the project.

Zone Automation Project The objective of the Zone Automation project is to provide a central system for citizens gathering distributed servers. Better services will be served to the citizens because of the project.

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Chapter 16

E-Government in Russia:

Strategies of Formation and Development Yuri Hohlov Institute of the Information Society, Russia Evgeny Styrin Moscow State University, Russia & SUNY Albany, USA

ABSTRACT This chapter explores Russia’s implementation of the national e-government strategy and information policies. Based on official, national strategic documents and a number of e-government cases that highlight different projects at the federal and regional levels, we outline the formidable barriers and idiosyncrasies of managing e-government development in Russia.

INTRODUCTION The Russian Federation is the largest country, by territory, in the world (17,098.2 K km2). It has a population of 141.8 million people and 79.3 percent of inhabitants live in European parts of Russia. The Russian Federation became independent after the crash of the former Soviet Union (World Bank, 2008). Russia has a federated

structure which consists of 83 regions, including 21 Republics, 9 territories, 46 regions, 2 cities of federal significance (Moscow, Saint-Petersburg), 1 autonomous region and 4 autonomous districts. Each of these regions has equal rights. The country is also divided into 10 federal districts. The majority of the population lives in cities – 73,1 percent. Russian citizens are 79,83 percent of country’s population (Russian Federal Statistics Service, 2008). The national language is Russian.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch016

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E-Government in Russia

Russia is both a presidential and parliamentary republic. The president is elected every six years and has certain discretionary powers which means the exclusive right of a president to make quick decisions in crisis situations when time factor is crucial (before the end of 2008 presidential term was four years). President serves as a referee to all power branches facilitating collaboration and conflicts resolution. The President appoints the Prime Minister who is the head of the executive administration. Legislative power is represented by two chambers, the Federal Assembly consisting of the Federation Council and State Duma (Parliament). Governors head the regional executive branches and are appointed by the President, whereas the regional legislative authorities are elected. Russia has the largest supply of mineral and energetic resources in the world. The Gross Domestic Production (GDP) in 2009 was 15,200 United States Dollars (USD) per capita (CIA World Facebook, 2009). The human capital development index in Russia is calculated based on the United Nations Development Program methodology is high (0,96 (1 is maximum). Thus Russia can be considered a country with both high education and literacy levels based on total population (UN E-government Survey, 2008). The E-government development process in the Russian Federation cannot be considered separately from the overall usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in society and in public administration in particular. The development of ICTs in society started in the 1960-70s in the Soviet Union, as with many other developed countries. Some examples are the National State Automation System (NSAS), United Network of Computation Centers (UNCC), United Automated Network of Communication (UANC), Republican Automated Management Systems (RAMS), Industrial Automated Management Systems (IAMS) (Glushkov, 1975). The majority of these projects were inherited by the Russian Federation from the Soviet Union’s

legacy. While they provide potential profits, they also create burdens on maintenance costs which are restraining the transition to new technologies. After almost twenty years of informatization, which started after the Soviet Union crash, the first half of it can be characterized as chaotic. Most recent informatization examples demonstrate that ICT become strategic resource in different areas of government’s activity. Overall, despite very difficult socioeconomic problems and rearrangement of the economy following crises in 1998 and 2007, the Russian Federation has continued to adapt the most innovative technologies. Recent development of new technologies by public administrations, businesses, and the general population continue to be a significant challenge for Russia in managing informatization. Russia’s e-government readiness index score has decreased from 50th in 2005 to 92nd in 2008. A partial explanation may be the Web presence subindex score which decreased. due to the fact that agencies were not ready to use their web-sites as public services providing tools respectively not investing resources in further e-development. (UN E-Readiness Report, 2005) At the same time, the ICT-infrastructure development and human capital subindexes remained at much the same level as 2005 (UN E-government Survey, 2008). ICT development across the whole country continues to take place against the backdrop of deep structural changes in governance, culture and policy development. All these are important factors when transitioning from one political system to another. Russian leaders considered the potential of ICTs for socioeconomic modernization and participation in key world events (Medvedev, 2009). The Russian Federation is not idiosyncratic in its specific ICT usage challenges, but its geographic scale and struggle to accumulate sufficient resources to find a solution to unique challenges. The following sections of this chapter analyzes the Russian Federation’s strategic achievements and less than successful initiatives on its way to de-

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veloping an information society and e-government infrastructure over the past two decades.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND REFORMS Administrative reform is understood as a fundamental rethinking of the functions and role of the state in the society. Reform requires the fulfillment of two conditions: 1) the accumulation of financial resources and 2) stabilizing the socioeconomic situation. The achievement of these two conditions followed the fast economic growth in Russia starting from year 2000. Administrative reform was planned in two stages. The first stage took place between 20042006 and laid the foundation to establish basic principles for future changes: effectiveness and efficiency, focus on citizens demands transparency and accountability (Administrative Reform 2005-2010). The second stage was planned for 2006 – 2010 time frame but the second stage did not commence until 2008. It was necessary to complete the first in order to refine the second stage (Federal Government Order Nº 1789-r, 2005). In particular, the second stage refinement was designed to connect the reform with the changing demands of citizens and to base these changes on the accumulated experience documented in the first stage. The first stage of administrative reform outlined four directions: • • • •

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The refinement of public administration’s societal role; The standardization of public administration; The increase in the effectiveness and efficiency of public administration; The increase in the quality of public administration performance evaluation.

New Public Management and Good Governance theories were a methodological and conceptual base for reform. Many such reforms were implemented in developed countries (Smorgunov, 2003, Kiaer, 2004). The translation of best practices and terms used in reform initiatives outside of Russian quickly created translation and understanding issues, as they were applied to the reality of the Russian Federal context and the existing legal framework inherited from the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation was still in the process of changing its legal framework, and therefore some reform terms needed new definitions for inclusion. The main goals of the second stage of the reform were: •

• • • • •

To increase the capacity of all governance levels in order to reach socially valued results; Increase the quality and improve the access to public services; Decrease the excessive Governmental role in the economy; Reduce ineffective public procurement expenditures ; Reduce corruption in public administration system ; Improve societal trust level to the Government.

These goals were intended to achieve a radical change within the existing administrative paradigm and launched a number of agency-level programs to implement each of these goals. The main concepts of the reform were grounded in: changes in governance principles (e.g., result oriented budgeting), revising governmental functions (e.g., elimination of duplicate and excessive functions), optimizing existing functions, and changing public procurement mechanisms. The important role to implement these ideas belonged to ICT. Trust increase to governmental activities, quality of citizens satisfaction growth in public

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services usage, Russia’s place improvement in world public administration ratings (including corruption, e-government etc.), quality of public governance, citizens wealth were identified as a key indicators of administrative reform as a governmental program. Administrative reform proposed an outline for a clear division of power and responsibilities among federal level authorities. Federal authorities were divided into three types: ministries, agencies, services. Ministries were responsible for strategic governance and regulatory mechanisms in various areas of development. Agencies were responsible for creating strategic plans and creating implementing measures. Services were designated to perform monitoring and control functions. After many years, some have concluded that the painful process of power division at the Russian federal governance level was not completely successful. G. Gref former Federal Minister of Economy declared that administrative reform in Russia was successful only on 36% due to too ambitious and broad goals, lack of political will on a top level and lack of motivation to some initiatives from lower level public employees (Kuvshinova, 2010). Administrative reform, in addition to putting internal things in order among authorities, assumed the responsibility of changing the relations between the state and external actors (e.g., citizens, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and commercial companies) by cutting red tape, and improving public administration transparency. To tackle this problem, administrative regulation mechanisms were enacted. Administrative regulations were used to describe in detail all of the qualitative changes or supplements aimed at improving and optimizing core business processes in governmental bodies. Initiatives to standardize public administration were described in a set of documents named “typical administrative regulations”(AR). These documents included detailed description of public service delivery including execution process, expected result, conditions when service cannot be provided, re-

quirements to service quality and infrastructure, citizens feedback mechanisms (Federal Government Resolutions Nº30, Nº452, 2005, President’s Order Nº 314, 2004). Results-oriented budgeting assumed a project management approach to federal and regional level governance as well as future financing dependency on successful solution of previous tasks. While evaluating quality of provided public services, new indicators were used including: • • • • •

quality of information; implementation procedure; quality of interaction with public employees; geographical location of the authority providing the service; comfort of physical presence in public authorities.

A system of citizen feedback (e.g., surveys, etc.) to evaluate the quality of provided public services were also used. This was considered an innovative approach in Russian public administration practice. On the second stage of the reform administrative regulations had to become a main guidance of public services practical implementation in electronic form and their delivery by means of ICT to citizens and businesses. In addition to electronic interaction channels, public services have to be provided in “face to face” mode through a network of multifunctional centers (MC) – administrative branches where high skilled staff helps citizens to apply for the service. By the end of 2009, 50 pilot MCs were launched in regions that participated in a competition for federal funding and were scored as being the most interested in these projects. In coming years, it is expected that the number of MCs will sufficiently increase (Multifunctional Centers Network, 2008). The public service implementation projects were prioritized by popularity, and their impact on improving constitutional rights and increasing

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freedoms for citizens. In particular, many of these projects were services connected to property registration, passport issuance, and citizens employment. All governance levels must submit a list of public services, ordered by priority. (Federation Government Order Nº1555p, 2009). The priority measures must be coordinated and connected to the Federal Program “E-Russia 2002-2010.” which will be described below.

E-GOVERNMENT FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Information Policy Conception Information Policy Conception developed and approved both by information policy committee of State Duma (Parliament) and by President’s Permanent Chamber on state information policy in the end of 1998 became one of the first strategic documents in modern Russia (Information Policy Conception, 1998). Conception stated that information policy is a part of both external and internal national policy and comprises all activities of Russian State and society. Information society development as a transition process to a new quality of societal relations was declared a long term strategic goal of information policy. The key transition process stages were defined: • • • • •

innovation industry radical redesign from plan to market economy demands; strategic binding of national development to the information management potential; sustainable information demand from the society formation; telecommunication infrastructure and information services development; democratic values support by high level of information policy openness.

It is worth mentioning that Information Policy Conception became the first widely spread and

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discussed document in which citizens and society’s interests were considered of a higher priority than government needs.

Informatization Development in Russia” Program’s Conception The next important document released in 19981999 was Federal Program’s “Informatization development in Russia up to 2010” Conception. This Conception was viewed as a guide contributing to creation of necessary elements to perform an information society transition process for Russia. The Conception stated three key directions: the education system informatization, ICT industry and services infrastructure formation and development, cultural support to ICT industry according to Russian traditional heritage and history. Though the document was approved by Information and Telecommunications Ministry it was not supported by Federal Government or President.

Okinawa Charter of Global Information Society The next strategic step taken by Russia was Okinawa charter of global information society signed in year 2000 during G8 Summit (Okinawa Charter, 2000). According to the Charter G8 countries took responsibilities to overcome digital divide and continue ICT expansion. Digital divide is a direct reflection from socioeconomic divide and shows a growing trend. At that time Russia was in a dual situation: from one point of view information industry (ICT, telecommunications, content-industry) starts playing more important role in country’s economy and policy, but from the other point there are no driving forces for ICT development such as national IT- industry producing innovative IT- products, services and solutions. G8 governments insisted on global ICT development as a key factor of future economy growth. Actually Russia by ICT-infrastructure

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development indicators was closer to developing than to developed (G8) countries.

Federal Program “E-Russia 1” New long term Federal Program “Electronic Russia 2002-2010” approval and adoption in January 2002 became another important step in information society development and e-government system design in Russia. Program’s conception based on Russian Ministry of Economy initiative was as complex as it was ambitious (Federal Program E-Russia, 2002). E-Russia’s goals were heterogeneous and broad in the same time and comprised: • • • • •

• •

•

•

modern ICT-infrastructure creation; granting wide citizens access to broadband Internet; mobile new generation networks development; legal framework for ICT usage and regulation improvement; start of pilot projects in Russian regions testing innovative ICT-solutions in public administration; information industry support and development; based on ICT government to citizens and government to businesses interaction quality improvement; Federal Government ITtools development to enhance interagency collaboration; building capacity for IT adoption (government employees skills, organizational changes, new performance and quality measurement systems); bridging digital divide.

Basically “E-Russia (2002-2010)” described the advantages which could be obtained by the country in case of successful ICT enactment in public administration system. Real or practical challenges such as changes of internal government culture and management methods to achieve

results in ICT usage were underestimated by program’s developers. Experts supporting architectural approach to e-government considering governmental bodies as enterprises would name the desired outcomes described in E-Russia with a term “AS TO BE” (Danilin & Slyusarenko, 2005). In the same time in 2002 country’s e-government readiness level was not well diagnosed or in other words “AS IS” situation was not well explored. That was one of the reasons why “E-Russia” was fairly criticized both from inside of the country (by Ministries and expert community) and from outside (for example, in 2001 during international World Bank’s “InfoDev” program symposium). Generally speaking ICT usage and development monitoring in Russia was first performed by Nongovernmental Organization “Information Society Institute” (IIS) in 2001 as a part of World Bank’s “InfoDev” Program’s project. Up to 2004 the IIS methodology was significantly modernized and used in complex country’s information society readiness exploratory project (Ershova, Hohlov & Shaposhnik, 2004). Project’s outcomes emphasized that Russia’s gaps (in comparison with developed countries) first of all come from unfavorable business climate, lags in legal regulations of ICT market and ICT usage in general and particularly in public administration, commerce and education. Key recommendations produced to foster information society development in Russia were: • • •

intellectual property protection; human capital development; national legal framework and information policy modernization.

Strong political interest from federal and regional authorities to information society issues became even stronger when annual Russian regions e-readiness index report developed by IIS was released (Hohlov et al. 2005, 2008). Another sufficient drawback of “E-Russia ” first edition was lack of implementation mecha-

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nisms. Electronic means of information exchange were not clearly defined in existing at that time legal framework. For example, nobody could explain the meaning of electronic document or electronic data exchange from juridical point of view. Legal framework adjustment to ICT-adoption process remains a persistent challenge for Russian Government. E-Russia created latent conflicts among different governance levels authorities as soon as interagency collaboration mechanisms satisfying the interests of federal executive agencies, regional and municipal authorities remained vague. At that time there were seven “E-Russia” federal level proprietors including one coordinator Ministry of Telecommunications and Media. With this, responsibility centers were spread and it was hard to identify governmental body directly responsible for e-government projects failure. Conflicts and competition among E-Russia’s key players were barriers to holistic or system approach to program management. Despite the drawbacks mentioned above during the time frame from 2002 to 2005 E-Russia gave a start to many pilot projects. By pilot projects the authors of the program understood experimental projects aimed to implement IT-solution (usually a certain type of information system) for regional level authorities. The aim of those projects was to enhance regional ICT infrastructure and IT capacity in education, healthcare and of course public administration. Besides infrastructure projects aimed to improve Internet access and connection quality other innovative pilot projects within E-Russia framework were: • • • •

Public procurement information systems; Decision support systems; Federal Government multifunctional websites and portals; Multifunctional public service centers.

“E-Russia” initial stage (2002-2005) results evaluation demonstrates that in spite of societal

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demand for effective government and active civil society public authorities were spending many efforts and resources on primarily public employee’s burden decrease. Thus Government to Government segment of e-government development prevailed and was of a high financial priority in Russia at the beginning stage of the program management approach to information society creation. Moreover the first years of “E-Russia” were characterized by lack of financial support which could be explained by unclear program’s goals statement. Events and tasks inside the Program were not tied well to performance evaluation indicators especially socioeconomic ones.

Conception on ICT Usage in Federal Authorities’ Activities This conception became the next important step in conceptualization of ICT usage in public administration in 2004 (Conception, 2004). For the first time normative document defined the meaning of “electronic government” as a formation of effective public services provision system based on ICT potential. Conception contained “AS IS” analysis in ICT usage in Russia which showed the existence of favorable conditions to standardize and formalize public services development process, increase public administration effectiveness and transparency. The quality of ICT-infrastructure and PC supply for public employees became sufficiently better. The number of pilot projects experimenting with new IT-solutions for government gave first valuable experience in ICT adoption to public authorities. Ministry of Economic Development and Ministry of Information and Telecommunication created new departments responsible for e-government monitoring and promotion. In the same time detailed analysis of specific problems in public administration was not performed. Russia’s 52nd place in international UNDP e-government readiness report became a stimulus for government to continue administrative reform aimed to improve internal efficiency and effectiveness. (UN

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E-Readiness Report, 2005). Among the Conception’s future steps public employees’ collective work with documents preferably in electronic form and interagency collaboration were named of a high priority. The goals to improve government’s openness and to provide authorities with secure information systems are parts of the Conception as well. The task to centralize procurement process together with integral evaluation of technology ownership price has also evolved. As a basic implementation mechanism Conception proposed to use “E-Russia” Federal Program. On the whole Conception was complex and progressive document but lack of detailed implementation plan together with insufficient monitoring quality indicators remained the same challenges as in previous official documents.

Information Access to Public Authorities Activities One of the first steps to improve the communication process with citizens and make them more informed about authorities’ activities was Russian Federal Government Resolution Nº98 “About access to information about Russian Federal Government and Federal Bodies Activities” (2003). In this normative document the list of data elements obligatory for federal authorities’ websites placement was formed. Each government body had to publish on the web-site information about working hours, location, latest news, legal documents, current reports and discussion topics, public employees, public services provided. This was the first time in Russian information society history when information on federal authorities had to be opened to the public by means of ICT. This Resolution became a strong stimulus for regional governments as well. For example, Moscow Government created a normative document which guaranteed citizens access to information about Moscow authorities activities (Moscow Law Nº20, 2004). Another strategic step in leveraging authorities’ information openness was

the Federal Law “On access to information about public authorities activities” approved in February 2009 which established citizens right to obtain information about authorities through the Internet (Federal Law Nº 8, 2009).

Information Society World Summit (WSIS) Russia participated in a two stages summit in Genève (2003) and Tunisia (2005) and signed all four documents discussed (WSIS, 2003, 2005). This event played an important role in future Russian e-government strategy adjustment. For example, the WSIS documents stated the direct relationship between national economic wealth and quality of ICT usage in all societal and public activities (education, science, healthcare, culture, human capital etc.) in 21st century. Digital Divide remains the important challenge that is why each country has to create a monitoring system to measure it and take steps to reduce it. The direct outcome of WSIS was the decision of Russian National Security Council to develop national information society strategy in 2005

Federal Program “E-Russia 2” In 2006 Federal Program “E-Russia” was completely revised by State proprietor but the only coordinator – Russian Ministry of Telecommunications and Media (MTM). All the steps not related directly to the problems of federal and regional governance were excluded from the program. With this “E-Russia 2” became e-government development program in a narrow sense. In the same time the Program continued to have more than one proprietor including Ministry of Economic Development, Federal Guard Service, Federal Agency on Information Technologies, Federal Agency on Education. Still many steps inside the program were narrowed to specific agencies needs. Agencies information systems were implemented without reengineering of agencies’ internal core

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business processes (in Russia more commonly used definition for “business processes” is “administrative procedures”) and were not based on commonly accepted architecture. This brought to doubling of traditional “paper” (opposite to electronic) processes making ICT usage expensive and unjustified. Implementation of the Program was complicated by not enough developed legal framework which didn’t provide juridical significance both to the administrative procedures in electronic form and interagency electronic documents exchange. This problem is not juridically resolved in Russia until now which makes it one of the most serious barriers in national e-government system development. Architectural approach and further e-government conceptualization on regional level of governance can be called as a positive moment of this period in Program’s implementation. Regional architectural e-government approach was first applied to implement separate information systems for regional governments. Later regional authorities understood the value of e-government architectural approach inclusion in general egovernment development program. In 2007-2008 first typical program and technical solutions for the region were implemented. Those were decision support systems, regional property management systems, social security services provision systems, licensing systems, personalized medical records systems, transport management systems, housing and communal services management systems etc. Due to the centralized financing mechanism in “E-Russia 2” new software applications, normative documents patterns and training courses approbated in different pilot regions after two year project cycle were transferred to other regions for free. Regional authorities who were interested to implement typical complex ICT-solutions developed in time of pilot projects had to use their own financial resources to improve ICT-infrastructure and if necessary to adjust software applications to their

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demands. Moreover regional legislative branches had to approve new normative documents containing instructions and rules on how to exploit new information systems. More investments had to be made in training regional government employees with new ICT-skills.

Regional Informatization Conception It was approved by Governmental Resolution Nº1024-p on July 17, 2006. The Conception goal was to outline ICT-solutions which could solve particular socioeconomic problems on regional governance level. The main issues of analysis became the relations with federal center (information exchange, reporting issues), quality of regional governance, better control and participation from civil society in public administration system. The key steps were related to further improvement of regional ICT-infrastructure and legal framework, information systems security and reliability, e-government projects financial expenditures monitoring, information systems standards and requirements development. Very important part of the Conception deals with structural institutionalization of e-government managing authority on regional level. This authority can be named Regional Council responsible for e-government projects coordination and monitoring as well as for future projects priorities setting. Regional Council consists of public employees personally responsible for certain governmental functions implementation and performance. Conception states program and project management as a main tools to manage regional informatization process. Among typical ICT-solutions for the region the Conception outlines regional analytical system of socioeconomic analysis and prognosis. This system represents a secure Intranet environment where municipalities can report and contribute their data to the governor of the region. Regional leader will have the whole picture of regional socioeconomic development, make better deci-

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sions on a more informed grounds and also may use prognosis tools to estimate future challenges.

Action Plan for Regional Informatization Conception Implementation This plan contains three stages. From 2006 to 2008 to perform a complex analysis of regional e-readiness and create recommendations on new regional e-government systems implementation. From 2008 to 2010 to implement pilot regional e-government information systems. From 2010 regional information systems should gain required functionality. Regional authorities have to come out with proposals on information sharing with federal center.

E-Government Development Conception Until 2010 This Conception became officially approved in May 2008 (Federal Government Resolution Nº632). The Conception inherited some results of Administrative Reform Program and defined “e-government” as “a new, based on ICT form of governmental functions and internal processes organization which aims to provide much better quality of interaction between government authorities and external actors and to inform the society about public services usage and results delivered by government. Conception provided a thorough analysis of e-government barriers based on accumulated experience and stated that: • •

•

interagency collaboration remains a biggest challenge; there are no public services which could be obtained by citizens without personal visit to governmental body; there doesn’t exist a common electronic information environment on any of the governance levels;

• •

•

there are no agencies common standards for data storage, exchange and classification; there is no common policy of technological openness (open software, standards) between regional and federal governments; information renewal on governmental web-sites is not regular.

The described above barriers to successful egovernment were recognized as the most serious ones. To overcome these barriers by establishing collective effort from federal and regional authorities is of a high demand. In a short run until 2010 the efforts had to be concentrated on public services accessibility to citizens, information openness, administrative procedures and operations optimization (processes reengineering). To implement these goals very concrete measures were proposed: • • •

to create united register of all public services provided by Government; to develop federal one stop shop e-services portal; to develop the network of multifunctional centers where citizens could get access to public services by personal presence or by phone.

Secure information environment for electronic documents exchange among the agencies had to be launched. Electronic documents have to be of the same legal significance level as paper documents. Secure e-documents exchange environment was named National Russian Information Center (NRIC) and had to serve as an integration platform for other federal and regional information systems interacting in secure Governmental Intranet. Another experience for federal government comes from Interagency electronic document management system implementation. The system was an important integration project involving President’s Administrative Office, Government’s Administra-

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tive Office, both chambers of Federal Assembly and Federal executive government bodies. Legal framework for e-government still is changing quite slowly but it has to correspond to world’s best practices. More effort should be put in the efforts to legalize digital signature for every day operations inside and with the government as well as to make electronic data exchange between government and any other actors legally accepted. According to Conception e-government development process has to be coordinated by Governmental Board on Administrative Reform. Legal framework issues including new requirements to administrative procedures and public services provision together with interagency collaboration issues in multichannel e-services delivery were entrusted to Ministry of Economic Development. ICT infrastructure for interagency collaboration together with unified information and reference system were entrusted to Ministry of Telecommunications and Media. Interagency e-documents protected exchange information system development was entrusted to Federal Guard System. Already at the initial stage of development experts community was not sure about the possibility to implement quite ambitious goals declared in the Conception in a three years time frame (Bunchuk & Petrov, 2007). 5-10 years time frame was considered to be more realistic to implement the Conception and only if Russia’s economic growth remains stable. In 2007 only one year remained before the global economic crisis took place and unfortunately seriously touched Russia as well. Information Society Development Strategy (ISDS) was approved on February 7, 2008 by President Putin. It took the whole last decade to finish this strategy development. The essential impulse to approve the strategy was given by WSIS commitments absorbed by Russian Government in Geneve and Tunisia. ISDS defined the key directions of information society development in Russia until 2015 outlining the key indicators of ambitious goal achievement – to enter top 20

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countries-leaders until 2015 starting with 50-60th places in world ratings. During one and a half years a 3 year strategy implementation plan was developed. It was approved in December, 2009. The strategy proposes complex modernization based on cardinal change in relations between the state and society in the areas of: •

• • • •

• • • •

National guarantees, citizens constitutional rights and freedoms protection in information environment; Russian Federation future economic development based on ICT; Modern ICT-infrastructure formation; More tight cross sectoral partnerships establishment for current problems solving; Science, technology and equipment development, training staff to a high level of IT-skills; Citizens public services quality increase in education, healthcare and social security; Cultural legacy preservation based on ICT; National security maintenance in information environment; Public administration effectiveness increase.

The strategy contains even more important goal: to provide all public services in electronic form until the end of 2015. The strategy implementation has to demonstrate both the level of declared goals clarity and public value increase (includes cutting the red tape, personal privacy and security increase, economic wealth, national prestige on a global stage) Even now it is possible to say that declared strategic goals will not be achieved in Russia in current situation. The reason is not only in painful economic crisis of 2008 but also in “old deceases” mentioned above – unfavorable business climate, low quality of public administration, lack of leadership on federal and regional governance levels, not satisfactory mechanisms of interagency collaboration.

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Federal Program “E-Russia 3” In March 2008 not only the name of Ministry of Information Technologies and Telecommunications was changed into Ministry of Telecommunications and Media (MTM) but also the completely new top management team came into power. Federal Program “E-Russia 2002-2010” was completely reorganized again. The problems outlined in MTM current e-government system’s analysis stayed the same: very narrow, agency based design of the program was not improving the relations between the state and the society as well as between the agencies in horizontal and vertical directions. The key declared tasks to be resolved in this program are: system approach to e-government implementation, administrative regulations optimization, interagency collaboration procedures redesign, information systems standards for design and exploitation development, further legal framework improvement for legal e-documents usage in Government operations, identity confirmation responsibility shift from customers to public authorities. The number of steps inside the Program has been shortened even more sufficiently in comparison with “E-Russia 2”. Moreover according to MTM’s initiative approved by Russian Government Resolution in the middle of 2009 e-government ICT-infrastructure development (together with the biggest part of “E-Russia’s 3”financial funds) was entrusted without competition basis to public corporation “Rostelecom”. This decision was much criticized among industry experts and other agencies representatives. Being provider of interregional and international phone communication “Rostelecom” may not have enough capacity to manage complex e-government information systems. The critics was reasonable due to the fact that time frames for e-government ICTinfrastructure implementation plan were always postponed first from September to November 2009 and then to February 2010. President’s Council on Information Society Development gave a low

evaluation to proposed implementation plan which is not approved until now. With this financial resources of “E-Russia” for 2009 are already spent and financial expenditures in 2010 might happen without approved project documentation and desired outcomes.

KEY PLAYERS IN MANAGING E-GOVERNMENT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Governance structure is one of the key success factors in e-government projects. For complex, multilevel and heterogeneous Russian public administration system it makes sense to divide key players implementing e-government according to the governance levels.

Federal Level Federal Program “E-Russia 2002-2010” was the key federal level management tool to implement e-government. It had five proprietors including one coordinator - Ministry of Telecommunications and Media (MTM) and also Ministry of Economic Development (MED), Federal Guard Service (FGS), Federal Education Agency (abolished in 2010 by President), Federal Information Technologies Agency (FITA). The key governance body was Program’s Directorate responsible for: • • • • •

Budget proposal development for Ministry of Finance; Clarification of Program’s tasks, number of executing participants and time frames; Methodological consulting and assistance to participants; Program development control and monitoring; Accumulating more financial resources from external nongovernmental investors.

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As it was mentioned above E-Russia declared very ambitious goals which could hardly be reached in desired time frame. MTM coordination responsibility remained a challenge under pressure of heavy communication expenditures such as permanent conflict resolution not only with program’s proprietors but also with Ministry of Finance, clarification of execution mechanisms and financial resources attached to each task. All Program’s proprietors were from different industries which meant not only different terminology language used in communication but also different priorities and values reflected in formulating new tasks and financial resources assignment. MTM and FITA were close to “technological optimism” culture (best technology is a perfect solution to problems of administrative nature) whereas MED to culture of change trying to connect E-Russia with administrative reform (technological implementation must follow administrative procedures redesign). FGS was a closed culture representative concentrated exclusively on internal security. De facto, Program’s execution served to only a part of the declared goals and all five federal customers had the right to manage and spend their financial resources separately inside the Program. Each customer could choose a contractor creating a competitive bid. This managerial mechanism led to a duplication in task execution but in the same time could not guarantee that all goals were reached. The comprehensive monitoring system for the Program didn’t exist though a certain number of quantitative indicators were assigned to events and steps inside the Program. Who and how should make an indicators choice and perform their measurement was not clear and transparent both to governmental customers and contractors. Moreover, expenditure reports were often not published by the agencies in required time frame which was a part of a bigger transparency problem for Russian Government at that time. Due to the close relation of E-Russia’s goals to some other federal programs (for example on science, education and regional development) a

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new Interagency Board responsible for all federal programs monitoring and their interconnection was created. It’s members were public employees from federal and regional governance levels. As a subgroup of Interagency Board an Experts Board consisting of academia, business and research organizations representatives was established to provide expertise and work out recommendations to Programs stakeholders. In practice Interagency Board functions interrelated with E-Russia’s Directorate responsibilities which was the reason leading to coordination burden increase and new interagency conflicts possibilities. At this stage of E-Russia the key governance issue was a lack of leadership and power concentration with tentative support from Russian Prime-Minister or President. For future Federal Program «Information Society 2011-2018» new governance structure has already been created on federal level. It’s first element is President’s Information Society Development Council (President’s Order Nº157, 2008). The Council will become a discussion field for vertical and horizontal integration in government, new strategic e-governance ideas development, control and monitoring execution functions on Program’s implementation. The head of the Council is President of Russian Federation. Council consists of ten working groups: nine are interagency collaboration groups formed by industry (education, healthcare, culture, emergency situations and safety, regional development, industry, e-government, ICT-security, ICT-infrastructure development), the 10th is an experts group which provides expertise and only its positive conclusion can add a certain initiative to a future federal program. Another important initiative proposed by Council is to create more concentrated responsibility centers by establishing CIO position in each federal and regional government agency. The CIO besides having IT-skills, knowledge and experience has to apply strategic thinking about ICT role and usage in governance, socioeconomic development and external collaboration. Current federal and especially regional CIO’s power and

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freedom of action are not enough to become a leader a champion in establishing interagency collaboration and managing changes necessary to effectively use IT potential. To manage e-government programs in future Federal Center has to be more active in enabling methodological assistance by creating standardized patterns of regional e-government programs including e-readiness and implementation progress evaluation tools, effective mechanisms of e-government best practices accumulation and transfer to other interested stakeholders of the Program. Intellectual support and clear goals and outcomes formalization from federal center to regional and municipal governments is not less important than financial one. In the environment where not well defined frameworks of ICT adoption are used financial resources can be spent ineffectively.

Regional and Municipal Levels Interaction between regional government and municipal authorities in Russia is quite centralized. In other words power and resources are concentrated on regional level and are used to support municipalities and help them develop ICT-infrastructure and e-government projects. Lack of leadership or e-government champions, absence of high skilled staff in IT-departments are the main problems of municipalities. On the regional level governmental body responsible for e-government may exist as an autonomous agency or as an IT-department included in regional administration or government structure. Regional informatization or regional e-government agency acting as a separate authority means higher importance of e-government projects to the regional authorities (governor). Regional ministries regulating industries (education, healthcare etc) have their own IT-departments concentrating on specific problems of the entrusted area. E-government coordination responsibility may belong either to deputy governor of the region

or to the minister of informatization. Regional informatization councils also play an important role. The e-government importance to the region may be observed through such indicator as membership of experienced and respected public managers in regional informatization council (governor, deputy governor, speaker of the regional parliament). Their opinion influences regional e-government strategy implementation. CIO as a bureaucratic position remains not so influential for the majority of the regions. The CIO’s skills in governance, project management, technologies usage must be sufficiently improved to achieve better e-government results. In the same time the more successful e-government implementation will be the more important CIO’s position will become. Financial resources for regional e-government projects come through “E-Russia” budget on competitive basis when region’s capacity to implement the project gets the highest evaluation mark from federal proprietor. Regions were obliged to participate in cofinancing of e-government projects won (often regional part of financing is 50 percent). This vertical collaboration model has to be modified when federal center will initiate e-government pilot projects best practices scale process across the regions. Success of the e-government scalability depends on available resources to adopt IT-governance innovations in a certain region. Different issues arise in relations between regional and municipal authorities interaction concerning e-government projects. Municipal e-government in comparison with federal and even regional one is the closest to the citizen. It’s main functions due to specific political priorities in Russia is mainly to deliver e-services and provide information to the citizens. Municipal e-government is more related to technological solutions and operational activity to satisfy citizens needs. Citizen oriented municipal services can be implemented based on IT-solutions, resources and partnerships with private sector whereas regional

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and federal governance functions including strategic planning, political negotiations, national security are very hard to implement on ICT basis with a high level of reliability. Municipal e-government usually means sufficient autonomy level in decision making and implementation solutions from regional and federal authorities dealing more with e-government planning process and establishing its strategic priorities. However in Russia municipalities are very resource dependent more from regional and less from federal authorities. That is why the majority of regional information systems are centralized and many municipal e-government projects are implemented based on financial and human resources support from regional authorities. Russian public administration system strongly depends on leadership. E-government is not an exclusion. Most successful Russian regional and federal CIO’s portrait consists of: • •

•

•

Personality. Technical education and consciousness on ICT potential; Political goals. Creating new ICT-based image of competent and modern leader and administrator; Political weight and influence. Good relations with federal center and active participation in obtaining federal grants; Active role in IT-industry. Support and partnership from IT-business.

Current Russian President Mr. Medvedev pays a lot of attention to Internet potential and technology usage (Colville, 2008). Mr. Medvedev’s leadership role can increase e-government projects implementation priority for government. Outstanding influence of leadership factor on regional e-government was clearly demonstrated by Chuvashia Republic’s Governor N. Federov who being an active E-Russia enthusiast brought many innovative e-government projects into the

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region in spite of the very modest regional financial budget (Chuvashia web-portal, 2010).

CONCLUSION Of course Russia has cultural, historic, economic and managerial differences in ICT-usage in comparison with Anglo-Saxon countries where the term “e-government” was born (Pardo & Styrin, 2010). Each country started e-government adoption having very different capacity and e-readiness level. This chapter is an attempt to describe e-government development “trajectory” in Russia and explain it based on objective analysis of specific features in Russian public administration system. Potential differences in ICT-adoption process by various countries are not always barriers to cross boundary e-government best practices dissemination and implementation. The challenge in e-government practice is to establish new priorities in public administration system development, implement reforms and improve partnership mechanisms for effective ICT adoption. Russian federal center, regional and municipal governments have to continue important work to define future mechanisms, rules and principles of interagency collaboration always keeping a balance of interests while providing public services, establishing public private partnerships, accumulating and disseminating e-government projects experience. The main challenge for public authorities in building capacity to implement technological changes depends primarily on government’s internal operations and procedures quality, organizational culture formality level, program and project management techniques, citizens role and participation in public services delivery and production. Russian Federation e-government journey may be successful only if public administration priorities are well established, understood and supported by the society.

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REFERENCES About e-government development in Russian Federation and executive federal authorities readiness to deliver public services to the citizens. (2009). Analytical report. Moscow: IIS. Andersen, K. (1999). Reengineering public sector organizations using information technology. In Heeks, R. (Ed.), Reinventing government in the information Age. London: Routledge. Bunchuk, M., & Petrov, O. (2007). Russian Federation e-government development conception until 2010: international experience and experts recommendations. The Information Society, 1-2, 36–39. Chereshkin, D. & Smolyan, G. (2008). Difficult fate of Russian Informatization. Information Society, 1– 2, 47-71. Chuvashia E-government portal (n.d.). Retrieved from http://egov.cap.ru/ CIA World Facebook website (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html Colville, L. (2008, July 21) Medvedev Tells Russian Government to Go Online or Go Home. Retrieved June 05, 2010 from http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/international/July-08/ Medvedev-Tells-Russian-Government-to-GoOnline-or-Go-Home.html Conception of. “ICT usage in federal authorities activities until 2010” (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2010 from http://www.russianlaw.net/LAW/acts/ z42.htm Danilin, A., & Slyusarenko, A. (2005). Architecture and strategy. “Yin” and “Yang” of information technologies. Moscow: Intuit.ru Ershova, T., Hohlov, Y., & Shaposhnik, S. (Eds.). (2005). Russian regions information society readiness index 2004-2005. Moscow: IIS.

Federal Law, N. º8 (2009, February). On access to information about public authorities activities. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://www. rg.ru/2009/02/13/dostup-dok.html Federal Program. “Administrative Reform 20052010” (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ar.gov.ru/ Fountain, J. (2001). Building the virtual state: information technology and institutional change. Washington D.C. Glushkov, V. (1975). Macroeconomic models and principles of National State Automation Systems. Moscow: Statistica. Hohlov, Y. (Ed.). (2007). Russian regions information society readiness index 2005-2006. Moscow: IIS. Hohlov, Y. (Ed.). (2008). Analysis of Use ICT for Development in Russian Regions: Analytical Report. Moscow: Institute of the Information Society (Russian). Information Policy Conception. (1998). Retrieved March 12, 2010 from http://www.iis.ru/library/sip/ Information Society Development Strategy. (2008). Retrieved March 12, 2010 from http:// minkomsvjaz.ru/ministry/documents/959/3257. shtml Kiaer, A. (2004) Governance. Cambridge: Polity press. Kuvshinova, O. (2010, June 2) Started from a wrong end. Vedomosti p.3, 99 (2617) Medvedev, D. (2009) Russia-forward. Retrieved March 15, 2010 from http://www.gazeta.ru/ comments/2009/09/10_a_3258568.shtml Moscow Law, N. º20 (2004, March 31). About guaranteed citizens access to Moscow authorities activities information. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://www.systemfond.ru/law.phtml?p=185

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Multifunctional centers network in Russian Federation. (2008) Retrieved March 2, 2010 from http:// www.ar.gov.ru/ru/about/multi-functional-centers/ Okinawa Charter of the Global Information society. (G8, 2000). Retrieved February 12, 2010 from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan002263.pdf Pardo, T., & Styrin, E. (2010) Digital Government Implementation: A Comparative Study in USA and Russia. In Proceedings of 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Lima, Peru. Rostelecom headed E-government (2009, August). Kommersant Nº 149/(4204) Retrieved March 11, 2010 fromhttp://www.kommersant.ru/doc. aspx?DocsID=1222435 Russian Federal Government Resolution Nº1024p (2006, July 17). About Regional Informatization Conception. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://cit.tatar.ru/rus/rasp_17.07.2006%20 %E2%84%96%201024-%D1%80.htm Russian Federal Government Resolution Nº632 (2008, May 6). E-government Development Conception until 2010. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://cit.tatar.ru/rus/rasp_N%20632%D1%80.htm Russian Federal Government Resolution Nº98 (2003, February 12). About access to information about Russian Federal Government and Federal Bodies Activities. Retrieved from www.gipp.ru/ zip/545_post-98.doc Russian Federal Statistics Service. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gks.ru/. Russian Federation Government Order Nº 1789-r (2005, October 25). About Improvement of Administrative Reform in Russian Federation in 20062010 and Measures of its Implementation in 20062010. Retrieved from http://ar.economy.gov.ru/ ru/about/el_russia/documents/?id20=745&i20=5

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Russian Federation Government Order Nº1555 (2009, October 17). Transition plan of public services delivery by federal level authorities in electronic form. Retrieved March 2, 2010 from http://www.kadis.ru/texts/index.phtml?id=41117 Russian Federation Government Resolution. (2005, January 28). Nº 452 About typical administrative regulation in internal organization of federal executive authorities. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://www.info-law.ru/fed/2005/2/ id_1910.html Russian Federation Government Resolution Nº 65 (2002, January). About Federal Program Electronic Russia 2002-2010. Retrieved March 2, 2010 from http://www.internet-law.ru/intlaw/ laws/e-rus.htm Russian Federation Government Resolution Nº 721 (2009, September 10). About changes in Federal Program E-Russia 2002-2010. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://www.minkomsvjaz. ru/.cmsc/upload/docs/201001/21121618Km.rtf Russian Federation Government Resolution Nº30 (2005, January 19). About typical administrative regulation in federal executive authorities. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://base.garant. ru/187790.htm Russian Federation Government Resolution Nº502 (2006, August 15). About changes in Federal Program E-Russia 2002-2010. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://cit.tatar.ru/rus/ post_15.08.2006%20N%20502.htm Russian Federation Information Society Development Strategy. (2008, February 7). (President’s Putin Order Nº 212). Retrieved January 10, 2010 from http://minkomsvjaz.ru/ministry/documents/959/3257.shtml

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Russian Federation President’s Order Nº157 (2008). About President’s Council on Russian Federation information society development. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://www. infosovet.ru/council/bylaws Russian Federation President’s Order Nº314 (2004, March 9). About system and structure of federal executive authorities. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://base.garant.ru/186816.htm Smorgunov, L. (2003). Comparative analysis of political and administrative reforms: From new public management to governance. Polis – Political Research, 3, 50-58. Tunis Commitment, W. S. I. S. (2005a). Tunis: UN. (WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/7-E) United Nations. (2008). E-government Survey: From e-Government to Connected Governance. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://unpan1. un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/ UNPAN028607.pdf United Nations (2005). Global E-Government Readiness Report. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://www2.unpan. org/egovkb/global_reports/05report.htm World Bank Key Development Data & Statistics. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://web. worldbank.org WSIS Geneva Declaration of Principles. Building the Information Society: a global challenge in the new Millennium. (2003a). Geneva: UN. (WSIS03/GENEVA/DOC/4-E) WSIS Geneva Plan of Action. (2003b). Geneva: UN. (WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/5-E) WSIS Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. (2005b). Tunis: UN. (WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/6-E) Yong, J. (2003). E-government in Asia: enabling public service innovation in the 21st century. Singapore: Times Editions.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS E-Government: New way of governance aimed to improve governmental relationships with business and citizens and increase authorities functional efficiency and effectiveness by intensive usage of information and communication technologies. E-Service: Public service implemented and delivered to citizens by means of information and communication technologies. Governance Structure in E-government Development: Set of governmental bodies including their formal and informal relationships, power and budget distribution collaborating in e-government strategy implementation. Information Society Strategy: The special document approved by national leader which states the main goals, directions, tasks and principles of national information policy in information society development. Information Society: The current stage of societal development characterized by increase in information and knowledge usage; growing economic value of information products, services and technologies in national GDP; global information infrastructure creation which provides access to information and satisfies personal and societal information demands. Informatization: Socioeconomic and scientific process of information technologies application to wide societal activity areas aimed to improve information and knowledge usage effectiveness for citizens, organizations and public authorities. National E-Government Program: Result oriented integration of intellectual, financial and human resources to implement complex e-government goals in most effective way within clearly defined time frame and verification process.

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Chapter 17

E-Governance for Development: Designing an Operational Roadmap for ICT-Enabled Public Administration Reform Gianluca Misuraca Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland Gianluigi Viscusi University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

ABSTRACT The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss a conceptual framework on e-Governance for development developed by the authors and the model underpinning it with particular regard to the relationship between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and Governance in developing and emerging countries. The final goal is to exploit both the framework and the model to propose operational guidelines for designing a roadmap towards the implementation of e-Governance and Public Administration Reform (PAR). In defining the organizational and institutional dimensions underpinning ICT-enabled Governance, indeed, the chapter positions e-Government activities within the broader framework of e-Governance (i.e., the governance with and of ICT), as a learning type of dynamics characterized by a multidimensional and multi level area of intervention. In order to test the framework and model proposed, the chapter discusses selected case studies supporting the definition of the key issues to be considered as guidelines to implement e-Governance interventions as part of broader PAR programmes. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch017

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

E-Governance for Development

INTRODUCTION Governance, as a concept and practice, it is of course linked to Government. Nevertheless governance is about more than just government. It is a complex yet universal force that exists in all societies. People exert governance in their daily lives to manage human relationships, just as corporations and countries do to manage their interactions and activities. Thus, considering the combination of ICTs with governance, the debate about e-Government evolved in the last few years towards a broader discussion on e-Governance, where the concept and practice of e-Governance further encompasses e-Government. e-Governance is still a growing phenomenon around the world and is emerging as a discipline, despite still in its infancy. Initially it was mainly considered within the field of Public Administration Reform (PAR), but it has now being realized as not only being a “government business”, but a fundamental societal challenge. The purpose of this chapter is to present and discuss the conceptual framework on e-Governance for development developed by the authors and the model underpinning it with particular regard to the relationship between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and governance in developing and emerging countries, in view of proposing operational guidelines for designing a roadmap towards the implementation of e-Governance and Public Administration Reform (PAR). In order to do so, the chapter discusses the implications of ICTs on governance and public administration reform, analyzing the strategic and methodological issues related to implementing eGovernance interventions and PAR in developing and emerging countries. In defining the organizational and institutional dimensions underpinning ICT-enabled governance, in fact, the chapter positions e-Government activities within the broader framework of eGovernance (i.e., the governance with and of

ICT), as a learning type of dynamics characterized by a multidimensional and multi level area of intervention. Furthermore, the chapter presents an overview of the conceptual and methodological framework developed and applied to selected field cases used as supportive evidence for identifying the key issues to be considered for defining guidelines to implement e-Governance interventions as part of broader PAR programmes. The chapter concludes highlighting the policy implications for governance and public administration reform and offering practical recommendations for e-Governance implementation in developing and emerging countries.

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATIONS At the state of the art, different definitions of governance have been provided. The World Bank has identified three distinct aspects of governance: i) the form of political regime; 2) the process by which authority is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development; 3) the capacity of governments to design, formulate and implement policies and discharge functions (World Bank, 1991). For UNDP, governance is viewed as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It is about the process by which government, the private sector, citizens and groups articulate their interests, mediate their differences, and exercise their legal rights and obligations (UNDP, 1997). The concept of governance defined by OECD denotes the use of political authority and exercise of control in a society in relation to the management of its resources for social and economic development (OECD, 1995). This broad definition encompasses the role of public authorities in establishing the environment in which economic operators function and in determining the dis-

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tribution of benefits as well as the nature of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. In general terms, indeed, governance is the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented, and an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decision. Government is one of the actors in governance. Other actors involved in governance vary depending on the level of government that is under discussion1. Of interest to our research however, is also the study of governance by organizational scholars which has a long tradition, in different schools of thought and disciplines (Mizruchi, 1983). Traditionally, governance in business firms has focused on the role of boards of directors in representing and protecting the interests of shareholders (Fama & Jensen, 1983). Governance has also been studied in the non-profit context, although the focus here has generally been on the role of boards of trustees, as representing and protecting the interests of community members or other politically important constituencies (Provan, 1980). In public management, governance refers not to the activities of boards, but mainly, to the funding and oversight roles of government agencies, especially regarding the activities of private organizations that have been contracted to provide public services (Hill & Lynn, 2005). A critical role for governance in all these sectors and consistent with principal-agent theory (PAT), is to monitor and control the behaviour of management, who are hired to preside over the day-to-day activities of running the organization (Eisenhardt, 1989; Fama & Jensen, 1983)2. In the adaptation of PAT to the political environment, the theory has been largely applied to the analyses of the US Congress and federal regulatory bodies as well to EU delegation, and the European Commission’s system of governance analysis. Using the standard dyadic economic

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model, principal institutions within the political environment such as the legislature and executive of a government wield the agenda of the state, while the agent institutions have been delegated authority to address a specific issue. However, as Mark A. Pollack outlines in his review of the theory (Pollack, 2003), there is the possibility of ‘bureaucratic drift’ or ‘slippage’ whereby agent institutions may begin to establish their own agendas. Pollack notes that slippage “occurs when the structure of delegation itself provides perverse incentives for the agent to behave in ways inimical to the preferences of the principals”. While this is in-line with the economic model, normative labelling and dominate-subordinate positioning occurs, whereby a bureaucracy is meant to be under the auspices of central government authority. There can be private or political values at stake among decision-makers in the agent institution; there can be personal career objectives among the same group; and/or there can be a general desire of aversion towards recommended policies of the principals (McCubbins, Noll, & Weingast, 1987). Besides, considering organizational networks, it can be observed that except for few scholars most literature does not explicitly address governance when discussing about networks’ management and organisational relations (Goldsmith & Eggers, 2004; Imperial, 2005; Jones, Hesterly, & Borgatti, 1997; Park, 1996). The most obvious reason could be that networks are comprised of autonomous organizations and, thus, are essentially cooperative endeavours. Since networks are not legal entities (unless we consider joint ventures and equity based alliances to be true networks), the legal imperative for governance is simply not present as it is for organizations. For goal-based organizational networks with a distinct identity, however, some form of governance is necessary to ensure that participants engage in collective and mutually supportive action, that conflict is addressed, and that network resources are acquired and utilized efficiently and effectively.

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Although all networks comprise a range of interactions among participants, a focus on governance involves the use of institutions and structures of authority and collaboration to allocate resources and to coordinate and control joint action across the network as a whole. These interactions are distinct from operational links, which are often dyad based including referrals, sharing of information, and joint programs. Even when mechanisms for governance have been discussed in the literature, they are generally discussed in terms of specific activities performed for a particular network, rather than in a comparative way. As a result, there has been no theory on the various forms of governance that exist, the rationale for adopting one form versus another, and the impact of each form on network outcomes. This will be instead our focus in further developing the concept of e-Governance as ICT-enabled governance or networked governance.

RE-DEFINING E-GOVERNANCE The concept of e-Governance was initially considered the technological component of Public Administration Reform, but has then emerged as a greater societal challenge as well as a mechanism for more than just improvement of administrative services or user satisfaction, but as something that promotes deeper forms of democracy. While at its most basic, e-Governance is a means of expressing efficient e-Government, at its more complex it impacts well outside public administration boundaries, allowing the fullparticipation of civil society and the private sector as active stakeholders. It is not only something that improves service delivery, but also facilitates and enhances interactions between actors, thus enabling changes in policy-making and regulatory processes. Moreover, and probably not by accident, while the debate about e-Government has been polarized mainly in industrialized countries, and only after included developing and emerging

economies, e-Governance emerged instead mainly from field-experiences in developing countries. A pioneer experience and attempt to conceptualize e-Governance with a developmental perspective has been done in 2002 with the e-Africa Initiative for good governance: building e-Governance capacities in African countries (Misuraca, 2007), in parallel with the e-Government for Development Initiative of the Italian Government and UNDESA which followed the UN ICT Task Force and the G8 Action Plan. A sort of e-Governance enthusiasm then diffused in emerging and developing world, and especially in South East Asia and India. For example, Basu Subhajit (2004), examines the legal and infrastructure issues related to e-Governance from the perspective of developing countries, with a particularly focus on how far the developing countries have been successful in providing a legal framework for e-Government. Nevertheless, the confusion between e-Government and e-Governance, in this as in many other cases is not clarified. Moreover, the “leapfrogging” effects that many scholars and practitioners predicted for developing countries, thanks to ICTs, did not happen. Many and very costly experiments and pilot projects have been implemented, but often –unfortunately- with very little outcome (Heeks, 2003). Up to now, most of the literature and the attempts to promote this concept in some developing regions have produced rather controversial results (Chavan & Rathod, 2009). For example, if we look at the case of India and South East Asia in general, we see an active movement in favour of e-Governance and ICTs for development in general. However, rather than being based on a solid theoretical and strategic framework, often e-Governance is still seen as an extension of e-Government (to more political participation and more relationships with non State actors). Looking at prevalent literature and definitions, (Finger & Pécoud, 2003; Misuraca, Rossel, &

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Finger, 2006) we can identify three main conceptualisations of e-Governance: • • •

e-Governance as customer satisfaction; e-Governance as processes and interactions; e-Governance as tools.

The first and probably most widespread conceptualisation refers to customer satisfaction. Indeed, the term e-Governance is not only used here as being synonymous of e-Government, it is moreover synonymous with satisfying the citizen/ customer by means of delivering the services through the Internet. Generally, this is the view of promoters of new public management who see in the ICTs a significant contribution to, and the next step in, improving service delivery and especially customer satisfaction. For this conceptualisation, the main unit of analysis is the government or rather the administration, whose interface with the citizens the ICTs are said to be going to improve. As a matter of fact, citizens are seen here as more or less passive recipients of digitalised information and services, (i.e., as customers). In other words, at the heart of this conceptualisation it is not the process to which the ICTs are being applied, but merely the delivery of information and sometimes services. This view does not take into account the possible other policy levels that the state may need to cope with and, also, it does not mention the emergence of non-state actors who become increasingly involved in policy-making, service delivery and to a lesser extend regulation - the three main functions of the state, see on this for example (Finger & Pécoud, 2003). In the second conceptualization, e-Governance is seen as a decisional process. Thus, the focus is clearly on processes and interactions, which the ICTs are said to foster or at least to facilitate. Potentially, the conceptualisation could also be extended to transactions. However, the view of the state remains quite traditional: indeed, it means interactions between the citizens and the private

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sector on the one hand and the state on the other. However, the state remains always at the centre of the process. The third conceptualisation sees e-Governance as a set of tools in the hands of government, or rather in the hands of the administration. In other words, the starting point here is not the state or its transformation, but the possibilities that ICTs offer. According to the Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance (CGeG), it is the movement of governments online to deliver their services and programmes, to provide government information, and to interact with the citizen, all electronically. This is resulting in the formation of new relationships between the citizen and the state. In particular, CGeG considers e-Governance as a tool, having limited value and relevance in itself, whereas its value arises from its application to specific goals and objectives and through a commitment to use appropriate technologies to enhance governmental relationships, both internal and external, encouraging the fair and efficient delivery of services (Riley Cathia, 2003). Better governance, thanks to the ICTs, would improve, according to Okot-Uma (2005), democracy and ultimately peoples’ lives. Not surprisingly, e-Governance is not structured along concepts of state transformation, but rather along technological possibilities and, by following Perri (2002), a way to classify e-Governance is according to the different use of ICT tool. In other words, this conceptualisation clearly puts the ICTs before the state, and actually operates with a quite simplistic and old-fashioned, and in any case naïve vision of the State. In particular, it is not dynamic, as it does not see the implications of the ICTs on operations, or on state transformation (Misuraca, 2007). We instead argue that there is a need to consider a more radical paradigmatic shift when conceptualizing e-Governance (Misuraca et al. 2006, and Misuraca, 2007). As a complementary activity but inherently different from e-Government, e-Governance in fact is the field of activity where policy design, co-ordination, arbitration, networking and

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regulation (just to mention essential steering functions), with ICTs, but also of ICTs, takes place. And this involves all sorts of non-state actors, the state representatives being however one of the main stakeholders (Misuraca, 2007). Differently from other scholars, we consider e-Governance as a much broader framework to capture the co-evolution of ICTs’ various stakeholders with the political institutions, at local, national and global level. In this perspective, e-Governance can also be considered as knowledge creation and management practice, and therefore a learning type of dynamics, involving internal forces of organizations, as well as outside or across the board of socio-economic actors in a meso-societal type of change process, with a diversified array of necessary knowledge to be triggered and enhanced (Misuraca, 2007).

DEVELOPMENTAL ROLE OF ICT FOR GOVERNANCE In parallel to the building of an original and dynamic concept of e-Governance, it is also important to briefly outline the debate about the more general impact of ICTs on public institutions. An increasing part of socio-economic analysis about the impact that an innovative public administration could have on society, is concentrated on three main issues: • • •

infrastructures of information policy; informatisation and public administration; public relationships mediated by new media.

As for infrastructures of information policy, the development of ICTs infrastructures in general is linked to national and regional economic development (Dutton, 1996, 1999). Therefore, it is necessary to study the policies for infrastructure provision and management that might enable the best policy actions to contribute to urban/regional

and civic/national developments. An important role is played by an increasing number of intermediaries as, for instance, public services brokers, who act as gateways to public service and provide citizen identity validation, resources authentication etc. together with storing and sharing of data in a secure environment for ICT-enabled services. Moving to informatisation and public administration issue, according to Frissen (1997) examples of political-administrative developments enacted by uses of ICTs can be seen in transformations of internal organisations, operations, transactions, policies, monitoring, surveillance, regulation and deregulation, provision of information to politicians, citizens and societal groups and organisations and creation of independent intermediary agencies for development and implementation of public policies. Moreover they provide a potential productivity gain by outsourcing core administrative functions such as data processing, human resources, billing and financial management. Concerning public relationships mediated by new media, Bellamy and Taylor (1997) distinguish in general the following five sets of relationships lying at the heart of the information policy: • • • •

•

internal relationships in the machinery of government; the relationships of government organisations to the consumers of their services; the relationship of government to citizens of state; the relationships between governments and the providers of ICT infrastructure, equipment and services; the relationship between existing information systems, patterns of communication and technical infrastructures to the polity’s ‘appreciative system’.

All the above relationships pose questions related to corresponding legal presumptions and constitutional and official status of online deliberations, processes and services.

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Finally, one of the most relevant, and less investigated, field of the application of ICTs in governance systems is represented by the emerging implications of ICTs on stakeholders relationships, and particularly on citizenship. This aim could be pursued through the analysis of the social and economic impacts of ICTs on relationships among citizens, institutions and organizations, within and between different governance layers in order to further understanding the implications and impacts of ICT-enabled services and ICT-enabled governance processes more in general on growth and development perspectives.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK At the state of the art, methodological approaches to assess dynamically the multidisciplinary facets of e-Governance for development initiatives are seldom investigated. To overcome these difficulties, our research focused in developing and experimenting with field-work application, a fullfledged methodology that intends to contribute to the theory and practice of e-Governance with a twofold perspective: methodological and strategic. From a methodological perspective the aim is to analyse the barriers to e-Government implementation in developing and emerging countries (such as e.g. the ones in the Mediterranean area that are used as case studies for the application of the methodology), and how to overcome them taking into consideration: a) the local state-of-the-art in this domain of activity, and b) the complex local governance structure and culture that supports it, and at the same time enables users’ participation or at least some forms of technological appropriation. From a strategic perspective the aim is to contribute to develop and enhance methodologies and tools to trigger PAR strategy implementation in developing and emerging countries and assessing impacts and interactions between innovative ICTenabled processes and mechanisms with existing forms of governance.

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The results of this analysis brought us to define an operational roadmap for e-Governance implementation to anticipate and limit the risks connected to introducing ICT-enabled governance and better exploit their benefits in view of greater impacts on local context and society. In fact, we claim that introducing ICTs into governance processes requires a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach in order to avoid failures and have a positive outcome that goes beyond efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but can also produce wider socio-economic impacts. In doing so, we contribute to the debate on e-Governance (Dunleavy, Margetts, Simon, & Tinkler, 2006; Kolsaker & Lee-Kelley, 2007; Marche & McNiven, 2003) which conceptualization is still under evolution, while at the same time shed light on the key drivers to overcome barriers for e-Government implementation in developing and emerging countries. The conceptual framework we propose with regard to the introduction of ICTs in government, differently from other scholars, is based on neo-institutionalism and social constructivism (Misuraca, 2009). The focus of the analysis of e-Governance is on the way the different stakeholders interact when introducing ICTs and the way these interactions can affect institutions and society at large. At the same time, we also consider how social phenomena develop in the particular social contexts characterized by ICTs and emerging technologies, also assuming that interactions among various stakeholders are done with the understanding that their respective perceptions of reality are related and, as they act upon this understanding, their common knowledge of reality becomes reinforced (Misuraca, 2009). Our research, indeed, takes into consideration as a starting point and builds upon the eG4M methodology (Batini, Viscusi, & Cherubini, 2009; Viscusi & Cherubini, 2007), which resides on analyzing from a multidisciplinary approach the institutional and socio-economic context under review, in order to propose practical interventions

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from a strategic and technological perspective, which fit the environment and accompany the changes required for their implementation3. The general idea of eG4M is that the planning process in e-Government should be driven by social, economic, legal and technological issues considered in their strict relationship. The systemic perspective proposed is aimed at considering both the outer context and the inner context to preserve context diversity in planning e-Government initiatives (Avgerou, 2002), where the starting point of the analysis are available services and the requirements of constituencies (i.e. citizens and businesses). According to this analysis, the planning activity results in the choice of projects that, starting from the current features of the social/ technological system, better fit the achievement of new target requirements. The eG4M methodology is composed of modular phases, where each phase corresponds to one or more steps, resulting in a set of tasks. There are two main phases of the methodology: (1) strategic planning, and (2) operational planning. We refer to Batini et al. (2009) for the details of the steps composing the different phases of the methodology. What is of particular interest for e-Governance of the eG4M methodology is the GovQual subframework underpinning the strategic planning phase assessment step of eG4M. This subframework considers four main categories of quality (efficiency, effectiveness, accessibility, accountability) for the legal, service, organization/processes and infrastructure/data layers of a given domain of intervention together with their relationship (for example, accuracy of data may have impact on correctness and service provision time at service level). For the purpose of this research, we consider the main elements of good governance as defined by the UN and OECD, adapting them to the GovQual framework, and considering ICTs as an enabler of the major characteristics of good governance. Based on this elaboration, the key attributes of

good governance have been therefore categorised as follows: •

•

•

•

•

Accessibility, enabling participation and the process of empowering citizens to legally control the service delivery to their advantage. Accountability, creating standards against which the individuals providing a service and the service delivery can be held accountable and ensuring that the laws and regulations governing the service are applied in an impartial way. Effectiveness, serving all citizens in a consistent and predictable way improving equity and inclusiveness (refers to citizens receiving the service on an equal basis and providing services to disadvantaged and minority groups in society. Efficiency, enabling optimal use of resources for citizens and tax payers in the service delivery. Transparency (bringing visibility to the service workflow for citizens by means of an automated service delivery and following democratic practices and respect of minorities.

This five categories have instances in the four layers of the GovQual framework. Relationship and value of the different dimension have to be retrieved from the domain where the initiatives take place in order to evaluate their impact on e-Governance and plan the appropriate model of intervention. Looking now at the mechanisms to implement e-Governance, we can distinguish between the traditional mechanisms of 1) authority-based governance, characterised by direct supervision and general rules; 2) output-based governance, where the market performance principles (market or transfer prices) apply, complemented by financial control with incentives; and finally 3) consensusbased governance, in which self-organisation is the

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main rule for both institutions and subjects of the governance process. Of course, these mechanisms are separated only in theory, while in reality they are often complementary and diverse typologies of mechanisms are applied to different areas of governance of the same organisation (Misuraca & Zambrano, 2010). What we are interested in, however, is to see how these may change in relation to the quality value impacted by the introduction of ICTs into any governance mechanism. For this purpose, we simply consider ICT quality layer as the additional horizontal layer in support to various traditional governance mechanisms, where ICTs are in effect a relevant enabler of different governance processes. However, we assume that changes enabled by ICTs have different effects according to different quality value configuration for the layer impacting governance mechanisms adopted in specific policy domain and governance contexts. In our research, in fact, we are interested in better understanding how governance processes and mechanisms change due to the application of ICTs on the basis of different quality configurations, and this will be further explored during the analysis of the following case studies related to field-work experiments carried out in Tunisia and Morocco.

CASE STUDIES In this section we discuss the application of the GovQual framework in two Mediterranean countries, namely Tunisia and Morocco. Besides the socio-economic differences between the two considered countries, also the institutional level of the intervention is not homogeneous. In Tunisia we focus on a central public administration, while in the case of Tangier we target a local public administration. Nevertheless, both cases share a common governance challenge, where ICTs are considered as the main enabler. The analyses are based on the experimentations conducted as part of the e-Government for Mediterranean Countries

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(eG4M) project. In the following we discuss the two experiences and present the main findings and lessons learned.

E-Governance Quality Assessment in Tunisia The experimentations in Tunisia have been carried out from January 2008 to April 2009. Besides other central public administrations, the Ministry of Agriculture has been the focus of the application of the eG4M methodology, mainly for the strategic planning phase. Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture is composed by a set of administrative departments. Each department has an integrated information systems at vertical level, namely with decentralized agency providing data on the Tunisians regions they are in charge of. The main challenge for the Ministry was the integration at horizontal level of the data bases of the central administrative departments, in order to have an integrated vision on the whole Ministry activity, supporting strategic and political decisions and forecasts (e.g. on the productivity of the agricultural sector). Because of their role in Ministry core processes, four major administrative departments have priority in the e-Government initiatives, namely: 1) the department of agricultural production; 2) the department of the restructuring of agricultural state-owned domains; 3) the department of veterinary services; and 4) the department of water resources management. Several studies of feasibility and preliminary implementation projects have been proposed in the past, but always focused only on a single department. Indeed, in this case the first goal of the eG4M methodology was to support the data bases integration for the four considered departments. A second related goal was to provide a unified view of the interactions between each department and other public administrations, in order to evaluate the level of efficiency and effectiveness of current information systems for e-Government services provision. Due to these issues, state

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reconstruction (a preliminary step of the eG4M strategic planning phase) has been focused on the following issues: (i) the conceptual re-engineering frameworks of the current data bases, in order to identify the master data of the Ministry of the Agriculture, suitable to be used for the design of the conceptual framework of the integrated information system; (ii) the data quality evaluation of the available data, in terms of their currency and completeness, in order to verify the correspondence with the current procedures and services provided by the public administration; (iii) the representation of the interactions between public administrations in terms of services and related processes, in relation with the type of information and the ownership of the data bases involved; the goals here were to define the priority intervention areas in the integration process. After a number of training courses introducing the eG4M methodology and specific related topics, the three issues described above have been developed through participatory design workshops involving four teams composed by three civil servants (one senior manager and two middle level managers) each from the four departments. The three days workshops had a monthly frequency from January 2008 to March 2009. ICT skills and computer literacy among the participants were not homogeneous, where major discrepancies were mainly related to the age of the attendees, and to the functional role in the organization (some departments being represented by IT staff while others by non-IT human resources). Workshops were dedicated mainly to a participatory design of the reengineered conceptual frameworks for the databases of each department and of the final integrated conceptual framework; besides this activity, a check of the state reconstruction step matrices filled by each department representing information flows has been carried out. Participatory design of the department conceptual frameworks and of the integrated conceptual framework, using the Entity-Relationship as for-

malism (Batini, Ceri and Navathe, 1991), started from the current logical schemas of the databases, previously designed by external (often private) agencies. Furthermore, participatory design activities raised a misalignment from the data required by the current service related administrative procedures, impacting on the effectiveness of the information systems on supporting decision both at political and financial level. Besides a conceptual framework of the integrated information systems of the four departments of the Ministry of Agriculture, the fieldwork application of eG4M in Tunisia, points out the challenges of e-Governance in terms of improvement of the following qualities: •

•

•

Accessibility at organizational level, in terms of promotion of a homogeneous ICT literacy for middle public managers and IT architects. Accessibility at data level, in terms of availability of sharable models of the current information architecture. Accountability at organizational level, in terms of governance of the lifecycle management of the information systems, where one of the considered alternatives is to leave the deployment and maintenance activities to the market (namely, private vendors), while the public administration retains the planning, design and quality evaluation of the e-Government projects.

E-Governance Quality Assessment in the Municipality of Tangier, Morocco In the case of the Municipality of Tangier in Morocco, the goal of the eG4M experimentations was mainly to evaluate the e-Governance in terms of e-Readiness of the public organization under review (including civil servants) but also of the social context where e-Government services have to be provided. The e-Governance quality

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evaluation was designed in order to fulfil two macro-objectives of the Municipality of Tangier, namely (i) to complete the analysis of the internal and external communication systems (in terms of information flows), and (ii) to provide requirements and guidelines for the development of an action plan for a new technological architecture for the internal and external communication (Intranet, cooperative architecture, email, etc.) including the development of an e-Participation platform to allow interaction with other administrations and citizens. Thus, e-Readiness has been evaluated by considering state of the art and customized indicators as quality dimensions for the different layers of the GovQual framework, see also Batini et al. (2009) and Viscusi, G., & Cherubini, D. (2007). In this case the eG4M experimentation have been carried out under an action research perspective (Baskerville & Wood-Harper, 1996), where a customized e-Readiness questionnaire, based on the eG4M main questionnaires (Corsi, 2006; Viscusi et al. 2010; Viscusi & Cherubini, 2008), has been produced in order to adapt the methodology tools to the requirements of the context. The questionnaire has been filled by a sample of 20 public managers encompassing 13 chiefs of department of the Municipality of Tangier, from October 2008 to January 2009. The chiefs of department were also involved in focus group carried out on October 7-8, 2008 and May 7-8, 2009. The questionnaire investigated the current technological infrastructure degree of maturity, the skills of the public managers and of their employees, the investments on IT projects and on formal training for public managers and employees in the last five years, as well as the degree of access for citizens to the public administration services. The analysis of the questionnaires shows that investments aiming at improving the computer literacy among the public managers have a lower priority besides the needs for effective tools and methodologies for enhancing the overall system of public governance. In fact, the lack of communication between the different departments prevents

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an effective exploitation of current technological initiatives, leading to the risk of vertical projects not cooperating at horizontal level (namely at cross-functional level). Due to these issues, a weakly supported governance system results as a consequence in a not effective ICT integration which in turn can create difficulties also in the financial management of e-Government initiatives for the municipality. Furthermore, as stated by one of the managers attending the focus groups, the contribution of the eG4M project was to create a cross-functional approach discussing current issues in the Municipality of Tangier, such as common targets for ICT investments, and common formal training for managers and employees. The fieldwork application of eG4M in the Municipality of Tangier in Morocco, points out the challenges of e-Governance in terms of improvement of the following qualities: •

•

•

Accessibility at infrastructural level, in terms of availability of a cooperative architecture. Accessibility at organizational level, in terms of availability of rules, dedicated organizational roles and scheduled events supporting the cross-functional knowledge sharing. Efficiency at infrastructural and data level, in terms of an integrated and interoperable ICT network based on integrated databases and high data quality standard.

OPERATIONAL ROADMAP FOR ICT-ENABLED PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM The results from the case studies highlighted the need to overcome cultural and institutional barriers by mediating between the hierarchical and vertical bureaucratic model of governance, and the expected changes (often seen with fear and resistance) that ICTs introduction anticipate

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and would necessarily bring about, especially in terms of horizontal and cross-organisational collaborations. In addition, an important element to be considered is the fact that assessing e-Government interventions at local administration level unveils issues of strategic importance at higher level of governance (and vice versa), touching different spheres of public governance (from legal to organisational and technological of course, and linked not only to the classical service-delivery function of the state, but impacting directly to the overall policy and regulatory making cycle of the governance process), and thus confirming our postulate of the need of an holistic and comprehensive approach when implementing e-Government interventions. This of course can vary according to the context. Therefore, priorities should be defined on the basis of urgency of specific needs to be fulfilled, but also local specificities as defined by the stakeholders themselves, and the expected and sustainable systemic impact they can produce. As indicated before, if we look at e-Governance as a much broader framework to capture the coevolution of ICTs’ various stakeholders with the political institutions, at local, national and global level, we shall consider e-Governance also as a learning type of dynamics. In this context, the conceptual framework underpinning e-Governance interventions we propose is instrumental to have an external and objective assessment and involve the key actors in its deployment, thus permitting the required appropriation and self-management needed to success in ICT-enabled transformations, especially when it comes to public sector’s business. The methodological approach we proposed in this paper identifies the need of building e-Governance interventions upon a systemic vision of the alignment between operations and business processes (with their organizational and legal implications). In doing so, the socio-cultural dimensions and socio-economic impacts should

be also considered as integral part of the overall strategy and monitored and evaluated as part of it, and integrating e-Governance programmes within a broader Information society development perspective. Looking at the countries where the experimentations have been carried out, in particular, but more generally in all developing and emerging countries, dynamic tensions between the coevolution of ICTs and institutional arrangements seems to emerge, where ICTs have a direct impact on governance mechanisms and stresses the need to solve the conflict between multiple-level of government and the roles different stakeholders could play. An additional element to consider is also the potential learning processes that cross-level and cross-country collaboration could generate in accelerating the development of e-Governance and, at the same time, stimulate knowledge sharing and local innovation. In order to start addressing in a concrete manner some of the implications of ICTs for governance and envisaging some possible actions to enable successful ICT strategies, we propose in the following some key elements of a roadmap that will be further elaborated and applied in future work with additional fieldwork research and experimentation4. The roadmap proposed encompasses the guidelines described in Table 1 together with their goals and quality target. When designing the operational Roadmap, in order to make ICT a strong support and pillar of PAR, it is required not only to set up the broad national vision and e-Strategy plan, but declining e-Governance and PAR interventions in concrete initiatives and as a support of regional and local level priority programmes. In this way, and considering that sub-national authorities such as regions and provinces, represent an essential policy intermediary level and are the best positioned for the planning and execution of e-Governance and Information Society strategies for their own territories, they can play a major role in fostering

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Table 1. Guidelines, goal and qualities for an e-governance for development roadmap Guidelines

Goal

Link strategically e-Governance interventions with Public Administration Reform (PAR) Programmes

e-Governance interventions should be embedded into National PAR Programmes shared by all developmental actors at both national and international level, namely increasing donors’ cooperation as referred to in the Paris declaration.

• Accountability at service level • Accountability at organizational level

Combining concern for processes and ICTs

Revision and streamline of the administrative processes for which automation is planned (e.g. registering a vehicle, awarding a benefit, etc.) often followed by legislative adjustments too.

• Efficiency and effectiveness at process level • Efficiency in terms of completeness at legal framework level

Setting clearly the operational linkages underpinning the broader Public Administration Reform (PAR) framework and the e-Governance Strategy

Definition of a set of strategic objectives linking the ICT-enabled interventions to the overall PAR framework. This shall include, (i) enhancing the ICT-infrastructure and regulatory framework, (ii) providing key horizontal and vertical ICT-enabled services, and (iii) enabling an e-Governance environment.

• Efficiency at infrastructural level • Efficiency at legal framework level • Efficiency at organizational level

Building Capacities and Executive Training in eGovernance

Improve capacity building and training not only on ICT-skills but also on business process analysis and re-engineering, as well as strategic planning, project management, monitoring and evaluation.

• Accessibility at organizational level • Accountability at organizational level

Institutional Settings and multi-stakeholder approach

Define the appropriate institutional framework and implementation mechanisms, as well as identifying the institutional-building actions needed, including involving other stakeholders in strategy implementation (other Ministries, Parliament, CSOs, Private Sector).

• Efficiency at legal framework level • Effectiveness at legal framework level • Accountability at service level • Transparency at service level • Accountability at organizational level • Transparency at service level

Effective management, monitoring and evaluation systems

Define explicitly an e-Governance control and evaluation model.

• Accountability at legal framework level • Accountability at service level • Transparency at service level • Accountability at organizational level • Transparency at service level

the dialogue among the state, the citizens, their communities, and the private sector by bringing together the relevant actors around an integrated development plan (public-private and publiccivil society partnerships). Through basic service delivery, building democratic institutions and effective administrations, sub-national authorities can act as catalysts for change and confidence building between different parties. Moreover, this process does not lead to a flow of fragmented and dispersed projects, but allows for a long sustainable process, with several co-financing options, the idea being that the process does not stop when one project from one of the many partners comes to an end, thus resulting in reduction of fragmentation of development efforts, as referred to in the

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Qualities

Paris declaration on aid effectiveness (OECD, 2005). However, evidence shows that while ICT interventions are gradually moving towards assisting building an integrated framework of action in support of e-Governance, and promising cases and success stories can be found in several countries from all regions of the world, there is still a limited linkage between PAR programmes and eGovernance interventions (UNDP, 2008a, 2008b). This lack of integration among PAR programmes and e-Governance activities results in a limitation of the potential impact of ICTs for development. This indicates also that isolated interventions on ICTs for development or e-Government, as components of PAR programmes, despite a good

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starting point in many cases, are often not sufficient to produce the expected impact and act as a catalyser for socio-economic development of a country. Unfortunately, in many cases ICT project and e-Government interventions are not linked to the overall national strategy or PAR programmes, thus reducing their potential results and dispersing resources. The conceptual framework for e-Governance for development and the operational Roadmap we propose, instead, is based upon the need to design e-Governance interventions within a system in which operations and business processes are aligned and the organizational and legal implications are considered. For this purpose, it is especially recommended that the socio-cultural dimensions and socio-economic impacts be monitored, evaluated and integrated in the overall strategy. ICTs, in fact, are recognized as key enablers for development and when designing PAR strategies it is crucial to link ICTs and PAR programmes from the first planning stages in order to foster an appropriately holistic approach to e-Governance implementation. This involves a careful planning phase for e-governance composed of two main steps. The strategic planning that consists on a detailed analysis and “reconstruction” of the current state of public administration at the structural, organizational and functional levels, to be conducted once a common and shared political vision is defined for e-Governance. The operational planning outlines the specific objectives and target measures, including the detailed design of ICT-enabled operations, and the specification and implementation of services, which will form the key elements of the e-Governance action plans, defined according to set priorities and resource availability identified in the e-Readiness analysis. Within this context, the redesign of administrative procedures and the reorganization of structures and functions are intertwined with ICT interventions, to informatize and re-engineer processes and to improve public service-delivery. Moreover, ICTs can significantly support the overall public

policy process from decision and regulatory making, to the provision of services within and between administrations and to constituencies citizens and businesses - as final users. In order to properly outline a government’s strategic approach to e-Governance and its relations with PAR, a set of objectives should be defined voluntarily linking the ICT-enabled interventions to the overall PAR framework. This shall include some clusters of interventions, such as: Enhancing the ICT-infrastructure and regulatory framework; Providing key horizontal and vertical ICT-enabled services; and Enabling an e-Governance environment. Moreover, in the design and evaluation of e-Governance strategies and interventions the supportive role of ICTs in improving public administration performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and openness (the latter in terms of accessibility to information and accountability), should be considered as the underpinning principles for action, aiming at enhancing organizational performance, quality of service-delivery and transparency of public institutions. Specific metrics and indicators should be developed and a special attention should be given also to ICTs, and especially recent Web2.0 technologies and applications such as blogs, video-sharing and social networking sites, that can enable greater transparency and accountability of the public sector, and facilitate the development of new information channels, increasing the capacity to reach and interact with greater numbers of people and in turn providing citizens with new tools to get their voices heard and enhancing collective knowledge sharing.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS In conclusion, while ICTs have the potential to improve: Service delivery quality (efficiency and effectiveness); Governance processes (transpar-

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ency, accountability, participation and inclusion); and Policy impact (monitoring, control, implementation), in order to effectively benefit of the ‘transformative’ potential ICTs can bring about, findings from the case studies confirm the hypothesis underpinning the conceptual framework proposed; it is required to redefine governance structures and processes and focusing on the overall end of improving socio-economic impacts of e-Governance in support of PAR. The focus on e-Governance interventions should be on policy impact rather than on technological development. The fact that socio-economic dimensions and expected impacts are not given due attention in the planning and deployment of ICT and PAR policies can seriously compromise the likelihood that innovative ICT solutions and applications respond to the actual practice of e-Governance and embed the expertise and knowledge needed to consider the nuances of users needs, organisational and institutional functioning. Policies should therefore deliberately address and link strategically e-Governance interventions with PAR programmes: e-Governance interventions should be embedded into national PAR programmes shared by all developmental actors, both nationally and internationally thereby increasing donors’ cooperation as per the Paris declaration. Moreover, considering current technological developments and governance trends, showing an increasing shift towards ICT-enabled users’ empowerment and e-Participation, ICTs can support the gathering of collective knowledge to enhance political participation and mass-collaboration to achieve a better informed and evidence-based policy-decision making. In this regard, in addition to supporting and coordinating from an higher and broader perspective the implementation of the specific activities of integration of ICTs into administration and service delivery, the key for the success of eGovernance and PAR programmes rely on the capacity of not only governing the use of ICTs, but especially mastering the governance of the ICTs,

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and in particular with respect to the policy design, the planning and the decision-making processes underpinning the overall governance framework. At the same time, ICTs have the potential of improving competitiveness and economic growth of a country, by acting as a catalyst for transformation and as a changing agent for motivating governance systems. However, the positive transformative impact of ICTs on governance is not linear and straightforward, but can only be achieved if accompanied by a structural reform of administrative processes, a radical change in the working methods, as well as the predisposition of an appropriate technical and organizational platform in support of its implementation. In parallel to the implementation of specific e-Government programmes focusing on modernizing with the use of ICTs the managerial and operational back-office level, lowering the organisational bottlenecks to cross-agencies integrations and thus making possible the cooperation between different agencies and public and private sector, a special concern should also be directed towards the development of ICT-enabled shared services in order to facilitate citizens’ and businesses’ interaction with the government, and reducing costs while improving quality of services; and e-Participation systems, to guarantee democratic political participation rights of citizens who increasingly demands to be provided with the means to be informed, the mechanisms to take part in decision-making and the ability to contribute to and influence the policy agenda. For this purpose, the efficient and easy access to information from local and central governments by citizens and administration users, but also, in the wake of this basic accessibility channels, to the information provided by civil society organisations and other institutions and even corporate enterprises, improves interaction, mutual trust, confidence and skilled participation. These, in turn, empowers local actors and enhance economic development giving birth to a typical virtuous circle.

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In order to guarantee such access to information for all and improve efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery through ICTs and the overall policy impact, one of the key issue to face when planning e-Governance interventions is to optimise the ICT infrastructure underpinning the overall Public Administration network and related functional systems, ensuring at the same time security and data protection. In this context, the need for a systematic and reliable measurement of the benefits and impact that can accrue to society through the use of ICTs by public administrations is of particular importance also due to the multi-dimensional impact that ICTs can have both within the public administration themselves (in terms of improvement of efficiency and effectiveness) and with regard to the impact on specific policy domains and on the socio-economic context of reference. But to make all this becomes reality, investments are required to be effective and forward looking. In this regard, the following policy recommendations have been developed as starting point for implementing the e-Governance for Development Roadmap: •

•

•

At strategic level: invest in ICTs allowing better integration, visualisation and modelling of information on the need of constituencies to improve policies and service design; At managerial and operational back-office level: invest in simpler technologies to lower the organisational bottleneck to cross-agencies integrations making possible the cooperation between public and private sector At front office operational level: invest in futuristic human/computer interaction applications to lower barriers for users and increase consumption for all individuals with some level of digital inclusion and through ICT-enabled intermediation ex-

•

tend access also to the so called ‘dropouts’ (e.g. digitally excluded); At general level: adopt easy and simple technologies that make cheaper to provide more and better information and services.

Future research is however required to further elaborate and test the operational roadmap in real-life situations and at different governance levels. This should in particular consider the application of the conceptual and methodological framework of e-Governance for Development in support of Public Administration Reforms at both strategic and implementation level, in order to define specific actions and identify key success factors, linking ICT-enabled interventions with socio-economic development goals.

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Corsi, M., & Gumina, A. (2006). eGovernment Economics Project (eGEP):Economic Model Final Version. Retrieved from http://217.59.60.50/ eGEP/Static/Contents/final/D.3.3_Economic_ Model_Final_Version.pdf

Hill, C. J., & Lynn, L. E. (2005). Is hierarchical governance in decline? Evidence from empirical research. Journal of Public Administration: Research and Theory, 15, 173–195. doi:10.1093/ jopart/mui011

Dunleavy, P., Margetts, H., Simon, B., & Tinkler, J. (2006). Digital Era Governance - IT Corporations, The State, and E-Government. London: Oxford University Press.

Imperial, M. T. (2005). Using collaboration as a governance strategy: Lessons from six watershed management programs. Administration & Society, 37, 281–320. doi:10.1177/0095399705276111

Dutton, W. H. (1996). Information and Communication Technologies: Visions and Realities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones, C., Jones, Hesterly, W. S., & Borgatti, S. P. (1997). A general theory of network governance: Exchange conditions and social mechanisms. Academy of Management Review, 22, 911–945. doi:10.2307/259249

Dutton, W. H. (1999). Society on the Line: Information Politics in the Digital Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. Academy of Management Review, 14, 57–74. doi:10.2307/258191 Fama, E. F., & Jensen, M. C. (1983). Separation of ownership and control. The Journal of Law & Economics, 26, 301–325. doi:10.1086/467037 Finger, M., & Pécoud, G. (2003). From e-government to e-governance? Towards a model of e-governance. Paper presented at the 3rd European Conference on e-government, Dublin, Ireland. Frissen, P. (1997). The virtual state: Postmodernisation, informatisation and public administration. In Loader, B. D. (Ed.), The Governance of Cyberspace (pp. 110–125). London, New York: Routledge. Goldsmith, S., & Eggers, W. D. (2004). Governing by Network. Washington, DC: Brookings. Heeks, R. (2003). Most eGovernment-for-development projects fail: how can risks be reduced? iGovernment Working Papers, 14. Retrieved from http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/igovernment/documents/ igov_wp14.pdf

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Kolsaker, A., & Lee-Kelley, L. (2007). ‘Mind the Gap II’: E-Government and E-Governance. Paper presented at the 6th International Conference, EGOV 2007. Retrieved from http://www. springerlink.com/content/e40j7147586j5780/? p=e5a056cd4bc14422912773fca8776eec&pi=3 Marche, S., & McNiven, J. D. (2003). Egovernment and e-governance: The future isn’t what it used to be. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences-Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l’Administration, 20(1), 74–86. doi:10.1111/j.1936-4490.2003.tb00306.x McCubbins, M. D., Noll, R. D., & Weingast, B. R. (1987). Administrative Procedures as Instruments of Political Control. Journal of Law Economics and Organization, 3(2), 243–277. Misuraca, G. (2007). e-Governance in Africa from Theory to Action: a handbook on ICT for Local Governance: Africa World Press / IDRC. Misuraca, G. (2009). e-Government 2015: exploring m-government scenarios, between ICT-driven experiments and citizen-centric implications. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 21(3), 18. doi:10.1080/09537320902750871

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Misuraca, G., Rossel, P., & Finger, M. (2006). Governance with and of ICTs: the need for new institutional design in a changing world. egov magazine, II(5, May 2006). Misuraca, G., & Zambrano, R. (2010). UNDP Primer on e-governance in Public Administration: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, Working Paper, 2010). Mizruchi, M. (1983). Who controls whom? An examination of the relation between management and boards of directors in large corporations. Academy of Management Review, 8, 426–435. doi:10.2307/257831 OECD. (1995). Participatory Development and Good Governance. OECD. (2005). The Paris Declaration and AAA. Retrieved June 9, 2009, from http://www.oecd. org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_35 401554_1_1_1_1,00&&en-USS_01DBC.html Park, S.-H. (1996). Managing an interorganizational network: A framework of the institutional mechanism for network control. Organization Studies, 17, 795–823. doi:10.1177/017084069601700505 Perri, G. (2002). E-governance. Do Digital Aids Make a Difference in Policy Making? In Prins, J. E. J. (Ed.), Designing E-Government (p. 8). The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International. Pollack, M. A. (2003). The Engines of European Integration: Delegation, Agency and Agenda Setting in the EU. New York: Oxford University Press. Provan, K. G. (1980). Board power and organizational effectiveness among human service agencies. Academy of Management Journal, 23, 221–236. doi:10.2307/255428 Riley Cathia, G. (2003). The Changing Role of Citizen in the e-Governance & e-Democracy Equation.

UNDP. (1997). Governance for Sustainable Human Development, A Policy Document. New York. UNDP. (2008a). E-Governance Mapping Report. New York. UNDP. (2008b). Public Administration Reform Mapping Report. New York. Viscusi, G., Batini, C., & Mecella, M. (2010). Information Systems for eGovernment: a quality of service perspective. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Viscusi, G., & Cherubini, D. (2007). A methodology for the design of appropriate eGovernment services. Paper presented at the Interdisciplinary Aspects of Information Systems Studies: Itais 2007 Conference Viscusi, G., & Cherubini, D. (2008). A methodology for the design of appropriate eGovernment services. In M. D. M. Alessandro d’Atri, Nunzio Casalino (Ed.), Interdisciplinary Aspects of Information Systems Studies (pp. 55-60). Heidelberg: Physica Verlag-Springer. World Bank. (1991). Managing Development: the Governance dimension - A discussion paper.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Accessibility: Enabling participation and the process of empowering citizens to legally control the service delivery to their advantage. Accountability: Creating standards against which the individuals providing a service and the service delivery can be held accountable and ensuring that the laws and regulations governing the service are applied in an impartial way. Effectiveness: Serving all citizens in a consistent and predictable way improving equity and inclusiveness (refers to citizens receiving the service on an equal basis and providing services to disadvantaged and minority groups in society.

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Efficiency: Enabling optimal use of resources for citizens and tax payers in the service delivery. e-Governance: The field of activity where policy design, decision-making, co-ordination, arbitration, networking and regulation with ICTs, but also of ICTs, takes place. This involves the relationships of all governance actors and the evolving dynamics resulting from these interactions, in terms of organisational forms, processes, outcomes and impacts from the perspective of both the government and the citizens. Within this context, e-Governance can therefore be considered as a broad framework to capture the co-evolution of ICTs’ various stakeholders with the political institutions, at local, national and global level and, in this perspective, it can also be regarded as a multidimensional construct encompassing ICT research, at the intersections with social, economic, political, and organizational science research, and addressing the investigation of the missions of government in relation to the interests of society (Misuraca, 2009). e-Government: It identifies the composite trend of governments at all level, mainly through their operational arm, the administration and –subsidiarily- through the access of citizens to public affairs, aimed at promoting: 1) better and more efficient administration; 2) more effective inter-administration and administration-enterprise relationships; and 3) user empowering servicing and more transparent access of citizens to political decision-making. (Misuraca, 2007, 2009). Good Governance: It is governance responsive to the will of the people, and where the legitimacy of the government comes from its citizens. Governance is healthy when open, democratic institutions allow full participation in political affairs and when human rights protection guarantees the right to speak, assemble and dissent. Governance: It is the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority necessary to manage a nation’s affairs, or the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented

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Government: A public organization that is part of a broader governance system (UN, 2002). ICT-Enabled Governance: The use of ICTs to comprehensively: (1) simplify and improve the internal administrative operations of government and their relations with other bodies involved in public management and service delivery; (2) facilitate public service interaction between government, citizens and other stakeholders (legislative bodies, private sector, civil society organizations, self-organised communities), thus enabling better citizen participation and overall monitoring and evaluation of decision-making processes and their implementation; and (3) ensure inclusiveness and equal opportunity for all’. (Misuraca, IPTS, 2010). Public Administration: It refers to both the aggregate machinery of government as well as the actions of government. The aggregate machinery includes the policies, rules, procedures, systems, organizational structures and personnel of government. The action of government includes the management and implementation of the whole set of government activities dealing with the implementation of laws, regulations and decisions of the government and the provision of public services (UNDP, 1997). Public Sector: It is a broader term that encompasses both government and public administration. It is made up mainly of government departments and agencies staffed by public servants. Transparency: Bringing visibility to the service workflow for citizens by means of an automated service delivery and following democratic practices and respect of minorities.

ENDNOTES 1



In rural areas, for example, other actors may include influential land lords, associations of peasant farmers, cooperatives, NGOs, research institutes, religious leaders, finance institutions, etc.

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2

3





Although there is much recent evidence that boards do not necessarily take their responsibilities seriously enough (i.e., Enron Corporation or more recent experiences from the financial crisis), board members do have a legal obligation to perform their duties and are liable if the organization they represent engages in illegal or irresponsible behaviour. The eG4M methodology has been developed as part of the eG4M project (e-Government for Mediterranean Countries - http:// www.eG4M.net) a three year project, ended in April 2009, funded by the Basic Research Fund (FIRB Program) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). The authors of this chapter have been involved in the eG4M project during the

4



entire period of implementation, contributing to the development of the methodology and its application. In particular, Gianluca Misuraca, in collaboration with R. Zambrano of UNDP, elaborated in 2009-2010 the UNDP Primer on e-Governance in Public Administration Reform-(UNDP, New York). The framework and roadmap proposed and that in part inspired this chapter, are currently under validation by UNDP Country Offices. In future it is expected that the framework will be applied and further research will be conducted to evaluate the impacts and implications of it on governance and PAR as well as the contribution to the socio-economic development of countries.

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Chapter 18

The Contribution of Colombian Civil Society Organizations to E-Government for the Improvement of Transparency through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies Julián Casasbuenas G.1 Director Colnodo, Colombia

ABSTRACT This chapter presents the experience of civil society organizations in Colombia to improve the transparency of the municipalities’ administrations through the project ‘Internet for Accountability’ developed by Colnodo in partnership with Corporation Transparency for Colombia. Within this initiative, a website for municipalities was developed and afterwards improved and expanded by the Territorial e-government Strategy (GELT) and implemented by the Connectivity Agenda of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies. The chapter begins by describing the current situation of the municipalities’ websites and how they have been expanded with the support of the GELT strategy. Subsequently, presents the consultation carried out with the municipalities in order to find out the impact and usage of the websites on citizens’ participation and accountability. Finally, presents the conclusions based on the experience of the organizations involved and the information gathered during the consultation. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch018

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

The Contribution of Colombian Civil Society Organizations to E-Government

INTRODUCTION Colnodo has witnessed successful stories of municipalities that are using their web sites to offer information about their local government and town. The municipality of San Vicente de Chucuri (www.sanvicentedechucuri-santander.gov.co) is one of them. It won the award “Best Colombian Municipality Site”2 in 2006 and 2007. The cities of Tulua and La Palma are other examples. Tulua (www.tulua.gov.co) won the same prize in 2008 and La Palma (www.lapalma-cundinamarca.gov. co) in 2009. Yet, there is a long way to go in a significant number of municipalities in Colombia, even though they have the same infrastructure, Information and Communication Technologies - ICT platforms and support from the national government (1063 of 1101 municipalities in Colombia use the same platform). This situation presents us with different scenarios to determine the best possible e-government solutions that could be easily adapted by a municipality and / or government organization. Likewise, we need to identify what prevents the use of these technologies by local governments and to understand, together with civil society organizations, whether these new technologies implemented through such initiatives have contributed in some way to improve transparency. To find some answers to these questions, Colnodo developed a national consultation with all the municipalities using the websites developed based on the Internet for Accountability Platform in order to determine if there was a real positive change in their communities originated by the use of these ICT; especially in a country like Colombia where the Internet coverage is still low (about 44%3 of Colombians have Internet access). All the municipalities (1071) beneficiaries of the Territorial e-Government Strategy4 of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies5 were invited to participate. The consultation had the main objectives of identifying what the

impact was of the websites on accountability and participation and their usage by the population and civil servants. This chapter presents the results of this consultation and recommendations for further research.

BACKGROUND Colombia has made significant progress in the implementation of its e-government strategy in the last years. In fact, in the global e-government Survey for 2010 and published by the UN6, Colombia came first in Latin America and the Caribbean and 31st in the world. This progress was in part due to the e-government strategy implemented by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies which aims to contribute to a more efficient, transparent and participatory State, providing better services to its citizens and businesses by making the most of ICTs (www.programa.gobiernoenlinea.gov.co/componentes.shtml). This is one of the strategic programs of the ICT National Plan7 -Plan TIC- and a guiding principle for the Law 1341 of 2009, also known as ICT Law8. The Decree 1151 of 2008 and the Manual for the Implementation of the e-government Strategy9 established the procedures that the national and regional governmental institutions should follow, with 2012 as the deadline to complete the phases of the e-government: •

•

Information Phase: The institutions had to provide information on their main areas of interest. The deadline was the year 2008. Interaction Phase: in this phase the organizations began to interact with the public and the businesses by providing access to their databases and to their civil servants. The deadline was 2008 for the national organizations and 2009 for territorial organizations.

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Figure 1. Phases of the on line government strategy (© Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies – E-Government Program, Used with permission.)

•

•

•

Transaction Phase: In this phase products and services can be obtained through electronic transactions. The deadline was 2009 for the national organizations and 2010 for the territorial organizations. Transformation Phase: In this phase changes are made to provide the services according to the needs of the population by providing virtual tills and the governmental Intranet. This phase should be finished by 2010 by the national organizations and by 2011 by the territorial organizations. Democracy Phase: Should be finished by 2010 by the national organizations and by 2012 by the territorial organizations. In this phase the citizens are invited to participate actively in the decision making and in devising and evaluating public policies.

From a technical point of view, the municipalities’ websites have completed the information and interaction phases. However, for 2008 the e-government in Colombia 2008-2009 publication reveals that the national organizations had a midlevel implementation of the information phase by

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2008 (72), and the territorial organizations a low level (38) by December 2008. The same publication reveals that 70% of the national organizations and 87% of the territorial organizations update their information once a month. For the interaction phase, the publication reveals an index of 64 by December 2008 for the national organizations and just 9 for the territorial organizations. Such low values were ratified by the organizations responsible for the publication by requesting the information via email. The level of response was extremely low: 96% of the territorial organizations did not reply.

The Internet for Accountability Initiative, a Contribution from Civil Society Organizations One of the main projects developed by Colnodo in the e-government and e-democracy areas is the Internet for Accountability Project. This project – started in 2002 - is a joint initiative of the organizations Transparency Colombia10 and Colnodo11 with the support of USAID12 whose main goal is to design, test and multiply different ways to

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strengthen the country’s territorial integration with the active involvement of mayors and civil society in three central aspects: the transparent handling of public information on the Internet; the social accountability of the mayor; and the development of municipal plans for integration by using the Free and Open Source software (FOSS) which facilitates the publication of information of municipalities on the Internet. The project started as a pilot project in the municipality of Paipa13 (26.000 citizens) with the development of a web page, designed with the participation of local civil servants and grassroots and social organisations of the municipality interested in being observers of the local management administration. The tool developed in this phase of the project was donated to the national government by the Vice-presidency of the Presidential Office. The tool was evaluated and improved by the Connectivity Agenda (now e-Government Program of Colombia) of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies. By the end of 2005, the e-Government Program decided to implement it through the Territorial e-Government Program in all the Colombian municipalities receiving Internet connectivity from the governmental program Compartel 14. During the national implementation of the Internet for Accountability System, the e-government Program improved the functionality of the platform in order to guarantee the successful implementation of the information and interaction phases. This improvement includes the possibility to connect automatically to other e-government websites such as the Colombian e-Government Portal (www.gobiernoenlinea.gov.co) and between the municipalities’ sites. Also, during this phase, two initiatives were integrated to the project facilitating important features for its improvement: Met@logo15 that provides information to entrepreneurs and the follow up of the Millennium Development Goals led by the United Nations. These initiatives had the support of the German Technical Cooperation

in Colombia - GTZ GmbH16 and the Colombian Municipalities Federation17. During this process the contributions from donors for the developments of the software were around USD$ 194.00018 and the investment of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies were around USD$ 42.000.

The Ministry of ICTs Territorial e-Government Strategy Presently, 1063 municipalities have the system installed representing 96.55% of the municipalities in Colombia. The system is also used by 8 Departments in the Country. The Internet for Accountability Platform is a web platform which was used to enable the Colombian governmental organizations to publish their information online in order to successfully implement the information and interaction phases. This experience has also been replicated in 8 municipalities in Nicaragua through the accompaniment of the Fundemos19 NGO in that country. The Territorial e-government Strategy (GELT) supports the modernization of the State promoting the access of citizens and civil servants to the e-government services in all municipalities and departments. It is focused on providing training and support, enabling local administrators to create and maintain their own websites with information for the community and also from the community to the country and beyond. But above all, the strategy aims to build the institutional foundations so the Colombian departments and municipalities could initiate and complete all the phases of the e-government strategy (Retrieved March 20, 2010, from http://www.paipa-boyaca. gov.co/sitio.shtml?apc=I1----&s=h). Since the big expansion of the municipalities’ websites began (end of 2005) there has been a continuous growth of the unique visits to the municipalities’ websites reaching 30’498.570 in 200920.

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Figure 2. Unique visits to the web sites of the territorial e-government strategy

This growth is expected to continue given the increased access to Internet in Colombia and the initiatives of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies for the implementation of e-government.

•

VIRTUAL CONSULTATION ON THE WEBSITES USAGE IN COLOMBIA

The survey was completed by 249 people in 215 municipalities which represent 20.28% of the municipalities with the platform, and 87.5% of the country’s departments (only the departments of Amazonas, Guainia, San Andrés y Providencia, Vaupes and Vichada are missing). From a statistical point of view this is a representative sample for this consultation. Regarding their occupations: 33.6% are contractors, 23.9% are technicians, 17.4% are professionals, 10.9 are managers, 6.5% are consultants, and 5.3% are assistants and 2.4% other. The contractors’ turnover is high and they are vulnerable to the changes in the political administration of the municipalities – municipal elections are every four years. This has a negative effect on the maintenance of the websites. Regarding the gender, 70.2% are men and 29.8% are women. Regarding age 14.5%, are between 19-24 year-old, 64.9% between 25-39

Consultation Objective A virtual consultation was carried out in order to identify the impact and usage of the municipalities’ websites on the accountability of civil servants and the participation of the community. The virtual consultation was opened from the 16th to the 24th of March 2010 and was aimed exclusively at the civil servants of city halls that have the platform.

Consultation Design The survey was divided into: • •

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General information. Questions about the infrastructure for accessing the web.

•

Questions about the maintenance of the website. Questions about the uses and interaction of the municipalities with the community.

General Information

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year-old, 19.8% between 40-55 year-old, and 0.8% older than 56.

Infrastructure As expected, a significant percentage of municipalities are connected through the Compartel Program from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies. This program connects the smallest municipalities in the country as part of the e-government strategy. 37.3% of the municipalities are connected to Internet through the Compartel satellite connection, followed by 34.1% using a cable or ADSL connection, 15% use a private satellite connection, 9.5% use a telephone line, 2.3% have Internet access from a telecentre or internet cafe and 1.8% have no connection to Internet. The last three figures indicate that a 13.6% of the municipalities have a limited connection to Internet which undoubtedly makes the updating of the websites difficult. On the other hand it is equally satisfactory to see that 86.4% of the municipalities have a stable connection to Internet. In Colombia, broadband is defined according to resolution 1740 of 2007 by the Commission for the Regulation of Communications CRT21 (Official Agenda, Year CXLIII No. 46.784, Wednesday 17, October 2007, page 5) as 512 Kbps downstream and 256 Kbps upstream. This defines the speed at which Colombians can download information or upload information on Internet when they are using broadband. According to this definition in Colombia 56.8% of the municipalities taking part in the consultation have a connection to broadband (22.7% at 512 Kbps, 11.4% at 1 Mbps and 22.7% greater than 1 Mbps) and 27.7% have a connection with a lower speed than broadband (20% at 128 Kbps and 7.7% at 64 Kbps). 15.5% do not know what the speed of their connection is. This is an encouraging result which coincides with an increase of 14% of the broadband connections in Colombia by June 2009 reported by the Cisco Barometer for

Colombia. During the first semester of this year, 254.000 new broadband connections were added to the cyberspace and by June 2009 the country reached 2’066.742 connections and a penetration of 4.65% per 100 inhabitants (Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://www.interactic. com.co/index.php?option=com_ content&view= article&id=1090&Itemid=40). Likewise, the connectivity tends to improve given the availability of broadband in mobile phones. The same study concluded that there was an increase of 185% during the first semester of 2009 of the mobile broadband in Colombia – from 246.700 connections in December 2008 to 704.000 connections in June 2009. Although the virtual survey did not ask about the type of connection, 3 municipalities expressed that they use mobile phones for their connection to Internet and one of them use four mobile phones for their connection. The expectation is that this type of connection will continue to increase as long as the cost is reduced by the ‘massification’ of the service. Likewise a positive result of the consultation is that 30.3% of the civil servants have a point of access per person, 27.1% two points of access for around 5 people, 7.8% three points of access for around 10 people, 7.3% four points of access for around 20 people, 4.1% five points of access for around 30 people and 6.9% 6 points of access for around 30 people. 16.5% used other connections using mobile phones. If every civil servant had a work station with a connection to Internet it would be easier for them to update the websites.

Website Ownership Several options were given to answer the question ‘how do you promote the municipality website?’ and the results were as follows: 71.8% use Internet, followed by word of mouth (49.5%), and then using the bulletin board (43.1%). Other strategies such as the press, meetings and the radio also got significant percentages of 41.6%, 35.4 and 25.4% respectively.

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81.1% of the civil servants expressed that their municipality has promoted the website in schools and 85% mention using the website when making an invitation for a public event. 83% promotes tourism through the websites. The uninterrupted increase of the access to the websites shows a significant increase in the number of visits confirming that these strategies have had a positive impact. Likewise, as part of the consultation, two employees of the e-government program22 were interviewed about the acceptance of the website by civil servants. They recognize that some municipalities use the website extensively and have made adaptations to the system for improving the information services to the community. Other municipalities, around 82% use and update it continuously (Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http:// licitaciones.ugc.edu.co/ranking.html). However, the perception of the e-government Program is that if the program does not exert pressure there is no continuity in the updating. On the other hand, in the virtual consultation some municipalities expressed the importance of the accompaniment of the e-government Program for the updating of the websites considering this role as positive. Another question in this interview was about the impact that the websites awareness and training strategies aimed at civil servants have. The answer was that the impact varies. The training has a very good evaluation but the application of what has been learned is not as positive. In general, the municipalities prefer the accompaniment of the delegates sent by the GELT program given that the capacity of the municipalities is very limited. However, the GELT delegate effort is lost when he/she leaves and the municipality is left in charge of updating the website and it becomes one of the least important priorities. The updating depends hugely on the civil servant and municipal administration’s commitment to the e-government strategy. The same interview revealed that the egovernment Strategy centralized administration

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of the websites is not without its risks. One is not allowing the municipalities to personalize their sites (although there are 10 templates from where they can choose) in an aspect such as a graphic design in line with the institutional image and the personalization of specific sections. As a result three municipalities with the capacity to fund the development and hosting of their websites have withdrawn from the e-government strategy in order to implement their own websites.

Website Maintenance The responsibility of the websites maintenance is assigned to only 1 person in 55.9% of the municipalities and between 2 and 5 people in 38.7%. The dependence on just 1 person is undoubtedly a risk for the websites maintenance given that the possibility of that person (more if he/she is a contractor) being assigned to another job or withdrawn from the job is very high. However, it is the duty of the municipalities under Decree 1151 of 2008 to keep the websites updated. Only 2.9% of the municipalities have more than 5-10 people updating the website and 2.5% have more than 10 people. The jobs of the people updating the websites are different and the most common are: • • • • • • • •

Municipality Assistants (more than one) Systems Engineers Municipality Consultants Web Administrators Librarians GELT Committee GELT Consultant Systems area

42.9% of the municipalities update their website daily, 36.9% weekly, 12.2% monthly and 7.8% other. These figures show that in general, the municipalities’ taking part in the consultation are regularly updating their websites.

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The frequency of the websites updating can be related to the provision of services in the website. For example, in Colombia has a benefit scheme called the Sisben that identifies the potential beneficiaries of social subsidies. The city halls evaluate the income of the families and those identified as very poor receive a certificate which proves they are entitled to these subsidies. Periodically the Sisben beneficiaries’ database is updated. During the ‘massification’ of the websites, a small city hall (Cereté23) developed an application in the website to download and print off the Sisben’s certificates. Once the application was successfully tried in Cerete, it was replicated to all the municipalities’ beneficiaries of GELT. Presently, instead of queuing for hours to get their certificates in the city halls the beneficiaries are printing them off. This system is presently used in 102 municipalities and has the potential to benefit 638.491 citizens24.

Websites Evaluations During the interview, the civil servants of the e-government program expressed that presently they are carrying out evaluations to find out if the phases of the e-government have been completed and they are also regularly following up the updating of the websites. Likewise, a technical evaluation of the egovernment was carried out with the support of German Cooperation Agencies and the Colombian Federation of Municipalities in order to evaluate if the platform complied with all the requirements of the information and online interaction phases and its future potential to develop the transaction, transformation and democracy phases. The conclusions were given as recommendations in order to improve the platform and complete all the phases. The virtual consultation determined that: •

48.8% of the municipalities have surveyed their users business community and employees to find out what information they

•

•

•

•

need. This is a significant figure given that the information gathered in the surveys enables the municipalities to improve their websites. 28% have evaluated their websites, especially through their forums and survey sections. 61.3% of the municipalities have trained 1-50 people on how to use the webpage, 8.6% 50-100 people, 4.9% 100-200 people, 1.2% 200-300 people and 3.7% more than 300 people. This shows that the great majority that participated in the consultation have made an effort to educate the population in order to enable them to use the website and the Internet. 68.3% of the municipalities know about the mechanisms available in the website to promote the citizens participation in the process of devising policies, plans, programs and projects. 72.8% of the municipalities follow the contribution and comments made by the citizens through the webpage, on the plans, programs, policies and projects. This is a significant figure although in a future consultation it would be useful to investigate which actions and decisions are made based on this follow-up.

Only 29.2% of the citizens’ organizations (city councils, public oversight committees, youth groups, etc.) use this space in the website to inform about their activities. This percentage could be lower if the number of people who ignored this question is considered – 88 in all. Thus the real percentage considering the total sample would be only 18.87%. A significant percentage of the municipalities reply to the complaints and demands regularly, 42.9% and 46.4% respectively, weekly, 36.8% daily to the complaints and 34.8% to the demands. This shows that the great majority of the municipalities participating in the consultation have one

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Figure 3. Qualification of main aspects of the website

Figure 4. Main uses of the web site to interact with citizens

person responding to the complaints and demands and at least in this respect, there is an interaction between the local government and citizens. The evaluation of the websites was very positive as shown in the following charts: The evaluation on the use of the websites for the participation of citizens and dissemination of information is highly positive. In the design of the Internet platform for accountability, citizens’ participation sections were included in order to allow the civil society organized groups to publish information about the outcome of their oversight and monitoring activities of the municipality administration. The most relevant sections in the websites which promote citizens’ participation include:

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• • • • • • • • • •

Public oversight committees Public oversight committees documents Public oversight committees announcements Comptroller and Attorney’s office Citizens’ participation groups Accountability announcements Accountability reports for the citizens Accountability reports submitted to the Council Accountability reports for the Millennium Development Goals - MDGs e-government management reports

An evaluation of the updating through the websites management system of the e-government territorial strategy until March 19, 2010, shows

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that the sections related to citizens’ participation were updated in 82.33% of the municipalities in 2009. This figure shows that the municipalities and the GELT program are making a significant effort to inform the citizens and for being accountable. The information channels referred to the MDGs that were included in all the websites do not show a significant updating regarding the communiqués sent by the team responsible for following up the MDGs progress in the country. Only 8.11% of the municipalities used the tool available in the website to publish the communiqués in 2009 and in some of the municipalities the MDGs were only explained but not followed up. However, it is surprising that in the same year 73.11% of the municipalities updated the MDG’s indexes. Although the e-government promotes the use of these channels, it is not responsible for the training, monitoring and follow up of the MDGs. When the civil servants from the e-government program were asked if they think the websites have promoted the participation of citizens and if they had any figures, they confirmed that there are no figures yet. Usually it has been through interactive initiatives such as surveys and forums where the public have been consulted on a range of issues such as tourism or entertainment (possible dates for organizing public events, festivals, etc) or aspects of the municipality management. The general perception is that these initiatives have increased the feeling of ownership and interaction of the public with the websites. In the virtual consultation the municipalities had the option to list other uses which they consider as relevant. Some of them included in the list are:

• • •

• • • •

The development of the Internet Platform for Accountability by civil society organizations like Transparency for Colombia and Colnodo, which involved the municipalities administrations, public oversight committees and the citizens themselves, have made easier the acceptance of the platform in the municipalities. This acceptance played an important role at the moment of expanding the

•

Citizens’ participation groups documents. Citizens’ participation groups announcements. Publication of tenders for minor contracts. News, tourist places, events, institutional activities of the municipality. Promotion of the municipality and promotion of a feeling of ownership by public and civil servants.

• • •

Broadcasting own videos and live events. Participation in virtual forums. Solving the complaints and enquiries of the citizens promptly and efficiently. Prevention programs and promotion of different programs. Promotion of sports and culture. Promotion of transparency in the municipality administration.

One of the most significant aspects in which the website has had an impact is on better information to the population about the city hall activities with 78.3% and more information provided directly by the mayor to the citizens with 39.5%.

FUTURE RESEARCH AREAS The use of broadband in Colombia and the wireless access to Internet will facilitate in the near future the access to Internet in remote rural areas and to the municipalities’ websites. Therefore, it is important to continue measuring, together with the municipalities, the impact that the use of new technologies has on the access to local information and to improve the transparency of the municipal administration. Also, it would be useful to carry out a consultation with the population in order to find out how easy it is for users to get information in the municipalities’ websites.

CONCLUSION

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use of the platform at a national level given that the municipalities found in the platform a useful tool according to their expectations, which made easier to ‘own it’. The participation of civil society organizations has also been possible thanks to the use of Free and Open Source Software which has facilitated the development of the platform and the adaptation of new sections and functionalities designed according to the municipalities and citizens needs. Presently, the process of improving the platform continues with new proposals aimed at facilitating the publication of information on areas such as how the municipalities’ funds are spent and a women and gender equality module which Colnodo and Transparency for Colombia are developing using the same methodology developed during the implementation of Internet for Accountability - proposals that undoubtedly will be well received by the municipalities. The virtual consultation shows that the municipalities have reached a satisfactory level of acceptance and ownership of the websites given that the questions related to the usage and participation by the community show overall percentages higher than 60% in aspects such as the training received on the platform operation; the knowledge of tools for participation and the follow up of users requests. However, the use of the existing opportunities for participation is very low (29%). This percentage shows the importance of evaluating why the community is not using these opportunities offered in the municipalities’ websites. Increasing this percentage of participation by the community will improve the e-government transparency indicator – one of the lowest in the e-government report for 2008-2009. Evaluating the municipalities (19) with the lowest scores it is evident that these municipalities are mainly rural with limited internet access (the great majority less than 128 Kbps). These municipalities usually have serious limitations to update their websites (poor connection to Internet)

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and possibly feel little motivation to keep their websites updated given that the users do not use the Internet often because they live in regions where the access to Internet is difficult. This situation could improve in the near future if we take into account that the access to Internet in the country is improving significantly thanks to the arrival of broadband - especially through the mobile phones network. In 2009, through the Compartel Program, 1669 telecentres were set up in educational centres which in the near future could be used by the population to use Internet and the municipalities’ websites. The consultation results show that the municipalities are not only updating their sites but are also using them more effectively and those who have a better interaction with the users are more motivated. However, they feel that there are still limitations in some aspects such as the municipalities’ indicators or the follow up of the MDG’s, although the latter are not under the responsibility of e-government. One of the most frequent comments in the consultation was the need to receive a permanent support from the e-government program for the completion of the strategy phases. For 2010, it is expected that a public tender will be opened for the accompaniment in the transaction and interaction phases of the e-government strategy in five (5) regions with an approximate cost of US$6.45 million dollars. With no doubt, this accompaniment will strengthen the interest of the municipalities in the implementation process of the e-government phases and the ownership of the websites. To encourage those municipalities that cannot find a useful purpose for their websites these could be promoted through telecentres or wireless rural networks so the local population could use them. The interviewees also suggested the importance of encouraging the access, use and ownership of ICT among senior citizens so they could acquire

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the knowledge and skills to be able to use the municipalities’ websites. A limitation mentioned by some interviewees in the consultation is the habit of issuing and providing official forms in the governmental offices instead of providing them through the municipalities’ websites. This is particularly true in small municipalities. Therefore it is important to promote the websites and the services and resources they provide among the population. Given the wide coverage of the mobile network in Colombia and the access to Internet through the data network, the State should encourage the use of Internet by reducing the access costs as was the case in the nineties when the internet access providers that provided their service through the packet switch network, had to offer their services with a reduced tariff in order to encourage the use of Internet by the population. If Colombia continues implementing these policies and providing special attention to the delivery of the ICT services to the rural population, there is no doubt that Colombia will continue to lead the region in e-government policies.

REFERENCES Commission for the Regulation of Communications, Colombia. (2009, September). Telecommunications Report. No 13. Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, Republic of Colombia (2010). Manual for the Implementation of the e-government strategy for the Colombian Republic, version 2010. Andes University, Administration Faculty, Strategy and Competitiveness Centre. The Colombia e-government 2008-2009. Proceditor. The United Nations Program for Development (2009).

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Civil Society Participation: Inclusion of people interested in the improvement of transparency in the public administration. E-Democracy: Civil society participation in democratic processes using Information and Communication Technologies. E-Government: Government that promote the access to information and electronic services through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. E-Participation: Civil society participation in public administrations through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Free and Open Source Software: Software that is developed under General Public Licenses to promote the knowledge exchange. Improvement of Transparency: Access to information by civil society using Information and Communication Technologies that promote the transparency in the public administration. Information and Communications Technologies: New technologies that can be used to improve the quality of life of the communities. Regional and Local: Promotion of local and regional information through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Services for Citizens: Services provide to citizens through the use of Information and Communication Technologies.

ENDNOTES 1





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With the cooperation of the Colnodo team, Olga Patricia Paz Martinez, Ariel Barbosa Urrego and Alejandro Barrera Gutierrez. Translated from Spanish by Constanza Casasbuenas G. The Colombian Internet Awards are offered by the Colombian Chamber of Informatics and Telecommunications. www.ccit.org.co among other organisations every year.

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Telecommunications Report. Commission for the Regulation of Communications, Republic of Colombia. September 2009, No. 13. http://www. crcom.gov.co/index.php?option=com_ phocadownload&view= category&id=4%3 Adocumentos&download =11%3Ainformesectorial- no.-13&Itemid= 122&lang=es http://www.programa.gobiernoenlinea.gov. co http://www.mintic.gov.co http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb http://www.colombiaplantic.org.co http://cmsi.colnodo.apc.org/documentos. shtml?x=3694 http://programa.gobiernoenlinea.gov.co/ apc-aa-files/DocumentosAdicionales/ ManualGobiernoenLineav_2010.pdf Transparency for Colombia is a non for profit organization created in 1998, whose mission is to “lead within public society, the efforts for fighting corruption centred in transforming our public and private institutions in order to have in our country effective and trustworthy institutions, with honest citizens and businesses and with righteous and accountable civil servants who put the interests of the community before anything else. To do so, the corporation is seeking to build wide coalitions with different actors, leading the dissemination of knowledge and ways of fighting corruption, contributing to the strengthening of an organized, proactive and responsible citizenry”. See http://www. transparenciacolombia.org. Colnodo is a non for profit organization established in 1994 that supports organizations working for development in the effective use of Information and Communications Technologies - ICTs, especially Internet.

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One of the strategic areas of Colnodo is e-government and e-democracy. Colnodo believes that the offer of information from the government, the online procedures and services as well as the government interaction with its citizens is strengthened through the use of ICTs. Through Internet it is possible to improve transparency, participation, the oversight of the government administration and demand accountability. www.colnodo. apc.org. http://www.usaid.gov/espanol http://www.paipa-boyaca.gov.co http://www.compartel.gov.co http://www.metalogo.org http://www.gtz.de/de/weltweit/lateinamerika-karibik/636.htm http://www.fcm.org.co This amount only includes the investment in the development of the system. It does not include other investment such as training and follow up of the updating of information among others. http://www.grupofundemos.org Taken from the statistics of the Territorial e-government Strategy with the authorization of the e-government program. http://www.crcom.gov.co The civil servants interviewed were Francisco Camargo Salas, Organization and Management Coordinator and Lina María Cruz, Organization and Management Consultant of the e-government Strategy of the e-government Program. http://www.cerete-cordoba.gov.co Taken directly from the Websites Management System of the Territorial e-government Strategy with the authorization of the egovernment program.

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APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL READING References about Internet for Accountability Project: • • • • •

Project site, www.iprc.org.co Internet for Accountability. The Colombian Experience. Case Study. http://www.epractice.eu/en/ cases/int4accountability From the Internet for Accountability Project to the Territorial e-government Strategy in Colombia. http://www.unegov.net/03-Events/23-W-Bogota/17/index.html 12th International Anti-corruption Conference. Internet for Accountability – The Colombian Experience. http://www.12iacc.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=117. http://www.transparenciacolombia.org.co/HERRAMIENTAS/Internetpararendici%C3%B3n/ tabid/86/Default.aspx

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Chapter 19

Is the Internet Mightier than the Sword:

An Anti-Corruption Perspective Russell Lidman Seattle University, USA

ABSTRACT This paper considers how to reduce corruption and improve governance, with particular attention to the impacts of information and communication technology. The media and the press in particular have played an important role in opposing corruption. The Internet and related tools are both supplementing and supplanting the traditional roles of the press in opposing corruption. A regression model with a sample of 164 countries demonstrates that, controlling for the independent variables commonly employed in empirical work on corruption, greater access to the Internet explains reduced corruption. The effect is statistically significant albeit modest. It is possible that the social media will have a growing impact on reducing corruption and improving governance. A number of examples of current uses of these media are provided. Recent insight and experience suggest how the newer information and communication technologies are somewhat tipping the balance toward those opposing corruption.

INTRODUCTION It is in the nature of effective governance that public goods and services are available by virtue of one’s domicile. In contrast, it is the nature of public corruption that public resources are provided on the DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch019

basis of quid pro quo. Corruption represents the substitution of self-serving for more democratic criteria in public decision making. The role of the information and communication technologies in reducing corruption and improving governance is considered in this chapter. Corruption is durable where the public is unaware of what it might be entitled to or, even

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Is the Internet Mightier than the Sword

where there is an understanding of rights and entitlements, when the public has no way to assert its claim effectively. Shah (2007) observes, “Public sector corruption is a symptom of failed governance” (p.234). Citizen voice is among the list of concerns Shah considers in defining governance. This chapter examines the role played by the Internet in particular, and other information and communication technologies, in reducing corruption. There is a literature demonstrating and describing how corruption has been reduced through interventions of print and other traditional media. The capacity of the traditional media to devote resources to fight corruption and promote more transparent government appears to be increasingly limited. This study seeks to broaden the perspective on the role of the media on reducing corruption by explicitly considering the role of the Internet, and more specifically by providing empirical support for that role. Using both statistical analysis and case material, this chapter argues that greater access to the Internet explains, significantly but modestly, a reduced level of corruption. It is quite possible that there will be a greater impact on corruption of the Internet and the social media as access to the information and communication technologies grows.

BACKGROUND Transparency is a precursor to the functioning of democratic governance, and the impact of the press is clearly an illustration. Glaeser and Goldin (2006) and Menes (2006) provide empirical evidence for the role of the press in reducing corruption in the US, albeit over a period of many years. The use of the print media to control corruption can produce results in a relatively brief time, as Reinikka and Svensson (2003, 2005) demonstrate in their work on Uganda. One of the significant issues in corruption control is who comprises the foundation of the

opposition to corruption. Klitgaard et. al. observe that, “Because the benefits of preventing corruption are … widespread, the logic of collection action predicts that an effective interest group will be hard to mobilize and sustain” (2000, p. 12). Others disagree, pointing to the foundation for groups in opposition to corruption. One perspective, see Levy (1966), is that those with qualifications and skills who would benefit from a meritocratic system and would lose their opportunities in the presence of corruption, form the basis of an opposition to corruption. Similar arguments about groups that will stand in opposition to corruption are found in Myrdal (1968), Golden and Picci (2006) and Holmes (2006). The behavioral economics literature has provided useful insights into the inclination or the disinclination toward corrupt practice. See, for example, Gintis et. al. (2005), Henrich et.al. (2004) and Kahan (2005). Ostrom (2005) observes, based upon the behavioral literature, that about two-thirds of individuals exhibit some levels of trust and reciprocity, and this is largely independent of location. The literature taken together suggests a role for the internet and the social media in reducing corruption. The information and communication technologies in general lower the costs of individuals communicating with one another locally, and globally for that matter. There are many stakeholders in opposition to corruption, and with technology their collective action is easier and less costly to sustain. The chapter examines empirically the impact of information and communication technology on corruption. A review of the empirical literature is found in Lambsdorff (1999). Two later articles of interest are Treisman (2000) and You and Khagram (2004). None of this earlier literature examined the role of information and communication technology in controlling corruption. The other independent variables used in the models reported here are those most commonly used in the empirical literature and the results are consistent with that literature.

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It is reported here that corruption is somewhat, albeit not highly, responsive to access to the Internet. News coverage provides particular examples of how these technologies are being used to reduce corruption. See, for example, Jacobs (2009).

CONTROLLING CORRUPTION, IMPROVING GOVERNANCE Corruption Eludes a Concise Definition Corruption is an amalgam of activities, occurring in and between the public and private sectors. Public corruption covers the ground from the street to the seat of government. Petty corruption occurs at the nexi of the individual business or households and individual public officials. Grand corruption occurs where the authority of potent agencies of the state or the state itself is taken over for unjust enrichment of a select few. There are two sides to each corrupt transaction, the bribe-payer and the bribe-seeker. The public employees or officials represent the supply side of corruption. There is also a demand side for corruption, those willing to acquire the benefits of corrupt practices and to meet the price charged by public officials. There is a conventional microeconomics of crime that has been used in explaining the incentives for corruption. The two sides of corruption are also captured in the principalagent model. According to this model, the distinct interests of the principal (the bribe-payer) and the agent (the bribe seeker) that otherwise end in corrupt practice can be managed without threat of extreme punishment. The principal-agent model, an amendment to the standard microeconomic model advanced by Rose-Ackerman (1978), has been addressed by a number of authors, including Azfar (2007) among others. Public sector corruption is clearly only part of the story. Particularly in the developed countries, the impact of unjust enrichment or corrupt behavior

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in the private sector can swamp the typical corruption within the public sector. The extent and impact of private sector corruption is illustrated by Ackerloff and Shiller (2009). Their chapter on corruption (pp. 26 - 40) considers only private sector corruption. Their volume focuses on explaining the great recession dating from 2007 and the financial crisis that produced it. In their use of the term corruption to account for this global crisis, there is the suggestion that only private sector corruption is significant enough to threaten the economic wellbeing of advanced nations. “Corruption scandals are always tremendously complicated. Yet they are also tremendously simple. They are simple because they always involve the violation of elementary principles of accounting … They are complicated precisely because the participants seek to shroud in complexity the violation of these simple principles” (p. 30). The communication and information technologies may also play a role in lifting that shroud. A number of websites aim to do just that. See Simon Johnson (2010) ‘The Baseline Scenario’ site, for example. There are conceptual and the methodological challenges in describing and in measuring the numerous dimensions of corruption. Capturing them with a single metric is quite a challenge. One of the more widely cited definitions of public corruption is that of Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based nongovernmental organization. TI’s definition crisply differentiates between the corruption that is part of one’s job and that which is outside of one’s formal position (2008): “Corruption is operationally defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gain. TI further differentiates between “according to rule” corruption and “against the rule” corruption. Facilitation payments, where a bribe is paid to receive preferential treatment for something that the bribe receiver is required to do by law, constitute the former. The latter, on the other hand, is a bribe paid to obtain services the bribe receiver is prohibited from providing.” In the empirical work reported here, the dependent variable is

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the TI’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), an index constructed for each country from a variety of expert opinions and public opinion surveys.

Print and Other Traditional Media and Controlling Corruption Corruption is promoted by secrecy and its cost to a society is high. One of the costs is “hostility to change and innovation.” (Schleifer and Vishny, 1993, 615) The concern promoting such hostility, of course, is that information and communication technologies promote responsible government and improved governance. In involving stakeholders, transparency will often be antithetical to settled arrangements. Transparency is a precursor to the functioning of democratic government, and the impact of the press is clearly an illustration. Glaeser and Goldin (2006) observe that circumstantial evidence points to the impact of the press on corruption in the US. “(T)he rise of the independent press was an important factor in movements to reform the American political system” (p.6). This observation is mirrored in the literature review of Lambsdorff (1999), who references cross-sectional empirical work demonstrating that, “a free press effectively deters corruption” (p. 9). Menes’s work (2006) empirically supports the impact of the newspaper in reducing corruption. Based on her analysis of data on mayoral administrations of fifteen large US cities, Menes argues that urban corruption began its decline in the 1930’s. This decline continued through the 1970’s, the end point of her data set. (p. 66). Some hundred-plus years were required to see corruption reduced from a way of doing municipal government business in the US to becoming an exception to the conventional practice of government. As Menes observes, based on her data analysis, “… strong democratic and civil institutions, and especially a strong and independent press, suppress corruption and improve government performance” (p. 90).

Promoting transparency via the traditional media can have significant effects. While in the US this change took place over many decades, the pace of change need not necessarily require so long. A recent example from Uganda illustrates the continuing power of the newspaper. Reinikka and Svensson (2003, 2005) describe an assessment of a policy innovation to improve the funding from the central authority reaching local schools. In the mid-1990’s only about 24 percent of the non-salary funding from the Ugandan central government level reached the schools. The average capture by local political leaders of funds intended for schools was close to 76 percent. The majority of schools received not a penny of student support. The capture of funds by their officials was complete. The diverted funds went instead to patronage and to support political campaigns. With participation of a World Bank evaluative team, the central government’s response to local capture of funds was a newspaper campaign. The amounts sent to local governments were published in the national papers. At the same time, local school officials were required to post the actual amounts received by the school. The response was a dramatic increase in funding reaching local schools. By 2001, the capture had been reduced to just 18 percent and no school lost all of its student support. Reinikka and Svensson found that the share received by a school was higher where the head teacher was more informed about the central allocation process and where there was greater access to newspapers. The findings of this study suggest that corruption can be challenged even in remote communities when information critical to mobilizing an opposition is made available. One of the great shortcomings of traditional media in controlling corruption is, as they operate from a central location, they are subject to control from the center of power. The experience of Peru under then-President Fujimori and Vladimir Montesinos, the head of Peru’s internal security agency (SIN), illustrates this. Subsequent reports of this period in Peru indicated just how much an

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administration was willing to pay to control the media. An irony here, of course, is in the effort of a few to capture the state, the bribes are initiated by public officials and it is the media who receive the funds to corrupt their business practice. Supply and demand for corruption are reversed with state capture of the media. In Peru in 2000, then-President Alberto Fujimori ran for a third term, a candidacy that required a constitutional makeover (Conaghan, 2005, 117 ff.) Alejandro Toledo, an opposition candidate, made an issue of the corruption taking place in the Fujimori Administration and in particular around Vladimir Montesinos, the head of the SIN. At the time of the election, few imagined the extent of the use of state resources to control the traditional media. The degree of control of the media came to light with the revelation of a number of secret tapes that Montesinos made of his paying bribes to owners of media and to many public and judicial figures. Montesinos made these tapes to secure his control over the perhaps thousands of individuals who received his payoffs. While apparently many of these videos were destroyed, a large number survived. Some of these “Vladivideos” are available on YouTube and elsewhere. How much did it cost in Peru to control the media? Shares in the newspaper Espresso were sold to Montesinos for one million dollars. Some popular tabloids were on a piece rate, earning some few thousand dollars for each headline favorable to President Fujimori. One popular station, Channel 4, signed a contract with Montesinos in 1998 to give him control of its news content. The station’s owners received as much as $9 million (McMillan and Zoido, 2004, p. 81). Nearly all of the broadcast TV stations and much of the print media had been captured. Yet even such domination of the mass media was insufficient to quell the opposition. The technology Montesinos used to secure his and his Administration’s control ultimately led to their undoing. Following the leaking of the Montesinos video tapes, the Fujimori Administration began to unravel and, under pressure from the Organization

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of American States and other international actors, the two principals fled the country.

Opposition to Corruption: The Public Effective opposition to corruption, similar to what is important in the policy arena in general, includes informed, politically-engaged stakeholders. The media provide information to these stakeholders whose interests stand in opposition to corruption. What needs to be explained is who comprises the foundation of the opposition to corruption, at least in the early stages of growth. The development literature makes a useful contribution. Marion Levy (1966), operating from a Parsonian framework, focused on what he considered the principles that differentiate less and more modernized society. Especially pertinent to an understanding of corruption are the concepts of particularism and universalism. Modernization in his view is associated with a society’s move from being relatively particularistic to relatively universalistic. The particularistic perspective emphasizes who a person is and rewards accordingly are based on such characteristics as class, caste, tribe, family, region, gender or race. The universalistic concept “… stresses what a person does or can do that is relevant to the action or purpose under consideration” (p. 52). The universalistic perspective is meritocratic. Rewards, including employment and compensation, are based upon what one can contribute. Levy argues that the particularistic perspective is inconsistent with a modernizing society. Merit will need to increasingly replace personal connections. “Quite apart from judgments about good and bad about these criteria, increasing problems of scale and coordination alone require an increasing emphasis on predominantly universal criteria if the society is to be stable” (p. 53). In a complex society one may not have associates with the skills required for the high-level tasks required, such as managing the delivery of public services.

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Corruption is particularistic, with outcomes of public decisions determined by what one pays or who one is. Those who have unusual talents or skills but lack connections or resources would benefit from a more meritocratic system. The state would benefit as well from the best potential contractor, the best potential employee or the best possible project. Those individuals and firms deprived of opportunities by a state’s particularistic practices can form the basis of the opposition to corruption. Observers writing on a number of different countries have made this same argument, pointing variously to the ‘articulate’ groups, the emerging elites, the middle class or the bourgeoisie in opposing to corruption. Myrdal (1968) pointed to the importance of those sharing a universalistic perspective in forming the political support to reducing corruption. He wrote, “(N)o South Asian government can be firmly in control unless it can convince its articulate groups that effective measures are being taken to purge corruption from public life” (p. 952). This same conclusion is reached by Golden and Picci (2006) in their study of corruption in public works in Italy. They observe, “A critical factor is ensuring the ongoing success of anti-corruption efforts may be the creation of a political elite that has a vested interest in ensuring meritocratic observance of regulations and legislation governing public service, public construction and public procurement. … Designing the institutional incentives that give a substantial fraction of the political elite a vested interest in honesty should be a priority for future research” (p. 479). Husted (1999) likewise hypothesizes, “…a middle class … can act to protect its interests through the organization of interest groups. Such groups weaken particularistic demands which tend to promote corruption” (p. 342). Holmes (2006) writes of the contribution to corruption of the absence of the potent opposition of a middle class. Writing primarily of post-Communism in Eastern Europe and of parts of the former Soviet Union, he argued the lack of a bourgeoisie was

an important factor in moving those states on the path to corruption (p.191). The literature of behavioral economics suggests that support for anti-corruption efforts is potentially large, apart from the economic level of the opposition. This point is made in a body of research exploring the underpinnings of individual decision making. This empirical work supports the observation that selfish motivation does not in general describe human behavior. Rather the behavioral studies suggest that individuals will most often reward others’ collectively oriented behavior. See, for example, Gintis et. al. (2005), Henrich et.al. (2004) and Kahan (2005). Henrich et al. report on economic experiments conducted in fifteen rural and remote small-scale societies, ranging from sedentary to nomadic. While most people tend not to be corrupt, some number will be much more inclined toward corruption. Others will act corruptly, if the environment greatly rewards it or circumstances promote such behavior. In summarizing this behavioral literature, Ostrom (2005) endorses the view that some 60 to 70 percent of individuals exhibit some levels of trust and reciprocity. The remainder tends to behave more as rational egoists (p. 253). The majority, those evidencing reciprocity, are a foundation of an opposition to corruption. Corruption is the result of two elements acting in concert, those corrupted and their exercise of political power to maintain their gains from corruption. It may be affirming that most people seem not by their wiring or their socialization to be corrupt. But these tendencies to behave responsibly are in and of themselves insufficient to reduce the level of corruption. Also required is the ability to exercise the influence necessary to reduce corrupt behavior of others. The media play a role in informing those with a meritocratic perspective of threats to their economic or social wellbeing. These media can also represent to those exercising power the collective voice of those opposing corruption. In many countries, an independent press has served

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as a watchdog against corruption. In a number of countries, the newspapers are experiencing challenging times in competing with the newer information and communication technologies. This raises the question if these newer technologies will be effective in confronting corruption. In a subsequent section we provide a preliminary answer to that question.

Opposition to Corruption: Organizational Actors Corruption control is greatly enhanced where there are domestically engaged and informed stakeholders. There are other actors who play a part in controlling corruption. International organizations, such as The World Bank or the Organization of American States (1996), can play an important role in corruption control. Individual nations can likewise do so, in enforcing ethical standards in the foreign practices of their domestic enterprises. One of the most widespread forms of corruption, and possibly the most common, involves public contracting. (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 2004, p. 103) The nature of this problem and the extent it can undermine economic growth is illustrated in a widely cited, apocryphal story. The leader of one country invites the ruler of a neighboring nation to join him at his villa in the countryside. The two travel by helicopter from the capitol to the rural hide-away. From the veranda the local ruler points to a highway in the distance and then pointing to himself says, “Fifteen percent.” The tale continues with the neighboring ruler reciprocating the invitation the next season. From the veranda of his villa, that country’s ruler asks his counterpart to look at the highway in the distance. The visitor responds that he cannot see the highway in the distance. The ruler responds, pointing to himself, “Exactly. One hundred percent.”

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Countries’ laws against corrupt practices or the possibility of debarment from contracts with international funders will act as a brake on firms that that might be inclined toward shortcuts in public contracting. In the apocryphal tale, the issue with the second ruler is not contracting but rather capture of the state by a powerful interest. This extreme case notwithstanding, restraints on potential bribe-payers should have an impact on the scale of corruption. In the US (Shearman and Stilling LLP, 2009), the recent high level of prosecutions (or deferred or non-prosecution agreements) under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was 38 in 2007 and 19 in 2009. With possibilities of large civil fines against corporations and the possibility of prison sentences for corporate officers, anti-corruption laws carry a stick. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has a number of recommendations for how transparency can improve the process of public contracting, among which is the use of the Internet. The Internet is described as a “powerful instrument against malpractice … Several countries (Mexico, Chile, Colombia and more recently Austria)and a number of major municipalities… have placed their entire procurement information systems on the web and allowed free access to that information” (p. 111). If information about the requirements of a proposed public purchase is more widely available, then the risks of manipulating contracting are that much greater. In their summary of the literature on the potential cost of corrupt behavior, Glaeser and Goldin (2006) observe, “The overall costs of corruption come from the size of the potential penalties and the probability that these costs are imposed that are in turn a function of information flows, social opprobrium and the legal system (p. 11). The Internet, in engaging and informing other vendors of public contracts and of decision procedures, reduces the potential gains to a firm of engaging in bribery and to a public official of accepting a bribe.

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The Internet and Corruption Control: An Empirical Test This section presents the results of an empirical examination of the impact of use of the Internet on the level of corruption. It is acknowledged that access to the Internet is likely a proxy measure for access to information and communication technologies more broadly. Where there is a high degree of access to the Internet, there is likely greater access to personal digital assistants or hand-held devices that permit immediate twoway information sharing. As examples recounted in a subsequent section illustrate, these compact devices have been used by opposition groups to communicate images to global audiences of events involving governance practice. The technique employed in this empirical analysis is multivariate least-squares analysis. The unit of analysis is individual countries. In this least-squares analysis, the aim is to examine the impact of the independent variable, access to the Internet, on the level of corruption, the dependent variable. Other independent variables serve as control variables, permitting the analysis to isolate the effect of Internet access. The independent variables controlled for in this analysis are those that have been identified in the literature on corruption control, the findings of two of which are considered below. For a review of the empirical research see Lambsdorff (1999). For additional particular examples of the empirical literature, see Husted (1999) and Lipset and Lenz (2000). Treisman’s (2000) work is widely cited. In it he focuses on political variables to explain the variation in corruption in a large cross-section of nations. In his several least-squares models, for his dependent variables he employs a composite of several years’ of the Corruption Perception Index of TI, among other similar measures. In his findings he identified “…six most robustly significant variables—British heritage, Protestant tradition, log per capita GDP, federal structure, uninterrupted democracy, and openness to im-

ports” (p. 42). These variables explained close to 90 percent of the variation in the countries’ corruption ratings. He observed with respect to his variable ‘uninterrupted democracy:’ “The fact that a country is democratic today makes just about no difference to how corrupt it is perceived to be. What matters is whether or not it has been democratic for decades. The regression estimates suggest a painfully slow process by which democracy undermines the foundations of corruption. Those countries with at least forty years of consecutive democracy behind them enjoyed a significant, though small, corruption dividend, and those with 20-30 years may also have benefited slightly” (p. 45). In focusing on issues relating to cultural heritage and political history, Treisman provided an explanation for how a country got to some level of corruption. As his work focused on that and not on policy tools, his findings do not provide any guidance for how corruption in any country might be reduced. You and Khagram (2004) conducted an examination of the impact of inequality on corruption. An hypothesis underlying their work, that inequality acted in several ways to produce corruption, mirrors to a degree the perspective of the development literature on the role of an emerging middle class, with its interest in promoting universalistic values. You and Khagram cast the middle class in opposition to the rich, who they see as supporting corruption. “… the poor lack material resources to organize, and a thin middle class is likely to exert less influence in high-inequality societies. High levels of inequality (and associated poverty), holding other factors equal, is thus likely to inhibit the capacities of middle class and poor groups to monitor the corrupt activities of the rich and powerful” (p. 8). Their model aimed to explain the variation in corruption in response to changes in inequality, measured by the Gini Index, while controlling for

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political and economic measures. Their independent variables included per capita gross domestic product and a measure of political freedom, among a number of other measures. The analysis included both single-year cross-section data and inter-temporal cross-section data employing some twenty-five years of data. To complete missing data elements, in their models with a greater number of years’ data the authors undertook extensive statistical manipulation. Their findings are not unambiguous in establishing a causal relationship between inequality and reduced corruption. This mirrors Lambsdorff (1999), who concluded based on other empirical literature, that inequality has a statistically weak impact on corruption (p. 5). In some of You and Khagram’s models, inequality was significant in explaining reduced corruption and in others not. You and Khagram’s findings, taken together, lend some modest support to the middle class as a political contributor to anticorruption efforts. The identification of the potential impact of a middle class says nothing about how these stakeholders might engage the matter of corruption. A more meaningful model would point to tools available to a stakeholder group to be informed and actively engaged. In particular, the information and communication technologies are pointed to here. The internet represents the possibility of openness to information, certainly, and is also a potential tool for two-way communication. The hypothesis we explore is that a greater penetration of the internet in a country will be strongly associated with a reduction in corruption. One model tested is an ordinary least squares explanation of the variability of the TI’s corruption perception index as a function of access to information and communication technology (measured by percentage of homes with a PC), the level of gross domestic product per capita and a measure of the extent of political rights in a country. In much of the empirical work in the area, including the studies noted above, generally income per capita and legal or political culture are

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included as independent variables. The purpose of these independent variables in the model labeled Model A is to learn if, controlling for the variation in these other independent variables, technology per se has an impact on corruption. Results in the table also explore the potential significance of the middle class in promoting and sustaining anticorruption efforts, controlling for the independent variables indicated above. Model C in effect explores whether, controlling for the level of per capita income, political freedom and access to information and communication technology, greater income equality contributes to reducing corruption. TI’s Corruption Perception Index (Transparency, 2009) is based upon as many as thirteen sources reflecting expert opinion and public perceptions. A higher score indicates lower perceived corruption. The highest 2008 score was 9.3, and was shared by Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden. The lowest score, that of Liberia, was essentially zero. Gross national income per capita (World Bank, 2009), as an indication of living standards in a country, would be expected to have a positive impact on the CPI. That is, access to more income would be associated with reduced perceived corruption. Political rights (Freedom House, 2007) is an index calculated from a structured analysis of governance practices. Scores range from 35-40 for those countries determined to permit the greatest access to rights down to below 5 for those countries that are most restrictive of personal rights. The expectation is that political rights will have a positive impact on the CPI, that is on reducing corruption. The measure of access to the internet per 100 people (World Bank, 2009) ranges from nearly complete access in Norway, 91.6 per hundred, to under one per hundred in some of the least developed countries, particularly in Africa. It is hypothesized that this measure will have a positive impact on the CPI. The Gini Index 2005 (World Bank, 2007) is a measure of the equality of the distribution of income. This variable for 2005 or the most recent prior year varies from zero for

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Table 1. Access to the Internet in explaining lower corruption: A table of results of the regression analysis Model

A

B

C

Dependent Variable

CPI 2008

CPI 2008

CPI 2008

1.755** 0.173

1.801** 0.219

1.097* 0.44

Gross National Income Per Capita 2007 B Standard Error

5.74E-05** 0.00

6.904 E5** 0.00

7.201 E5** 0.00

Political Rights 2007 B Standard Error

0.040** 0.007

0.036** 0.009

0.033** 0.009

Internet Users Per 100 People 2007 B Standard Error

0.030** 0.005

0.025** 0.006

0.029** 0.006

Independent Variables Constant B Standard Error

Gini Index 2005 B Standard Error

0.017 0.009

R-square N

164

0.813

0.818

122

122

The levels of statistical significance are denoted as follows, *p<.05, **p<.01

complete equality to 100 for perfect inequality. Sweden, with a score of 25.0, is typically the country with the most equal income distribution of income. Argentina at 52.2 has an index about twice that of Sweden, reflecting a more unequal distribution of income. The highest numbers, in the 60’s and low 70’s, represent highly unequal income distributions and are in poorer countries in Africa. Greater equality is represented by a lower Gini Index and this lower index would be anticipated to reduce corruption, represented by a higher CPI. The expectation is that greater equality will be inversely related to the CPI. The results from Model A are indicated in Table 1. The three explanatory variables are all of the expected signs and are highly significant. The level of statistical significance of the three independent variables is well below the 0.01 level. It is found that a higher gross national income per capita and greater political rights result in less perceived corruption. Controlling for these two independent variables, it is found that greater access to the

internet similarly results in less perceived corruption. The model, in explaining nearly 80 percent of the variance of the 2008 corruption perception index among the 164 countries in the sample, is a very good fit for the dependent variable. There are data on the Gini Index for only 122 countries. Model A is rerun as Model B on this lesser number of observations. This permits a direct comparison with Model C, which includes the same independent variables as in Models A and B with the addition of the Gini Index as a fourth independent variable. In Model C the coefficient on the Gini index is not statistically significant from zero and, in any event, is not of the anticipated sign. The measure of economic inequality, controlling for the economic and political measures and access to the internet does not add to the explanatory power of the independent variables in Model A and B. Therefore we discard this variable and focus attention on the results from Model A.

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The regression analysis in Model A indicates that access to the internet is associated with reduced corruption and the relation is highly statistically significant. How large is this effect from a practical perspective? The range of internet users per 100 is from very nearly zero to 91.6, with a mean of 23.2 and a standard deviation of 23.4. Argentina, at about the mean with 23.6 internet users per 100, has a Corruption Perception Index of 2.9, below the mean of 4.0 of the countries in the sample. According to the model, an increase of 10 points in internet use per hundred, from 23.6 to 33.6, would be associated with an increase in the CPI score of 0.30, from 2.9 to 3.2. This would move Argentina up 14 places among the countries in the sample and would place it among Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sri Lanka, among others. The regression results of Model A, calculated at the level of Argentina’s scores, produce a measure of the elasticity of the responsiveness of the CPI to access to the internet. The estimate of elasticity of perceived corruption relative to a change is internet access is 0.28. This is an indication of relative inelasticity. This estimate indicates that corruption is somewhat, albeit not highly, responsive to the availability of information and communication technology.

The Internet and Corruption Control: Illustrations It is barely a couple of decades into the information revolution. Findings presented here suggest that access to information and communication tools has a significant if modest impact on corruption. The data may lag reality. It is plausible that more widespread access to these technologies will reach a tipping point in the impact on corruption and governance. In many countries, access to technology is distinctly limited. In 65 of the 164 countries in the data base of Model A, fewer than ten in 100 in the population have access to the internet. In 117 counties,

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representing about two-thirds of the observations, fewer than 33 in 100 have access to the internet. These numbers will only increase as the costs of technology decline and access to the internet improves. Recognizing their evolving nature, we look to current news coverage of the use of these technologies. There are some common narrative strands in the media’s coverage of the information and communication technologies and their impacts on reducing corruption and anti-democratic governance. One narrative includes coverage describing how the internet, websites, cell phones, instant messaging and the social media have been employed to confront corruption or anti-democratic governance. A second narrative includes reports on how governments opposed to open discourse seek to block access to the web and to the other electronic media. A third strand includes stories on the cost to countries of their withdrawal from the knowledge economy thorough blocking or severely limiting access to information and communication technologies. A fourth narrative includes coverage of how technically savvy users are able to outwit the censors, and the punishments they might face if they are not successful in maintaining their anonymity. By way of illustration we look at two countries, China and Italy, where large numbers enjoy access to technology.

China The extent of corruption in China is thought to be quite high. Pei (2007) estimates “the direct costs of corruption in 2003 could be 3 percent of GDP, roughly $86 billion, an amount exceeding the government’s entire spending on education in 2006” (p. 2). He notes that this transfer to a small number of elites from the country’s poor is “fueling China’s rapid increase in socioeconomic inequality and the public’s perception of social injustice” (p. 5). Even with corruption on this scale, the infor-

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mation and communication technologies seem to have made some inroads. Jacobs (2009) reports on instances where public officials suffered the loss of their position as a result. He reports that bloggers commented on a photo of a local housing official who was shown wearing a $15,000 watch and had a $22 pack of cigarettes in front of him. Two weeks after the photo appeared, the official was fired for his ‘improbably lavish lifestyle.’ Among his several examples, Jacobs also reports on a Communist Party official who was caught on a security camera, after groping an 11-year old, haughtily dismissing the girl’s parents. The image, circulated on-line, resulted in the official’s resignation. In the same article, Jacobs notes that official tolerance of net freedom is limited and videos that offend the censors’ puritanical sensibilities have been censored from the web. China is thought to have tens of thousands of ‘net minders’ and has sought to exercise control over domestic search engines. Official disruptions of communication, in the Uyghur region and elsewhere, have been reported (Jacobs, 2010). The costs to China of its control of information were emphasized in the coverage of Google’s withdrawal from the mainland market (Wines, 2010). As Wines notes, “China’s intransigent stance on filtering the flow of information within its borders has the potential to weaken its links to the global economy” (p. A1). One reason China may pay this price in the particular instance of this conflict is, according a Chinese expert quoted by Wines, “Google is good at innovation, and when it leaves the rest of the companies in China will lack motivation. Without its countervailing power, the industry won’t be as healthy” (p. B8). It is hardly apparent how this contest between those seeking the freer flow of information and their watchdogs is to be decided. Still, the information and communication technologies are providing a new tool to rein in corruption and some results have been observed in China.

Italy Italy is a country with a long tradition of corruption. Even the decline of Rome, according to MacMullen (1988), had its roots in corruption. Explaining the Roman Legions’ retreats through the Fifth Century, he observes, “The conduct of these officers is explained for us: they were interested in illicit profits of their command, not in fighting” (p. 192). Indeed he points out that when Rome fell it was not from an attack from the outside. Germans, “the Huns” to whom the fall of Rome is attributed, had already been contracted out to do the work of the Legions. In this sense, according to MacMullen, Rome’s fall was an inside job. Beppe Grillo is an anticorruption campaigner in Italy. In recent years corruption has captured the public’s interest in Italy and, according to Mueller (2008), Grillo has helped to grow that audience. While corruption Italian-style is not a secret, Mueller suggests the issue does not receive an appropriate level of domestic media attention. He observes of Italy, “The country’s mainstream press is controlled, or owned outright, by political parties and corporations whose malfeasance tends to be glossed over or ignored on television and in newspapers…Journalists who write about corruption face the constant threat of libel suits” (p. 25). Grillo (2010), who first gained fame as a comic and social satirist, has become a blogger. According to Fisher (2007) this blog for a time was the most popular in Italy and tenth most linkedto blog in the world. Long since denied access to Italian television, the blog has provided an alternative means for Grillo to communicate with his countrymen and for Italians to communicate among themselves on the subject of corruption. The blog is an adjunct to Grillo’s very public activism, and his public events, many pictured on his blog, can draw hundreds of thousands of Italians. It is an indication of the role information and communication technology can play in organizing

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and sustaining an opposition to corruption while the mainstream media stand apart from the issue. The above examples describe instances where the information and communication technologies are employed independent of other media in the opposition to corrupt practices. The traditional and the newer media are even more likely to be used in partnership. We present two illustrations of this synergy. Lacey (2010) reports from Reynosa, Mexico that drug murders are commonly unreported in the local press and broadcast media. Though traditional media have been intimidated, some information gets out as a result of citizens’ sharing photos and videos taken with their cellphones. Knowing of threats to colleagues from the US, a news reporter from just north of the Rio Grande fears crossing the Texas-Mexico border for his work. His stories rely upon cellphone photos and other online reports for a picture of what is occurring in the neighboring community south of the border. Fathi (2010) fled Iran, following official harassment and threats on her life. A newspaper reporter by trade, she continues to report on that country from her exile. She describes her surprise at learning of her new sources, “I had made contact with another Iran – a virtual one on the Internet, linking reformers abroad to bloggers and demonstrators still inside the country and to reporters and sources outside” (p. 2). In the aftermath of protests against the recent presidential election, Iranian authorities tried unsuccessfully to block access to Twitter and other new media. The effort proved unsuccessful because, “Iranians are skilled at using proxy sites to circumvent the official barriers” (New York Times 2010).

Solutions and Recommendations The information and communication technologies can be expected to play an increasingly important role in controlling corruption. As Klitgaard et. al. observe, “Corruption prefers a stable, secretive environment” (2000, p.86). Those authors note that an effective anti-corruption tactic is to disrupt

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corrupt routines. The Internet and the social media in general are increasingly able to do just that. It is difficult to limit information about corruption merely to those engaged in such practices. In consequence uncertainly replaces the routine and corrupt business as usual cannot be guaranteed. As promising as the information and communication technologies are in disrupting or controlling corruption, it is important to keep in mind they are only part of the cache of implements that must be drawn on in controlling corruption. It is not enough to note or even show that corruption is taking place or who is corrupt. It is important that those in responsible positions, from the local level to the international, have the will and the capacity to take action to rein in corruption. The Internet and the social media can be a useful adjunct to the myriad approaches to controlling corruption, such as those described in Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (2004) and in Klitgaard et. al. (2000).

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The findings of the empirical work reported in this chapter indicate that access to the Internet is associated with a lower level of corruption. These results provide a foundation for the reporting that in general points to a role for the information and communication technologies in improving governance. However, in most countries of the world not even the Internet itself is widely available. Similarly, even where the Internet is widely available, the use of the social media is at an early stage of application. The results reported here, then, are in the nature of early look at the role of the Internet in controlling corruption. This research needs to be replicated as access to the internet grows in even the poorer countries and as experience with the social media grows. Likewise, further research needs to be done on the impact on corruption of the Internet working in support

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of the mainstream media as well as in support of other proven anti-corruption tools.

CONCLUSION Information and communication technologies can lift the veil of secrecy, promoting accountability by government. Drüke (2007) holds e-government to a very high standard, particularly in regard to the support this technology should provide to developing countries. “The extraordinary challenge is to both modernize the public sector and progressively democratize public life” (p. 60). Were e-government to be confined to the information that units of government produce for their citizens, to license renewals and to public input on official matters, the promise of the communication and information technologies would be limited. The contribution of these technologies is enhanced when access to them is widespread and individuals can engage in two-way communication among themselves as well as with officials about matters of public moment. The internet and related social media will not be employed alone in supporting improved governance. We can anticipate the traditional media will continue to be supported in their work by these newer communication and information tools. We also expect that the traditional media will continue to operate as they have in the past in serving the needs of the public for information. The role of the press in the struggle against corruption in the US is almost taken as a given and the empirical support for this proposition might be considered almost redundant. However, in the initial skirmishes between the press and the corrupt, the outcome was hardly a given. Ackerman (2005) observes that William (Boss) Tweed’s purported response to the punishing cartoons of Thomas Nast was “I’ll show those d-d publishers a new trick!” (p. 122). What Tweed had in mind was pulling the contract for Harper’s textbooks from the New York public schools. The loss of

business of this would be ruinous to the publisher of Harper’s Illustrated, the magazine that published Nast. Boss Tweed also made moves against The New York Times, the paper that was publishing evidence of the misdeeds for which he and his Tammany colleagues were responsible. He had well-heeled friends attempt to take over that newspaper. Neither of Tweed’s schemes had their intended effect of quieting the press. Rather the newspaper and the cartoonist continued their campaigns through 1871, assisting in bringing down New York City’s political boss. The press has continued its role in opposing corruption since that time. As a reflection of the institutionalization of that role, many of the Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service are awarded for reporting on corruption. Just as there were doubts initially in the US about the willingness and capacity of the press to take on corruption, so there are questions about the capacity of the Internet and the social media to play a like role. Greater access to the Internet does have a significant impact in reduced corruption, as is demonstrated here. There has been a good deal of reporting on how information and communication technologies are enabling citizens to confront corruption or inadequate governance. Clearly, the Internet is not a panacea. A determined central power can thwart the Internet and other information and communication technologies by blocking access, even shutting them down. Yet, central authorities do not always succeed, as Fathi (2010) observes of Iran. Moreover, as Wines (2010) reports, attempting to block access could impose a high cost on a country’s commerce and science. Is the Internet mightier than the sword? In the short run the sword is mightier than either the pen or the e-media. According to Committee to Protect Journalists (2010), half of the 587 journalists murdered from 1992 to mid-2010 had corruption as their beat. Corruption can be a way of life and those benefiting from it will resist. Over the longer run, the pen, embodied in the press, has made considerable headway in root-

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ing out corruption. The pen plus the Internet are likely an even more potent combination. It will be at least a decade and possibly longer before there is sufficient evidence to learn if the Internet alone is mightier than the sword. We are in the earliest rounds of that contest, and the promise of the information and communication technologies in opposing corruption is just being glimpsed.

REFERENCES Ackerloff, G. A., & Shiller, R. J. (2009). Animal Spirits. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ackerman, K. (2005). Boss Tweed. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers. Azfar, O. (2007). Disrupting Corruption. In Shah, A. (Ed.), Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption (pp. 255–283). Washington, DC: The World Bank. Committee to Protect Journalists. (2010). 8 Journalists Murdered in 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2010 from http://cpj.org/killed/2010/murder.php Conaghan, C. M. (2005). Fujimori’s Peru. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. Drüke, H. (2007). Can E-Government Make Public Governance More Accountable? In Shah, A. (Ed.), Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption (pp. 59–87). Washington, DC: The World Bank. Fathi, N. (2010, January 17). The Exile’s Eye. The New York Times Week in Review (p. 1). Fisher, I. (2007). In a Funk, Italy Sings an Aria of Disappointment. The New York Times. December 13. Retrieved March 20, 2008 from http://www. nytimes.com/2007/12/13/world/europe/13italy. html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=In%20a%20funk,%20 Italy%20sings%20an%20aria%20of%20 disappointment&st=cse

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Freedom House. (2008). Political Rights 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_ page=333&year=2007 Gintis, H. (2005). Moral Sentiments and Material Interests: Origins, Evidence and Consequences. In Gintis, H. (Eds.), Moral Sentiments and Material Interests (pp. 3–39). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Glaeser, E., & Goldin, C. (2006). Corruption and Reform: Introduction. In Glaeser, E., & Goldin, C. (Eds.), Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America’s Economic History (pp. 3–22). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Golden, M., & Picci, L. (2006). Corruption and the Management of Public Works in Italy. In Rose-Ackerman, S. (Ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption (pp. 457–481). Northamption, MA: Edward Elgar. Grillo, B. (2010). Blog. Retrieved from http:// www.beppegrillo.it/en/ Henrich, J. (Eds.). (2004). Foundations of Human Sociality. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0199262055.001.0001 Holmes, L. (2006). Rotten States. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Husted, B. W. (1999). Wealth, Culture and Corruption. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(2), 339–360. doi:10.1057/palgrave. jibs.8490073 Jacobs, A. (2009, February 5). Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens. The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/world/ asia/05beijing.html?ex=1391576400&en=e8552 4a0779d88ec&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exp rod=facebook. Jacobs, A. (2010, January 18). China Restores Text Messaging in Xinjiang. The New York Times (p. A-9).

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Johnson, S. (2010). The Baseline Scenario Blog. Retrieved from http://baselinescenario.com/ Kahan, D. M. (2005). The Logic of Reciprocity. In Gintis, H. (Eds.), Moral Sentiments and Material Interests (pp. 339–378). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Klitgaard, R., Maclean-Abaroa, R., & Lindsey Parris, H. (2000). Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention. Oakland, CA: ICS Press. Lacey, M. (2010, March 14). Drug Killings Go Unreported Inside Mexico. The New York Times (p. A-1). Lambsdorff, J. G. (1999). Corruption in Empirical Research – A Review. Retrieved April 8, 2009 from http://gwdu05.gwdg.de/~uwvw/downloads/ contribution05_lambsdorff.pdf Levy, M. J. (1966). Modernization and the Structure of Societies: A Setting for International Affairs (Vol. 1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Lipset, S. M., & Lenz, G. S. (2000). Corruption, Culture and Markets. In Harrison, L. E., & Huntington, S. P. (Eds.), Culture Matters (pp. 112–124). New York: Basic Books. MacMullen, R. (1988). Corruption and the Decline of Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. McMillan, J., & Zoido, P. (2004). How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(4), 69–92. doi:10.1257/0895330042632690 Menes, R. (2006). Limiting the Reach of the Grabbing Hand: Graft and Growth in American Cities, 1880 – 1930. In Glaeser, E., & Goldin, C. (Eds.), Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America’s Economic History (pp. 63–93). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Mueller, T. (2008, February 4). Beppe’s Inferno. New Yorker (New York, N.Y.), 24–30.

Myrdal, G. (1968). Asian Drama: An Inquiry Into the Poverty of Nation (Vol. 2). New York: Pantheon. New York Times. (2010). Twitter. Retrieved May 27, 2010 from http://topics.nytimes. com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/ index.html?scp=3&sq=iran%20blocks%20 internet&st=cse Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (2004). Best Practices in Combating Corruption. Retrieved February 3, 2008 from http://www. justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=102418 Organization of American States. (1996). InterAmerican Convention against Corruption. Retrieved February 13, 2008 from http://www.oas. org/juridico/english/Treaties/b-58.html Ostrom, E. (2005). Policies that Crowd out Reciprocity and Collective Action. In Gintis, H. (Eds.), Moral Sentiments and Material Interests (pp. 253–275). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pei, M. (2007). Corruption Threatens China’s Future. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Policy Brief 552. Washington, DC. Reinikka, R., & Svensson, J. (2003). The Power of Information: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign to Reduce Capture. Policy Research Working Paper WPS 3239. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Reinikka, R., & Svensson, J. (2005). Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda. Journal of the European Economic Association, 3(2-3), 259–267. doi:10.1162/jeea.2005.3.2-3.259 Rose-Ackerman, S. (1978). Corruption: A Study in Political Economy. New York: Academic Press. Shah, A. (2007). Tailoring the Fight Against Corruption to Country Circumstances. In Shah, A. (Ed.), Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption (pp. 233–254). Washington, DC: The World Bank. 353

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Shearman and Sterling LLP. (2009). FCPA Digest: Case and Review Releases Relating to Bribes to Foreign Officials Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. Retrieved March 16, 2010 from http://www.shearman.com/files/upload/ FCPA_Digest.pdf Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1993). Corruption. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3), 599–617. doi:10.2307/2118402 Transparency International. (2008). Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.transparency.org/news_room/ faq/corruption_faq Transparency International. (2009).Corruption Perception Index 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2009 from http://www.transparency.org/ Treisman, D. (2000). The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study. Journal of Public Economics, 76(3), 399-475. Retrieved January 30, 2008 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/ treisman/causes.pdf Wines, M. (2010, March 24). Stance by China to Limit Google is a Risk by Beijing. The New York Times (pp. A1, B8). World Bank. (2005). Gini Index 2005. Retrieved February 8, 2008 from Gini Index, 2005 or most recent prior to that year http://devdata.worldbank. org/wdi2005/Table2_7.htm World Bank. The. (2009). Atlas of Global Development. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins Geo. You, J.-S., & Khagram, S. (2004). Inequality and Corruption. Faculty Research Working Papers Series RWP04-001. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, JFK School of Government. Retrieved February 7, 2008 from http://ksgnotes1.harvard. edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP04-001/$File/ rwp04_001_khagram_revNov04.pdf

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Controlling Corruption: Controlling corruption is intended to promote ethical behavior, often through transparency but also through the application and enforcement of law. Controlling corruption promotes fairness in outcomes. Evidence suggests reduced corruption results in faster economic growth. Corruption: Corruption is the misuse of power or authority for private gain. Governance: Governance focuses on the processes by which public decisions are made, with particular attention to the involvement of stakeholders in decision-making. Information and Communication Technology: Information and communication technology includes those tools that allow users to share, store and manipulate information. A person may communicate via ICT with one other or with many others. Internet: The Internet a system of interconnected computer networks that serves billions of people throughout the world. Private Corruption: Private corruption is the misuse of economic power or information for the unjust enrichment of an organization or individuals within that organization. Public Corruption: Public corruption is the misuse of power entrusted to an individual or group for their unjust enrichment. Social Media: The social media are highly accessible applications that permit users to share text, images and other data with a defined or undefined community. Traditional Media: Traditional media refers to the print and electronic media that antedated the newer media associated with the Internet.

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Chapter 20

Parties and ICTs:

Analyzing Party Strategies to Use the Internet for Political Mobilization Ana Sofía Cardenal Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, UOC, Spain

ABSTRACT This chapter asks whether, and to what extent, parties are using the Internet for political mobilization. Internet offers new opportunities for political mobilization. If we believe that parties want above all to win elections, the question that follows is, how are they using the Internet to further this goal? I argue that if parties are not fully exploiting the Internet for political mobilization is because it is not always in their interest to do so. A key argument of this chapter is that using the new media to mobilize support may have different costs and benefits for parties depending on their characteristics. To test hypotheses concerning the characteristics of parties that matter for online mobilization, I propose and develop a methodology to assess the efficacy of party websites as platforms for political mobilization. To test the argument, I engage in website analysis using evidence from parties in Spain and Catalonia.

INTRODUCTION The question of how parties are using the internet – with what intensity and for what purposes -- has attracted much attention from scholars in the last

decade. Much of this interest on party behaviour online has been driven and sustained by recent trends concerning declining levels of turnout and party enrollment in advanced democracies and by expectations that the internet may revitalize the nature of democratic institutions. As a result, an

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch020

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abundant literature has emerged in the last ten years, mostly focusing on how parties are using the internet in different countries.1 While we owe these studies much of our cumulated knowledge on the subject, they have contributed very little to shed light on what accounts for parties’ strategies online. Most of these studies have been descriptive (Newell, 2001; March, 2004; Vaccari, 2007; Lusoli et. al., 2008; Small, 2008). A few have systematically attempted to relate observed differences in party behavior online to explanatory variables (Norris, 2003; Gibson & Römmele, 2003; Padro-Solanet & Cardenal, 2008; Sudulich, 2009; Bastien, 2009; Foot et al. 2009; Chadwick & Anstead, 2009). But even those that have attempted to provide explanations (por exemple, Norris, 2003; PadroSolanet & Cardenal, 2008; Sudulich, 2009) have not explained why factors such as party ideology, size and organization might affect party strategies online. In short, an integrated theory accounting for party behavior online is missing in this literature. This chapter represents a first attempt to build an integrated theory accounting for party behavior online. Drawing on assumptions from the rational choice model about party motivations and behavior, an integrated framework accounting for party strategies online is proposed. To start building this theory I depart from the assumption that parties have one overriding goal: to maximize electoral support. Parties may have other goals, but I argue that maximizing support is their one overriding goal. In this sense, this study departs from others (Römmele, 2003; Gibson & Römmele, 2003; Sudulich, 2007) that attempt to explain party behavior online according to different party goals.2 Assuming that parties’ goal is to maximize political support, the question that follows is: how are parties using the internet to further this goal? Are parties fully exploiting the new media to mobilize political support? And if they are or they are not, what accounts for their different strategies

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online? To start thinking about this question I use a cost-benefit approach and argue that parties will exploit the internet for political mobilization when the expected benefits of this decision overweight the costs. A key argument of this chapter is that using the new media to mobilize support may have costs for parties by interfering with their communication and organization strategies. Parties that are large, in the opposition, non-ideological or highly cohesive, and with small bureaucracies are in an advantage to compete for additional votes and support through the Internet. Hence, holding other factors constant, these parties will be expected to use the internet more intensively to mobilize support than parties that are ideological and have large extra-parliamentary organizations. To illustrate the argument I use evidence from parties in Spain and Catalonia. To analyze online mobilization strategies I use data at the aggregate or the party level. Although parties can rely on many different tools to mobilize support online (email, social networks, websites), I use websites to analyze party mobilization strategies online. In fact, websites are used in many cases as platforms hosting other tools such as social networks. In total, twelve websites (eight from Catalan parties and four from Spanish parties) are analyzed. Since studying twelve websites is not enough to make causal arguments, the analysis will be used to illustrate the arguments formulated in the theoretical section. It will be left for further research to test some of the hypothesis drawn from this study. The chapter is structured in the following way. In the next section, I provide some background before I lay out the argument. I discuss key concepts, review the literature, and specify my position on the subject. In the third section, I present the argument. In the fourth, I discuss the data, methods and measures used in the analysis. In the last section, I engage in the analysis and discuss the main results of this study. I conclude with some final comments.

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PARTIES, MOBILIZATION AND THE INTERNET Mobilization is “the process by which citizens are stimulated to participate in the political process by taking actions such as voting or contacting public officials” (Bimber, 1998: 391), and – I would add – by many other actions. While participation is the task of citizens, mobilization is the task of political organizations (Krueger, 2006). Political organizations induce people to participate in the political process by decreasing the costs of participation. In particular, organizations decrease the costs of participating for individuals by saving them costs of information and by convincing them – through expensive communication campaigns – that their participation matters. By saving costs of information and communication to citizens, however, political organizations incur in considerable costs. Moreover, as Krueger (2006) has argued, the costs of mobilizing people in the traditional way are high. Think of an electoral campaign. An electoral campaign can be thought of as a particularly exceptional moment in the life of a political organization in terms of the amount of resources invested in information and communication activities. During a campaign, political organizations pour and channel all their resources into communicative and informative activities to dramatically alter the costs of participation for individuals. The fact that campaigns are limited in time only evidences that these activities are costly and that political organizations incur in important costs to mobilize support. Internet dramatically decreases the costs of information, contacting and communication (Bonchek, 1995; Bimber, 1998; Krueger, 2006). For traditional organizations, such as political parties, this cost reduction in information and communication decreases the costs of political mobilization (Krueger, 2006). In fact, since the Internet reduces so much the costs of information and communication, it would make sense for parties to engage in “permanent campaigns”

(Sudulich, 2009: 2). Yet there seem to be barriers limiting the potential of the internet for political mobilization. Krueger (2006) has argued that the potential of the Internet to indiscriminately target all kinds of people at a very low cost is limited because unsolicited email can be received very negatively by potential supporters and turn against the organization. Thus, while the Internet potentially reduces the costs of mobilization, cultural barriers stand in the way of taking full advantage of this potential. While Krueger’s argument is persuasive, sending emails is not the only potential action that political organizations and parties have at their disposal to expand political participation. Sending emails is one way by which parties may try to engage people. But there are other ways. Another way, for example, is through social networks. In contrast to sending email, a communicative act controlled by the organization, social networks are the domain of people. They spring from the decentralized decisions of individuals and they become virtual communities not controlled by political organizations. Social networks have an advantage over email sending: they have the same potential of reaching new people but, by doing it in a way that is more conforming to the decentralized nature of the new media; they are likely to be more efficient in mobilizing people. Another way by which parties may try to engage people in the political process is through websites. Although we know from empirical studies that most visitors of party websites are supporters of those parties (Norris, 2003; Vissers, 2009), party websites can still stimulate participation by facilitating a wide range of political activities. Parties cannot control who visit their websites but they can do their best to try to attract new people to their organizations through their websites. In other words, parties can try to maximize opportunities for political action through their websites. From this perspective, and in line with Schneider and Foot’s (2002) view, party websites can be seen as online structures providing citizens with

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opportunities for engaging in political action. To promote political action, implicit in most studies is the idea that web producers should fully exploit the interactive potential of the internet. In fact, the participatory potential and the interactive character of a website is so intermeshed that most studies collapse both into a single participatoryinteractive dimension. But how is interactivity related to participation? How does interactivity promote participation? The defining characteristic of interaction is feedback (Stromer-Galley, 2000). To the extent that any emitted signal is corresponded with a response, interactivity promotes a genuine communicative act. Interactivity excludes unidirectional or topdown forms of communication. At the minimum, it requires one-to-one or bidirectional communication. But the internet not only allows one-to-one communication, it also allows one-to-many and many-to-many communication. In other words, the internet not only allows citizens to communicate with parties and parties with citizens in a one-toone style; it also allows parties to communicate with many citizens at once and citizens to communicate with other citizens through the party. The literature assumes that taking full advantage of the interactive qualities of the internet promotes participation, but does not explain why. Interactivity promotes participation, first, by lowering the barriers of access to the party and allowing party-citizen communication to take place. We know that contacting and communication increase the feeling of efficiency; that is, the feeling that one’s participation matters, which is an essential determinant of participation.3 Second, interactivity promotes participation by decentralizing communication and reducing the sender’s control over the communication process, which in turn affects the feeling of efficiency. Of course, not all interactive forms of communication decentralize communication equally. Multidirectional or many-to-many communication tends to be the most effective in reducing control over the communication process. In general, the more decen-

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tralized is communication, the greater the feeling that one’s contribution matters, and the greater the incentives to participate. There is a second way by which communication in horizontal boards and forums may incentivize participation. In these forums, individuals can forms expectations about the participation of others and this can affect their own calculus to participate.4 This study asks whether parties exploit or not, and to what extent, the interactive potential of the Internet for political mobilization. We know from most studies of party websites that parties are actually underutilizing this potential. Knowing that fully exploiting the interactive qualities of the internet would help parties increase their appeal, the paradox is that they are not taking full advantage of this potential.5

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF ONLINE MOBILIZATION Of course, not exploiting the Internet to mobilize support is only apparently a paradox. The reason it is only apparently a paradox is that it will not always be in the interest of parties to exploit the interactive possibilities of the internet to mobilize support. The purpose here is precisely to start specifying the conditions under which parties will be willing or not to exploit the potentialities of the internet for political mobilization. To begin specifying these conditions it is useful to think of parties as rational agents that assess the benefits and costs of any decision before making it. One way to start specifying these conditions then is by asking what are the expected benefits and costs involved in the decision to use the internet as a mobilization tool for parties. We can think of the potential benefits, B, of using the Internet for political mobilization as being a function of the utility for parties of winning an additional vote multiplied by the probability that campaigning in the Internet will provide that additional vote. The probability that campaigning

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in the Internet will provide additional votes for parties will depend on how extended the Internet is among the population and on how many and how often people use the Internet for political activities. The utility of an additional vote for parties depends on political institutions, specifically on characteristics of party organization and the electoral environment (Chadwick & Anstead, 2009). If in a political regime power is concentrated and the rules of election are majoritarian the stakes of losing and winning an election are greater and the expected utility of an additional vote increases. This explains why e-campaigning have developed earlier and have had a stronger impact in the context of the Anglo-Saxon countries, where majoritarian systems prevail, than in context of the European countries, where proportional systems prevail. But the expected benefits of an additional vote not only depends on the character of political institutions or on the characteristics of countries; the utility of an additional vote, once we hold constant political institutions, can also be affected by the characteristics and dynamics of electoral competition and by the position of parties in the electoral market. For example, large parties that can realistically expect to win elections and occupy government offices may have an extra incentive to campaign on the internet to win additional votes than small parties. Also, being in the opposition, especially if the race is close and electoral pressure is high (Römmele and Gibson, 2003), can be an incentive to campaigning on the internet. From the benefit-side of the equation, and holding constant political institutions, thus, we would expect large parties and parties in the opposition to have incentives to use the Internet to mobilize political support. Yet, if parties only expected to reap benefits from using the Internet to mobilize support we would observe a much more intensive use of it. But we don’t. And the reason why in general, and specifically in the context of the European countries, we do not observe a more intensive use of the Internet for political mobilization is because

not only the potential benefits of using it vary for parties depending on the institutional setting and their characteristics, but also because there are costs associated with exploiting the qualities of the Internet for political mobilization. I see at least three potential costs associated with the decision to use the Internet for political mobilization. The first cost affects parties’ ability to communicate effectively and coherently their message (Stromer-Galley, 2000; Klotz, 2005; Vaccari, 2007). Precisely because the interactive qualities of internet allow for decentralization in communication, and because Internet is expected to be most effective when this decentralized potential is realized, one unintended effect of using the Internet for mobilizing support can be to lose control of the message. This risk has been acknowledged by the campaign managers of the parties (Stromer-Galley, 2000; Vaccari, 2009). This risk can be deliberately reduced by restricting the interactive potential of the Internet; for example, by removing discussion boards and forums or by controlling the diffusion of the party message from above through what Klotz (2005) has labeled “plagiarized participation”. But while this is a real risk for all parties, not all parties will incur in the same potential costs from decentralizing communication. Non-ideological parties; that is, parties allowing for great internal ideological disparity, for example, will probably have less need to control the message and less to lose by allowing different voices to participate in the diffusion of the message. Similarly, a highly cohesive party -- a party in which ideological dispersion among opinion groups is very low --, will neither risk very much by allowing different voices of the party to participate in the transmission of the message. Party elites will expect these different voices to be aligned with the party’s ideological program and they will not fear letting them free. In contrast, ideological parties with low degrees of internal cohesion will have a lot at stake from decentralizing communication. These parties will reasonably expect internal discrepancy to come to surface if they allow different voices to partici-

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pate in the transmission of the message. Hence, these parties will try to minimize the negative consequences of decentralizing communication and will be the less expected to use Internet to mobilize support online.6 Second, mobilizing support through the Internet requires human and monetary resources. Opening channels of communication and inducing citizens to take action through the net requires human resources to assist visitors with questions and the use of online tools (Vaccari, 2007). Moreover, once a party has opened channels of communication with citizens it is expected to respond to demands, and not doing so may have very negative consequences. Hence, parties face at least two dilemmas when confronted with the decision to use the Internet to mobilize support. First, they have to decide if they are willing to assume the negative costs of not backing with the necessary resources an escalade of demands. As Stromer-Galley (2000) has argued, attending questions and demands from citizens can be really burdensome. Second, they have to decide whether they are willing to take away resources from traditional activities to put them to work in online mobilization (Vaccari, 2007). In other words, there is an opportunity cost in using the net as a mobilizing tool and parties have to decide whether they are willing to pay this cost. Here, again, the costs will not be equally distributed across parties. Opportunity costs will always be lower for large parties because they have a greater amount of resources at their disposal. Finally, mobilizing support through the Internet may interfere with party strategies of member recruitment and party consolidation and have in turn an organizational cost. Exploiting the interactive potential of the Internet inevitably leads to lowering the barriers of entry to the party and this can interfere or collide with strategies of member recruitment and maintenance. We know that parties develop different strategies for recruiting and maintaining members and that these strategies respond to how important they

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perceive this “resource” to be for attaining the goals of the organization (Scarrow, 1994; 1996). These strategies almost always include giving members some amount of “private goods”, such as rights to decide in internal party affairs and career opportunities, in exchange for their voluntary work. The more important members are for a party organization the greater the amount of private benefits that parties are willing to give them in exchange for their work, and the higher the barriers of entrance to the party. These strategies of member recruitment and maintenance can interfere with strategies of mobilization online. If parties want to induce visitors to the websites and citizens in general to participate they will inevitably have to lower the barriers of entry to the party and this may conflict with existing strategies of member recruitment and maintenance, and create a conflict with traditional members. Thus, the larger the extra parliamentary organization, i.e., the organization of traditional members, the more likely that party strategies to mobilize support online will conflict with existing strategies of member recruitment and maintenance. In other words, the more important traditional members are for a party the more difficult it will be for that party to carry out aggressive strategies of recruitment and mobilization online. From the discussion above, we can derive the following propositions and testable hypothesis: H1. large parties will have more incentives than small parties to use the internet to mobilize support not only because the potential benefits of mobilizing additional support will be greater due to their reasonable expectations to win office but also because they will have more resources to pour both in online and traditional activities of mobilization. H2. Large parties that are in the opposition and compete in a close race will have even more incentives to pour resources into the net to mobilize additional support

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H3. Non ideological parties and highly cohesive ideological parties will have an advantage over ideological but not very cohesive parties to use the net to mobilize additional votes and support. H4. Parties with a large extra-parliamentary organization will be in a disadvantage over parties with small bureaucracies to compete for votes and additional support using the net.

DATA AND METHODS To explore the validity of these hypotheses and illustrate the argument, I analyze the websites of four state-wide Spanish parties and eight regional Catalan parties. All 12 parties have representation in either the Spanish or the Catalan parliaments. Although websites are not the only tool parties can use to mobilize support online (see section 2), it is an important one. First, websites are the most identifiable and recognizable tool that parties have to project their image in the net and to win a presence in the virtual world. Parties use their websites to present themselves in the way they want to be perceived. Second, websites can be used as central platforms hosting and coordinating the use of multiple other multimedia and interactive tools such as videos, blogs, emails, social networks etc… In other words, because websites are the most visible and recognizable tool of party’s image in the net and because they can be used to host a variety of other multimedia and interactive tools, they are a good place to look at to identify different party strategies online. Although the number of parties selected is low, there is enough variation concerning our independent variables. Within the twelve parties selected, there are parties in government and parties in the opposition; there are major parties (the Spanish Socialist Party, the Spanish Popular Party, the Catalan Socialist Party, the Catalan Nationalist Conservative Party, CDC, and the electoral coalition made up the latter party and the

Catalan Christian Democrats, CIU); minor parties (the Spanish Communist Party, IU, the Catalan Communist Party, IC-V, and the Catalan left-wing nationalist party ERC, the Catalan Popular Party and the Catalan Christian Democrats) and fringe parties (The Catalan Citizen’s Party and the antinationalist state-wide party Union for Progress and Democracy). There are parties with different degrees of ideological cohesion and with different types of organization. Some parties have large extra parliamentary organizations, while others have smaller and less important bureaucracies. Websites were analyzed during the last week of February 2010; that is, two years before the next Spanish general election and eight months before the next regional elections in Catalonia. While Catalan parties are in pre campaign since January, the electoral campaign does not formally start until two months before the election. Thus, we cannot consider the analysis to have taken place during election time. The main reason for not studying party websites during electing election has to do with the inescapable fact that this study had time limits. This time limit restricted the choice of the time period for the analysis. But the choice of not conducting the study during election time can also be justified on theoretical grounds. As I have discussed, in the Internet era, it makes sense to speak of engaging in permanent campaigns. The choice of conducting website analysis not in election times on the grounds that parties are engaging more and more in permanent campaigns has not only been embraced by other studies (Sudulich, 2009) but also finds some backing in observational data. The overall improvement of party websites can be attributed to the fact that they are being used more and more as effective tools of mobilization between elections. The analytical dimensions used to analyze the websites respond to the theoretical question; namely, how effective websites are as mobilization tools. To assess websites’ effectiveness, I look first at the kind of participatory activities they promote. Party websites are the more efficient

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as mobilization tools the more they stimulate participation. To assess how effective they are stimulating participation we follow the classics in assuming that not all forms of participation are equally costly and hence that there are lower and higher forms of participation. Promoting lower forms of participation, such as information, counts because it stands as participation and because it is assumed that lower forms of participation lead to higher forms of participation. But promoting lower forms of participation does not count as much as promoting higher forms of participation. In this sense, we again follow the classics in conceptualizing participation as an ordered index defined by cheap forms of participation in one end and by expensive forms of participation in the other, and we adopt this index to assess the effectiveness of websites in promoting participation. In particular, we use the following four categories as the starting point of an ordered index of participation: 1) delivering information; 2) contacting public officials; 3) discussing politics; and 4) taking action. This index moves from the lowest form of participation, information, to the highest form of participation, taking action. But in assessing the effectiveness of websites as mobilization tools not only the kind of participatory activities that they promote count. We need to look also to the modes of communication that websites use. Stimulating participation through the net not only requires promoting certain kinds of participatory activities but also requires adapting the communication style to the characteristics of the media. The defining characteristic of the internet is interactivity. Interactivity is more likely to stimulate participation not only because it conforms to expectations about the prevailing mode of communication in the new media but also because it leads to genuine communication increasing in turn the feeling of efficiency (see discussion in section 2). Following Gibson and Ward (2000) and others we distinguish four possible forms of communication: unidirectional or top-down, bidirectional or

362

one-to-one, one-to-many, and multidirectional or many-to-many. While top-down communication does not allow for interaction, all the other modes of communication (one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many) allow for interactivity. However, they still lead to very different communication styles and, what is more important, they have very different consequences for both the degree of control over the message and participation. From this perspective, not all modes of communication allowing for interactivity generate the same incentives for participation and should be counted the same. While the one-to-one and one-to-many type of communication guarantee some control over the message, which explains why they are more often used in vertical relations, the manyto-many type maximizes the risk of losing control over the message, which explains why it is more often used in horizontal relations. In turn, willingness to control the message affects incentives to participate since it affects people’s feelings of efficacy. Where parties are not willing to give in some control over the message, people feel that they have no contribution to make, and they thus have fewer incentives to participate. Where parties are willing to give in some control over the message, people feel that they have a contribution to make, and they thus have more incentives to participate. Hence, not all forms of communication – not even those sharing interactivity -- count the same in promoting participation. Clearly the many-to-many type most often used in horizontal relations are more effective promoting and stimulating participation than all the other types. Having defined the two dimensions that are relevant for assessing the effectiveness of websites as mobilization tools, we now turn to see the relationships between them. In Table 1, we take the issues that have been used for content-analysis of party websites in most studies and classify them according to the two dimensions: the type of participation and the mode of communication. The items contained in the table are listed in the

Parties and ICTs

Table 1. Classification of items used for content-analysis of websites in the dimensions of participation and communication Participation/ Communication

Information

Contacting

Discussion

Taking action

Top-down communication

-org. history -party structure -values/ideology -policies -manifesto -media releases -speeches -people/who’s who -leader focus -candidate profiles -Campaign calendar -Campaign diary or blog (no feedback) -voting information -frequently asked questions

-central party headquarters adress and telephone -party email

-forms asking for general and specific proposals

-instructions related to how to behave as cyberactivist

Bidirectional communication (one-to-one and/or one-to-many)

-Registering Bulletin Board -Rss, other feeds.. -Others

-party leaders and officials with emails -party leaders and officials with blogs

-Online Polls -Blogs with feedback

-Donate -Join -Buy -Become a volunteer online (cyberactivist) -Become a volunteer offline (become a friend) -Material available to be downloaded

-Discussion forums with leaders and party officials

-Discussion boards -Chat rooms -Wiki

-Distributing materials -Ask a friend to get involved -Forward site material -Write to the media -links to social networks (facebook, MySpace, Twitter...) -party candidates in facebook and other social networks -facebook activity -facebook supporters -blog aggregators -own social network

Multidirectional (many-to-many)

appendix because they have been used for website analysis in this study. From the table is clear that items are not equally distributed across cells: cells in the bottomleft of the table are empty and cells in the top-right of the table have few items. In other words, lower forms of participation cluster around less interactive modes of communication, and higher forms of participation, around more interactive forms of communication. Given that there is such a close relationship between the two dimensions

we can collapse both dimension into a single one that has the following categories: 1) information, 2) contacting, 3) discussing politics, 4) vertical mobilization and 5) horizontal mobilization. Taking action has been subdivided into two categories, vertical and horizontal mobilization, because items in this category are distributed almost equally between bidirectional and multidirectional modes of communication. As dependent variables, apart from these categories that I analyze separately, I use two total

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indexes of mobilization. The first one is simply an additive index of all the categories included in the analysis. The second one assigns different weights to the items depending on their location in both the ordered index of participation and the ordered index of communication. In this weighted index of mobilization, higher forms of participation in which the prevailing mode of communication is multidirectional, such as discussing politics and horizontal mobilization, are the ones having the greatest weight. As for the independent variables, I use the following measures. To measure party size I use a standard measure in this literature that relates size to party’s seat share in parliament.7 Parties are classified as “major” when they have more than 20 percent of the seats in the parliament; as “minor”, when they have between 3 and 20 percent of the representation and as “fringe” when they have less than 3 percent of the representation. As indicators of ideological cohesion I use two measures: the distance in the mean positions in the left-right scales of different opinion groups within the party and the distance in the positions in the left-right scale of party members.8 Using this information, parties are classified in three categories: highly, medium and loosely cohesive. When ideological cohesion is very low; that is, when both distances between opinion groups and between party members are large, we speak of non-ideological parties. Finally, as indicators of the size and importance of the extra parliamentary organization, I use a combination of measures. As a measure of the size of the extra parliamentary organization I use the ratio members/voters. As a measure of the importance of the extra parliamentary organization I use party members’ rights.9 When the values in either one of these categories or both are high I classify parties as having large-sized bureaucracies; in all the other cases, parties are classified as having small-sized extra parliamentary organizations.

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ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS Descriptive Analysis of the Dependent Variable In this section, I present the results of a factor analysis for the dependent variable. The goal, before proceeding to the explanatory analysis, is to submit to empirical validation some of the assumptions made in the previous section concerning the measures of the dependent variable. The analysis will be followed by a description of how the units of analysis, the parties, perform in the components of the dependent variable. Table 2 shows the results of a factor analysis for the categories of the dependent variable. The analysis identifies two components or dimensions underlying the five original categories. The first component is made up of the two lowest forms of participation in the ordered index of participation and the least interactive modes in the communication index. This component can be referred to as the dimension of information. The second component is composed of the three highest forms of participation in the participation index and the most interactive modes in the communication index. This component can be referred to as the dimension of participation. Note that consistent with our analysis and with our weighted index of mobilization, the only factor that does not rely in multidirectional communication, vertical mobilization, loads the least in this component. These results lend some support to the assumptions laid out in the previous section. The first idea that is supported by the analysis is that there is an order in the index of participation. Note that lower forms of participation cluster together in the first component and higher forms of participation cluster together in the second. The second idea that the analysis supports is that the dimensions of participation and communication originally proposed to analyzed websites can be collapsed into one dimension since they are correlated. Finally, in line with our theoretical

Parties and ICTs

Table 2. Factor analysis on the categories of the dependent variable Components Categories of the dependent variables

1

2

Information

,938

,227

Contacting

,953

,168

Discussion

,156

,899

Vertical mobilization

,095

,655

Horizontal mobilization

,488

,722

assumptions, the two factors that have the heaviest loads in the second component, in the dimension of participation, are also those that have the greatest weight in our weighted index of mobilization because they mainly rely in many-to-many forms of communication. Let us now see where parties are located in the space defined by the two components emerging from the factor analysis. Since party location in the space is a function of party scores in the five categories included in the analysis, and since these categories are subsumed in the components, the figure gives us a snapshot of party performance in the mobilization index as defined by these broad dimensions. The first thing that stands out is that there are two parties – the Catalan Popular Party, PPC, and the Catalan Christian Democrats, UDC -- that underperform in at least one component or dimension. Neither one of these two parties performs well in either one of the dimensions, but what distinguishes them from other parties is that they perform way below the others in at least one of the two dimensions – the PPC in the dimension of information, and the UDC in the dimension of participation. In this sense, these parties are “outliers”. The reason why these parties underperform in the index of mobilization is that, for different reasons, they have no incentives to use the web for political mobilization. The PPC’s poor website simply reflects the fact that this is not a genuinely autonomous party but the regional branch of the

highly centralized state-wide conservative party, the PP. In contrast, the UDC’s case is a good example of “the small fish eats the big”, or of free riding. Since the UDC is the small partner in an electoral coalition, it has incentives to free ride on the effort of the big partner to mobilize support. Since both the UDC and PPC can be considered “outliers” they will be excluded from the analysis when there are good reasons to think that they may bias the results. The second thing that stands out in the figure is that there is a cluster of three parties that outperforms all the others in the dimension of information. Of these three parties, two, the conservative nationalist party, CDC, and its electoral coalition, CIU, outperform also in one of the categories with greatest weight in the dimension of participation, namely, horizontal mobilization. Third, the Spanish conservative party, PP, outperforms in the dimension of participation. This result deserves some explanation. First, the reason the PP does so well in this dimension is because it scores very high in the category of discussion, the factor that loads the heaviest in the participation component. In other categories of the participation component, the PP does not do as well, and it is outperformed by other parties such as the CDC. Second, even though this may seem a counterintuitive result given the centralized nature and the anti-participatory rhetoric of this party, it conforms -- as we will show later -- to the expectations of the theoretical model. Finally, the rest of the parties, with some notable exceptions that later will be discussed, tend to cluster around the mean in both dimensions: information and participation.

Explanatory Analysis: The Influence of Size, Ideological Cohesion, and Organization Let us now explore the influence of party size, ideological cohesion and organization in parties’ performance in the different categories (informa-

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Parties and ICTs

Figure 1.

tion, contacting, discussion, vertical mobilization and horizontal mobilization) and in the total and weighted index of mobilization. To explore the influence of these factors on party performance in the net, and since the number of parties is so low; I apply the simple method of difference of means. To tell whether these differences are statistically significant, I use the analysis of variance. The table below shows the mean performance of parties in the different categories and in the overall indexes of mobilization according to their size. It is clear from the table that major parties outperform small and fringe parties in all the dependent variables included in the analysis -- the different categories and the two total indexes. However, these differences are only significant at the 0.01 level for three of the seven variables -- discussion and the two total indexes of mobilization – and at the 0.1 level for two variables: information and horizontal mobilization. These results are in line with the expectations of the theoretical model and lend some support to

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the hypothesis that size increases the incentives to exploit the internet for political mobilization. What is more interesting is that, as expected in hypothesis 2, the effect of size increases when the party is the opposition. That is, being a major party and being in the opposition is a powerful incentive to use of the website for political mobilization. The table below shows the results for parties that are both large and in the opposition (only three, the PP, CIU and CDC) vis a vis the rest of the parties. While the differences in most components or dimensions of the index are not as large as when size is analyzed in isolation, the differences in key participatory categories, such as discussion and horizontal mobilization, increase both in terms of the coefficient and the significance level. Whereas the differences in means in most dimensions are not significant, in both these dimensions they are significant at the 0.01 level. Large parties in opposition also do much better in the total indexes of mobilization, especially in the total weighted index. The differences are significant at the 0.05 level.

Parties and ICTs

Table 3. Mean performance of parties depending on size Size

Information Index 0-1

Contacting Index 0-1

Discussion Index 0-1

Vertical mobilization Index 0-1

Horizontal mobilization Index 0-1

Total index of mobilization Index 0-1

Total weighted index of mobilization Index 0-1

Major SD N

,8040* ,09236 5

,7380 ,15336 5

,5960*** ,13831 5

,5940 ,23522 5

,6840* ,16349 5

,7080*** ,04604 5

,6400*** ,07517 5

Minor SD N

,6325 ,17424 4

,5175 ,16276 4

,1875 ,12500 4

,2450 ,17616 4

,3600 ,16432 4

,4400 ,11165 4

,3250 ,10472 4

Fringe SD N

,6233 ,06351 3

,5667 ,14503 3

,3300 ,06928 3

,5667 ,38175 3

,4800 ,18735 3

,5333 ,07506 3

,4633 ,10970 3

Total SD N

,7017 ,14244 12

,6217 ,17471 12

,3933 ,21740 12

,4708 ,28814 12

,5250 ,21309 12

,5750 ,14261 12

,4908 ,16599 12

Significance level: *<0.1; **<0.05; ***< 0.01

Table 4. Mean performance of parties according to both size and being in the opposition Size*gov/opp

Information Index 0-1

Contacting Index 0-1

Discussion Index 0-1

Vertical mobilization Index 0-1

Horizontal mobilization Index 0-1

Total index of mobilization Index 0-1

Total weighted index of mobilization Index 0-1

Major party and in opposition SD N

,7900 ,11533 3

,7567 ,16276 3

,6633*** ,12500 3

,4700 ,17616 3

,7800*** ,16432 3

,7200** ,11165 3

,6833** ,10472 3

Other SD N

,6722 ,14377 9

,5767 ,16225 9

,3033 ,16470 9

,4711 ,31959 9

,4400 ,15875 9

,5267 ,12942 9

,4267 ,13528 9

Total SD N

,7017 ,14244 12

,6217 ,17471 12

,3933 ,21740 12

,4708 ,28814 12

,5250 ,21309 12

,5750 ,14261 12

,4908 ,16599 12

Significance level: *<0.1; **<0.05; ***< 0.01

However, the incentives to use the net for political mobilization do not only depend on the expected benefits, that is, on size and on being in the opposition. They also depend on the cost-side of the equation. As it was discussed in the theoretical section, moving online and exploiting the interactive characteristics of the internet for political mobilization has some risks. These risks or potential costs increase when the levels of ideological cohesion are neither very high nor very low and when the party has a large extra-parliamentary organization (hypothesis 3 and 4). Let

us thus test the influence of ideological cohesion and the type of organization in parties’performance on the net. Note from Table 5 that the parties performing better in most categories and in the overall indexes of mobilization are, first, those with very loose ideological ties (non-ideological parties) and, second, those with strong ideological ties that are highly cohesive. As expected, parties with intermediates level of ideological cohesion perform the worse in the key participatory categories of discussion and horizontal mobilization and in the

367

Parties and ICTs

Table 5. Party performance according to ideological cohesion Cohesiveness

Information Index 0-1

Contacting Index 0-1

Discussion Index 0-1

Vertical mobilization Index 0-1

Horizontal mobilization Index 0-1

Total index of mobilization Index 0-1

Total weighted index of mobilization Index 0-1

High SD N

,6050 ,07778 2

,4950 , 10607 2

,5600 ,26870 2

,4950 ,30406 2

,6300 ,00000 2

,5750 ,12021 2

,5600 ,08485 2

Intermediate SD N

,7850 ,06758 4

,6400 ,14000 4

,3725 ,17443 4

,5650 ,26109 4

,5175 ,04500 4

,6100 ,09866 4

,4925 ,10079 4

Low SD N

,8550 ,03536 2

,8500 ,00000 2

,6200 ,00000 2

,3500 ,09899 2

,8550*** ,063642 2

,7500 ,01414 2

,7150* ,04950 2

Total SD N

,7575 ,11311 8

,6563 ,16826 8

,4813 ,19335 8

,4937 ,22941 8

,6300 ,15213 8

,6363 ,10690 8

,5650 ,12317 8

Significance level: *<0.1; **<0.05; ***< 0.01

weighted index of mobilization. These differences, however, are only significant for the dimension of horizontal mobilization (at the 0.01 level) and for the total weighted index of mobilization (at the 0.1 level). They are not significant for the dimension of discussion. Hence, while we find some support for hypothesis 3, which states that parties at intermediate levels of cohesiveness will have fewer incentives to use and exploit the interactive properties of the net for political mobilization, this evidence is not as strong and as clear as for the effect of size and being in the opposition. Finally, let us see how parties’ perform in the net according to the type of organization. Table 6 shows party performance in all categories and in the total indexes of mobilization according to the type of organization. From the table, two comments can be made. First, parties with smallsized and less important extra parliamentary organizations perform better in all but one category and in both indexes of mobilization. Note that the one category in which small-sized extra parliamentary organizations perform worse than large-sized organizations is vertical mobilization. This is quite logical if we think that parties with the largest bureaucracies have probably histori-

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cally had a strategy of prioritizing the resources of the organization, while parties with the smallest bureaucracies have probably had a strategy historically of underplaying the resources of the organization. Of course, this argument does not apply to all small-sized party bureaucracies: fringe parties, especially if they are new, will have incentives to make the resources of their organizations grow and we would expect them to use the net to generate resources. These results would not appear in this table because two of the three fringe parties in the sample have been excluded from this analysis for lack of information on their type of organization. However, the results from the truth table confirm partially this expectation. As we will see later, of the two parties that are both fringe and new, one of them, C’s, scores the highest in the category of vertical mobilization. Second, while parties with smaller extra parliamentary organizations perform better in most dimensions, these differences are not significant except for two key participatory categories, discussion and horizontal mobilization. That parties with smaller bureaucracies tend to use more the interactive qualities of the internet for political mobilization is confirmed by the fact that they

Parties and ICTs

Table 6. Party performance according to type of organization Organization

Information Index 0-1

Contacting Index 0-1

Discussion Index 0-1

Vertical mobilization Index 0-1

Horizontal mobilization Index 0-1

Total index of mobilization Index 0-1

Total weighted index of mobilization Index 0-1

Large SD N

,7380 ,12029 5

,5960 ,15614 5

,3720 ,15106 5

,5080 ,25956 5

,5400 , 06364 5

,5860 ,10090 5

,4940 ,08735 5

Small SD N

,7900 ,11533 3

,7567 ,16166 3

,6633** ,07506 3

,4700 ,21932 3

,7800** ,13748 3

,7200* ,05292 3

,6833** ,06506 3

Total SD N

,7575 ,11311 8

,6563 ,16826 8

,4813 ,19335 8

,4937 ,22941 8

,6300 ,15213 8

,6363 ,10690 8

,5650 ,12317 8

Significance level: *<0.1; **<0.05; ***< 0.01

also perform better in the total weighted index of mobilization and the differences are significant at the 0.05. Thus, we also find some support for hypothesis 4, stating that small-sized party bureaucracies have an advantage over large-sized to compete online and will tend to exploit more the interactive potentialities of the internet to mobilize support. Another way to look at the influence of size, ideology and organization in party performance in the net is through a truth table. This technique does not allow to arrive at conclusions about causal effects, but it allows, al least, to show how the independent variables – size, ideological cohesion and type of organization -- relate to the dependent variables in the small number of cases under study. The table shows that those parties with a positive value in all the key independent variables (highlighted in bold) score the highest in discussing politics and/or in horizontal mobilization, the two most important factors in the participation dimension, and, consistently, in the total weighted index of mobilization. In other words, large parties in the opposition, that are either non-ideological, as the Conservative Nationalist Catalan Party, or highly cohesive, as the Spanish Popular Party, and that have small-sized bureaucracies have the great-

est incentives to exploit the internet for political mobilization. As these results show, these are the parties that are willing to take more risks by using the tools that are most interactive and have the greatest potential to mobilize supporters online. The table also shows that the parties ranking at the highest levels in the information and contacting dimensions are all large parties moving at the regional level (the Catalan Socialist Party, the Catalan Nationalist Conservative Party and the electoral coalition of the latter party with the Catalan Christian Democrats). Finally, and in line also with my expectations, the table shows that the parties scoring the highest in the category of vertical mobilization or resource generation are either fringe parties such as C’s, or parties with very large bureaucracies such as the Catalan Socialist Party.

CONCLUSION This chapter has asked how parties are using the Internet to mobilize political support. Since mobilization is the process by which political organizations stimulate citizen participation, this chapter has also been concerned with how parties are using the new media to promote citizen par-

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Parties and ICTs

Total weighted index mobilization

Total index mobilization

Horizontal mobilization

Vertical mobilization

Discussion

Contacting

Information

Organization

Cohesiveness

Opposition

Size

Party

Table 7. The truth table

PSOE

Major

No

Intermediate

Large

0,77

0,57

0,62

0,71

0,54

0,66

0,58

PP

Major

Yes

High

Small

0,66

0,57

0,75

0,71

0,63

0,66

0,62

IU

Fringe

Yes

High

Large

0,55

0,42

0,37

0,28

0,63

0,49

0,5

PSC

Major

No

Intermediate

Large

0,88

0,85

0,37

0,85

0,54

0,72

0,57

CiU

Major

Yes

Low

Small

0,83

0,85

0,62

0,42

0,9

0,76

0,75

CDC

Major

Yes

Low

Small

0,88

0,85

0,62

0,28

0,81

0,74

0,68

UDC

Small

Yes

-

-

0,66

0,65

0

0

0,18

0,39

0,22

ERC

Small

No

Intermediate

Large

0,72

0,57

0,25

0,28

0,45

0,5

0,37

ICV

Small

No

Intermediate

Large

0,77

0,57

0,25

0,42

0,54

0,56

0,45

PPC

Small

Yes

High

Small

0,38

0,28

0,25

0,28

0,27

0,31

0,26

C’S

Fringe

Yes

-

-

0,66

0,71

0,25

1

0,54

0,62

0,55

UpD

Fringe

Yes

-

-

0,66

0,57

0,37

0,42

0,27

0,49

0,34

ticipation in the political process. In this sense, the goals of this chapter have not been very different to those of the mainstream literature on the subject. Yet this chapter has approached the subject in a different way: instead of assuming that parties would use the internet to promote participation just because participation is a desirable good, it has assumed that parties might have an interest in citizen participation just because this can help them achieve their primary goals of winning elections. Once accepted that parties might have an interest in citizen participation, the goal has been to specify the conditions under which parties would have incentives to use the internet to promote and stimulate citizen participation. To summarize the argument, parties’ incentives to use the net for political mobilization depend on the expected benefits and potential costs of using the new media for political mobilization. While the expected benefits of using the internet for political mobilization depend on variables exogenous to the characteristics of the new media, such as the levels of internet audience, political institutions

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and the position of parties in the electoral market, all of which determine the expected utility for parties of winning an additional vote, the risks and potential costs of using the internet for political mobilization depend on variables endogenous to the new media, such as the interactivity, transparency and openness characteristic of the new media, all of which help to define the costs of engaging in online mobilization by interfering with party’s communicational and organizational strategies. Based on this analysis, the paper argues that the parties with the greatest incentives to use the net for political mobilization are large, in the opposition, non-ideological or highly cohesive, and with small bureaucracies. The chapter finds some support for this argument in the analysis of the uses of the internet by the Spanish and the Catalan parties. Finally, I would like to highlight two potential contributions of this analysis. The first contribution is that this analysis provides an explanation for a recurrent finding in the literature; namely, for why party size matters for explaining different

Parties and ICTs

party uses of the Internet. While this has been a common finding in the literature no study that I know has offered a convincing explanation for why that is the case. I believe this analysis guides our thinking on this subject in the right direction: large parties are, as an average, more efficient than small parties in using the Internet because they have greater incentives to use the net for political mobilization. The second contribution of this analysis stems from the fact that it is rooted in realistic assumptions about the motivations that drive political agents. Departing from realistic assumptions about human behaviour has not only been helpful for deriving hypothesis about the factors that shape party strategies online, but should also be fruitful for suggesting successful policy recommendations. It is not enough to say that parties will use the internet to promote citizen participation because participation has declined and it is a desirable good. Parties will use the internet to promote participation only if it is in their interest to do it. Hence, if we want participation to be promoted through the net we should start thinking about how to change the conditions -- institutional and organizational -- that help to shape parties’ incentives to use the net for stimulating citizen participation.

REFERENCES Bastien, F. (2009, April). The impact of context features over the development of party websites: A comparative analysis of France and Canada in election campaign. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Lisbon. Bimber, B. (1998). The internet and political mobilization. Social Science Computer Review, 16(4), 391–401. doi:10.1177/089443939801600404

Bonchek, M. S. (1995, April). Grassroots in cyberspace: Recruiting members on the internet. Paper presented at the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago. Chadwick, A., & Anstead, H. (2009). Parties, election campaigning, and the internet: toward a comparative institutional approach. In Chadwick & Howard (Eds), Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics (pp. 56-71). New York: Routledge. Foot, K., Xenos, M., Schneider, S., Kluver, R., & Jankowski, W. (2009). Electoral web production practices in cross-national perspective: The relative influence of national development, political cultura, and web genre. In Chadwick & Howard (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics (pp. 40-55). New York: Routledge. Gibson, R., & Römmele, A. (2003). Regional web campaigning in the 2002 German federal election. Paper presented at the APSA Annual Conference, Philadelphia, US. Gibson, R., & Ward, S. (2000). A proposed methodology for studying the function and effectiveness of party and candidate web sites. Social Science Computer Review, 18(3), 301–319. doi:10.1177/089443930001800306 Klotz, R. (2005, September). Internet Campaigning and Participation. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association, Washington D.C. Krueger, B. (2006). A comparison of conventional and Internet political mobilization. American Politics Research, 34(6), 759–776. doi:10.1177/1532673X06290911 Lusoli, W., Gibson, R., & Ward, S. (2008). Italian elections online: Ten years on. In Newell, J. L. (Ed.), The 2006 Italian elections. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.

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March, L. (2004). Russian parties and the political internet. Europe-Asia Studies, 56(3), 369–400. do i:10.1080/09668130410001682681

Strom, K. (1990). A behavioral theory of competitive political parties. American Journal of Political Science, 34(2), 565–598. doi:10.2307/2111461

Newell, J. (2001). Italian political parties on the web. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 6(4), 60–87. doi:10.1177/108118001129172341

Stromer-Galley, J. (2000). On-Line interaction and why candidates avoid it. The Journal of Communication, (Autumn): 111–132. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02865.x

Norris, P. (2003). Preaching to the Converted? Pluralism, Participation and Party Websites. Party Politics, 9(1), 21–45. doi:10.1177/135406880391003

Sudulich, M. L. (2007, September). Irish political parties online: An analysis of party organizations and ICT. Paper presented at the ECPR General Conferences, Pisa, Italy.

Padro-Solanet, A., & Cardenal, Ana Sofia. (2008). Partidos y Política en Internet: Un análisis de los websites de los partidos político catalanes. Revista de Internet, Derecho, y Política, 6, 46–64. Padro-Solanet, A. (2009, April). Strategic adaptation of party organizations to the new information and communication technologies: A study of Catalan and Spanish parties. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Lisbon. Römmele, A. (2003). Political parties, party communication, and new information and communication technologies. Party Politics, 9(1), 7–20. Scarrow, S. (1994). The ‘paradox of enrolment’: Assessing the costs and benefits of party membership. European Journal of Political Research, 25, 41–60. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1994.tb01200.x Scarrow, S. (1996). Parties and their members. Organizing for victory in Britain and Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schneider, S. M., & Foot, K. A. (2002). Online structure for political action: Exploring presidential campaign web sites from the 2000 American election. The Public, 9(2), 43–60. Small, T. A. (2008). Equal access, unequal success: Major and minor Canadian parties on the net. Party Politics, 14(1), 51–70. doi:10.1177/1354068807083823

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Sudulich, M. L. (2009, April). Do ethos, ideology, country and electoral strength make a difference in cyberspace? Testing an explanatory model for parties’ websites. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Lisbon. Vaccari, C. (2007, September). Informative, but not engaging. Italian parties’ on line communication in the 2006 election. Paper presented at the ECPR General Conference, Pisa. Vaccari, C. (2009, May). ‘Technology is a commodity’ The internet in the 2008 United States presidential election. Paper presented at the Conference ‘Citizen Politics: Are The New Media Reshaping Engagement’, Barcelona. Vissers, S. (2009, April). From preaching to the converted to preaching through the converted. Paper presented at the ECPR Joint Session, Lisbon.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Horizontal Communication: Many-to-many communication that involves interactivity and multiple points for participation in the production of the message. Horizontal Mobilization: Using many-tomany and decentralized forms of communication to stimulate the participation of citizens.

Parties and ICTs

Interactivity: Its defining characteristic is feedback. To the extent that any emitted signal is corresponded with a response, interactivity promotes a genuine communicative act. Political Mobilization: The process by which citizens are stimulated to participate in the political process by political organizations. Political Participation: The act of participating in the political process through a variety of ways. It can take different forms but not all forms of participation are equally costly. There are less costly forms of participation such as voting and more costly forms of participation such as working for a political party. Political Parties: Political organizations whose distinguished characteristic is that they have as their main goal arriving to the government. Top-Down Communication: Vertical and unidirectional communication that does not involve interactivity. Total Index of Mobilization: An index that simply adds the items that a website contains in the different categories without assigning them weights. Total Weighted Index of Mobilization: An index that weights the items that a website contains in the different categories according to their position in the ordered indexes of participation and communication. Vertical Mobilization: Using bidirectional forms of communication to stimulate the participation of citizens

ENDNOTES 1



Most of the literature studying party behaviour online focuses on single countries (Newell, 2001; Gibson & Römmele, 2003; March, 2004; Small, 2008; Vaccari, 2007; Sudulich, 2007, Padro-Solanet & Cardenal, 2008; Bastien, 2009). There are very few studies that are comparative (Norris, 2003;

2



3



4



5



Sudulich, 2009; Foot & Schneider, 2009; Chadwick & Anstead, 2009). To office, policy and votes -- the three traditional party goals highligheted in the mainstream literature – this literature adds a forth one: participation. While policy and office may well be competing goals, they are subject to the electoral imperative; that is, they can only be realized by winning elections. As for participation more than a party goal it is here conceived as a compensation mechanism, that is, as a private good that parties accept to give supporters in exchange for their work and support. See Strom, 1990; Padro-Solanet, 2009. The importance of the feeling of efficiency for participation has been highlighted by both classical works in participation and by formal models of participation. In the rational choice approach, the feeling of efficiency corresponds to the “p” term, which is the subjective probability that one’s participation can change the outcome. This argument deserves a study in itself. I only point it, but needs to be developed somewhere else. While many studies have examined this question, none that I know has framed the question as an apparent paradox. The reason why here not exploiting the potential of the internet can be seen as counterintuitive is because it’s assumed to have an instrumental value; that is, to further parties’ goals. In contrast, in most studies that examine the participatory qualities of party websites, the question of why parties do not fully exploit interactivity cannot possibly be presented in any interesting angle because it is completely disconnected from parties’ goals and motivations. In these studies, fully exploiting the interactive potential of the internet is not thought to have a value for parties but only to have nice qualities and being desirable in it.

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This argument has been nicely elaborated by Padro-Solanet (2009). This measure was first proposed and used by Norris (2003) and it has been subsequently used in other studies such as Sudulich’s (2009). Data to calculate these distances draws on direct and indirect sources. To calculate the distances in the left-right dimension between party members we have used an online survey to party activists of the Catalan parties. The distances in the same scale between opinion groups for the Spanish parties and the two



9

major Catalan parties has been drawn from Padro-Solanet (2009). When information for both measures is available I use them both; when information is only available for one of these measures I use this one piece of information. For some parties no information is available and thus they will be left out of the analysis. Data on the number of party members has been drawn from both newspapers and academic articles studying monographically some of these parties. Data on members’ rights has been drawn from parties’ statutes.

Parties and ICTs

APPENDIX A Items within the Five Categories of the Mobilization Index Information provision (0-18)

Forms asking for proposals: general

org. history

Forms asking for proposals: policy -specific

party structure

Commenting news

values/ideology

Online polls

policies

Blogs with feedback

manifesto

Discussion board

media releases

Chat rooms

speeches

Wiki

people/who’s who

Vertical mobilization (0-7)

executiva

Instructions related to how to behave as cyberactivist

leader focus

Donate

candidate profiles

Join

Agenda

Buy

Campaign diary or blog (no feedback)

Become a volunteer online (cyberactivist)

voting information

Become a volunteer offline (become a friend)

frequently asked questions

Material available for download

Registering Bulletin Board

Horizontal mobilization (0-11)

RSS, OTHER FEEDS..

Distributing campaign materials

Creating Blogs

Sharing information through social networks

Contacting (0-7)

Ask a friend to get involved

central party headquarters adress and telephone

Forward site material

party email

Write to the media

party leaders with email (%)

links to social networks (facebook, MySpace, Twitter...)

public officials with email (%)

facebook activity

party leaders with blog

facebook supporters

public officials with blog

blog aggregators

Discussion forums with leaders and party officials

own social network (ex.Cativistes)

Discussion (0-8)

Creating groups

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APPENDIX B PSOE, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, Spanish Socialist Party PP, Partido Popular, Spanish Popular Party IU, Izquierda Unida, Spanish Ex-Communist Party PSC, Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, Catalan Socialist Party CIU, Convergència i Unió, Catalan Nationalist Coalition CDC, Converència Democràtica, Catalan Nationalist Party UDC, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya, Catalan Christian Democratic Party ERC, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Catalan Left-Republican Party IC-V, Iniciative per Catalunya, Catalan Left-Green Coalition PPC, Partido Popular de Catalunya, Catalan Popular Party CS, Partit dels Ciutadans de Catalunya, Catalan Citizen’s Party UpD, Unión, Progreso y Democracia, Spanish Union, Progress and Democracy

Figure 2.

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Section 3

Strategy and Practice at the Regional Level

INTRODUCTION The role of government in contemporary society is undergoing fast and continuous change, which appears to have accelerated in the last twenty years mainly because of the widespread adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in conjunction with the growing processes of state liberalization and economic globalization. Governments’ actions are increasingly put under pressure bringing to the forefront the need to redefine their role in areas where they were directly involved in service provision, such as public utilities, but also universal public services such as education and health. This trend is now affected by the financial crisis and some failures of privatization, as well as the emergence of alternative approaches (especially some emerging countries, in particular in the BRICs group, and also a mixed approach in the USA), thus making questionable whether this delegation of service provision will continue in the future or will take a different shape. However, this is not simply a matter of privatization, or of a linear trend towards a smaller government. Indeed, even before the recent financial turmoil and nationalisation of parts of the financial system, government role in society was not simply “diminishing”. At the same time, it is increasingly recognized that the emergence of new and complex problems requires government to increasingly collaborate with non-governmental actors in the understanding and in the addressing of societal challenges, as well as enhancing cooperation between multiple levels of government and across countries, especially considering the emerging pressure to a wider “regionalization” and the need to get closer to the citizens, involving them directly in the governance process and contributing to the decision making system in a participatory manner, moving into a new era in which the provision of public services is oriented towards the creation of effective public value and user empowerment.

Within this framework, and also following the various Information Society agendas set up for example within the framework of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) and the European Union Lisbon Strategy, now turned into the Digital Agenda for Europe 2020, in addition to these emerging complex challenges, legitimacy of government action and citizens’ trust in government are both disputed. Existing institutional structures struggle to keep up with citizens’ will to scrutinize government behaviour and to have a greater say in the design and implementation of policies. At the same time, citizens are very much involved in bottom-up, non-profit types of initiatives, addressing concrete needs rather than ideological issues. In short, some signals of change in the way public governance is delivered appear, and it is expected to be a complex, non linear change that goes beyond the traditional categories of big/ small, right/left, open/closed, public/private. Talking about governance, as a concept and practice, it is of course linked to Government and, after all, both share the same root word (xνβερναν) from the Greek language, which means “to steer”. In this sense, governance can be defined as the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, monitored and evaluated. In fact, the multiple dimensions of governance - the structures, roles and relationships governing how society functions - are constantly evolving. These changes are strongly conditioned by historical transformations in society’s underlying values and organisational models and can be analysed from several research perspectives. In this regard, indeed ICTs are important tools to support transforming governance processes and in recent years we have witnessed a flourishing of tools and ICT based initiatives mainly addressing public service delivery and administrative processes that can be placed under the banner of the e-Government phenomenon, which evolved in the last decade towards a broader discussion on e-Governance, where the concept and practice of e-Governance encompasses that of e-Government. Although the concept of e-Governance is not commonly recognized and shared worldwide, in fact, we can consider it as a complementary activity but inherently different from e-Government, and we can define e-Governance as the field of activity where policy design, decision-making, co-ordination, arbitration, networking and regulation (just to mention essential steering functions), with ICTs, but also of ICTs, takes place. This involves the relationships of all governance actors, the state representatives being however one of the main stakeholders, and the evolving dynamics resulting from these interactions, in terms of organisational forms, processes, outcomes and impacts from the perspective of both the government and the citizens. e-Governance can therefore be considered as a broad framework to capture the co-evolution of ICTs’ various stakeholders with the political institutions, at local, national and global level and, in this perspective, it can also be regarded as a multidimensional construct encompassing ICT research and practice, being at the intersections with social, economic, political, and organizational science research, and addressing the investigation of the missions of government in relation to the interests of society. The experiences and case studies presented in Section 3 of this book look at the application of ICTs at the level of regions, with a specific focus on emerging economies. In the last decade in fact, National and local governments, as well as multi-lateral and regional organisations, have invested heavily in introducing ICT-enabled public services in all regions of the world. Nevertheless, until now the results of these investments have not met always the expectations, particularly in the public sector, where the take-up of ICTs has been relatively low and the anticipated transformation of the administrations not as rapid and radical as was anticipated. In economic terms the picture is only marginally better. Although we can see a clear growth (ICTs are substantially contributing to productivity gains in most industrialized and emerging economies, there is a relatively high expen-

diture on ICTs and a renewal of a strong and dynamic ICT-sector), this growth is still considerably less than what was promised. Key factors limiting the take-up and spread of ICT-enabled innovations in the public sector are barriers such as organisational fragmentation, institutionalised distrust and misalignment of financial incentives. Equally important factors are deep-rootedcultural, political and social organisations and processes, which make it difficult to introduce new transformative measures such as ICT applications too rapidly. This problem is accentuated when trying to implement ICT-enabled service solutions and innovations across countries, where the cultural, regulatory and political landscape and traditions are even more complex and fragmented. These factors are now coming to the surface, and taken into account when developing and in particular analysing impacts and trends in public sector service development. The chapters of this section postulate instead that there is a need to consider a more radical paradigmatic shift, as we are clearly facing unprecedented opportunities to leverage ICTs to ensure more inclusive, efficient and effective governance models building on regional cooperation and strengthening common approaches and methodologies so as to avoid risks that could affect our society and lead us to less desirable futures. Gianluca Misuraca Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Spain & Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

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Chapter 21

E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America:

The Case of the Electronic Invoice Pablo Valenti Digital Strategy Specialist, Uruguay

ABSTRACT A government’s service provision to enterprises via electronic means has a significant impact on the productivity levels of such country’s economy. One of the tax procedures with the greatest impact on economic activity and government capacity to enforce compliance with tax obligations is the use of invoices. The electronic invoice is the digital equivalent of the traditional paper invoice. In recent years, several Latin American countries have begun to adopt the electronic invoice. The modernization of this tax procedure has had a great impact in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of tax administration and in turn has fostered business development.

1. INTRODUCTION An invoice is the justification of the delivery of a product or the provision of a service, affecting both the issuing taxpayer (the vendor) and the recipient taxpayer (the purchaser). Traditionally, it is a paper document, of which the original is kept by the recipient of the invoice. Usually the issuer of the invoice also keeps a copy thereof.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch021

The electronic invoice (e-invoice) is the digital equivalent of the traditional paper invoice. Instead of the physical support used by the paper invoice, the e-invoice uses informatics supports for its filing. Depending on the size of the companies involved and the volume of their turnover, the electronic invoice can imply significant savings in matters of issuance and printing. In addition, the use of the electronic invoice fosters the digitalization of other documents, generating efficiency and cost savings in other areas of the company. Tax compliance is also improved as

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E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America

the e-invoice allows for greater oversight and simplifies compliance. In countries where the legal framework so allows, the electronic invoice has the same validity as the traditional paper invoice, is considered a legally binding document, does not require additional evidence or further confirmation to prove the existence of the transaction and, due to the digital signature that it includes, guarantees integrity. Furthermore, it permits a greater opportunity for transaction tracking. In recent years, several Latin American countries have begun to promote the use of the electronic invoice. The modernization of this tax procedure has a great impact in the efficiency and effectiveness of the tax administration and in its turn allows boosting the development of business. Recent studies have identified economic gains with direct impact on the business competitiveness arising from the adoption of the electronic invoice. (IDB, 2007)

2. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE ELECTRONIC INVOICE A government’s ability to provide services to private companies electronically has a significant impact on the productivity levels of such country’s economy. It has been shown that, by improving government efficiency and effectiveness, electronic services reduce companies incorporation costs, operation costs, and local and international investment costs. (IADBC, 2005; United Nations, 2008) As such, the strategic use of information and communications technology (ICT) facilitates government promotion of competitiveness and the economic development in many different sectors, communities and regions (Sotelo Nava, 2005). In particular, ICT facilitates administrative procedures and fosters information exchange between the State and the private sector (CCS, 2009). At the same time, the introduction of the ICTs increases

the transparency of dealings between the State and private companies and reducing opportunities for corruption. (Ojha Amitabh et al., not dated) According to the Report on European Competitiveness 2004 (European Union, 2004), there are three areas in which the governments primarily influence the competitiveness levels of private economic agents: (a) tax policy; (b) fiscal policy; and (c) legal framework. Public services via the web increase the tax policy transparency and facilitate access to information on matters such as tax regulations and forms required for tax payment. Moreover, they significantly reduce processing and transaction costs associated with compliance with the tax obligations. Thereby they improve transparency of public sector expenditure affecting private sector competitiveness. For example, in the area of public procurement, internet service provision may significantly reduce the costs for companies, particularly such costs related to entering the market (for example, authorization to operate and permits) and the establishment and/or expansion of productive investments. To these areas of intervention, one must add the role that the Government plays in reducing market failures arising from information asymmetry, (especially as related to national companies’ accessing and operating in international markets) in mitigating coordination distortions that affect, in particular, new productive activities. In general, making public services accessible via the web can affect establishment, operation and functioning of the companies (see Table 1). Procedures for payment of and compliance with tax obligations have a direct impact on economic activity. Complex procedures with excessive taxpayer requirements result in high compliance costs not only for individuals, but also for legal entities. The introduction of ICT to manage tax procedures may imply a significant reduction in time and costs for the taxpayer and, at the same time, allow greater transparency in compliance with tax obligations by reducing opportunities for

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Table 1. Impact of offering web-based public services on private sector competitiveness i. Processing and rendering of public services: Significant cost and time reduction in back-office services. Prominent examples include example, one-stop windows for business registration; integration of tax databases, social security and customs; and environmental permitting one-stop windows, among others. ii. Public procurement: Increased transparency and reduction in the establishment costs in government procurement through electronic procurement systems, for example. iii. Network: Reduction of coordination costs that affect some investments and productive projects, especially in non-traditional sectors; by facilitating the formation of export consortia, providing training programs for small and medium-sized companies, and the creation of one-stop windows for commercial promotion. Additionally, the use of social networks may also stimulate inter-company information exchange and collaboration. iv. Business climate: Improved business climate to achieve productive investments due to greater state transparency in rendering expenses and in participatory budget implementation, for example. v. Market development: Significant decrease in business establishment costs through, for example, simplified administrative procedures for incorporation and the implementation of the electronic invoice vi. Labor market: Significant improvement in the transparency and functioning of the labor market through, for example, the creation of unified taxpayers rolls with social protection.

Table 2. Benefits of the introduction of the electronic invoice in Brazil Benefits for the Vendor Taxpayer (Issuer of the NF-e) • Cost reduction in connection with printing, paper acquisition, and remittance for filing of tax documents. • Simplification of accessory obligations such as obtaining Print Authorization for Tax Documents. • Reduction in stop-time for trucks in Border Control Points. • Incentives to create an electronic relationship with clients (B2B). Benefits for the Purchaser Taxpayer (Receptor de NF-e) • Elimination of NF typing upon receipt of merchandise. • Improved logistics planning for merchandise delivery through the prior receipt of NF-e. • Reduction of typing mistakes at the NF. • Incentive to develop an electronic relationship with providers (B2B). Benefits for Society • Reduction in paper consumption generates a positive impact on the environment. • Incentivizes e-commerce and use of ICTs. • Standardization of electronic relationship between companies (e-commerce platform). • New business opportunities in the rendering of services connected to NF-e. Benefits Tax Administrations • Increase trust in the Electronic Invoice. • Improvement in the process of fiscal oversight, allowing for a better exchange of information between tax authorities at the federal, state and municipal levels. • Cost reduction on the control process of the seized NFs in the control of goods in transit. • Decrease in tax evasion and increase in tax collection. • Support to the electronic accounting and fiscal projects (Sistema Público de Escrituración Digital – SPED).

corruption and improve the efficiency of State tax collection. (West. D. H., 2008) Reforming tax procedures should always aim to produce improvements on two fronts: (i) the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations carried out by the administration; and (ii) the simplification of compliance and the reduction of

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compliance costs to increase taxpayer compliance with tax procedures. The electronic invoice is a high-impact reform of tax procedure that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of tax administration and fosters business development1. As its use boosts virtual commercial activities, increases business cycle efficiency, and generates tax support to establish

E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America

Table 3. Benefits identified by the companies in Chile on the use of the electronic invoice The companies have experienced a reduction in net operating costs at different levels: • Lower average cost in the generation and remittance of an invoice to a recipient. Manual invoicing implies: pre-printing in receipt books with original and copies in special paper, tax authority (Servicio de Impuestos Internos – SII) authorization (stamping), issuance of three copies, dispatch by mail, registration in accounting books, physical storage for up to six years, payment tracking. All those steps are substituted by a document that is created, authorized, dispatched and registered electronically. ◦ A beverage distributor company reduced its paper costs by two thirds. ◦ Several companies reduced their storage costs, especially issuers of monthly invoices, which require high-cost physical infrastructure. ◦ Cell phone companies decreased the issuance of invoices as clients accepted remittance via e-mail or posting on the company’s Web site. • Reduced (i) loss of VAT tax credit due to lost invoices and (ii) penalties for loss of non- issued stamped documents The companies have experienced greater efficiency in the business cycles in different levels: • Better merchandise receipt and dispatch logistics. The electronic transfer of invoices and dispatch guides allowed for the elimination of re-typing in the receipt of documents and merchandise, improving the quality of information and allowing for improved stock updating. • Automated billing cycle. The electronic invoice allowed global improvement in the billing process. ◦ A soft drink distributor improved invoice printing, reducing processing time by two-hours per day. ◦ A company in Chile managing the “.cl” domains increased its daily billing capacity by 300%. • Improved security in the storage of information— paper suffers physical wear at storage. • Less document search time. ◦ With paper-based invoices, companies with high-billing volume could take several days to locate and recuperate a document in storage. Electronically, this process took only seconds. • Improved handling of the buying process. • Decreased administrative load in the business cycle and better information handling. ◦ The companies have witnessed a great simplification in document management, tax return preparation, and accounts management and analysis. The companies are better able to management providers and clients: • Facilitates the electronic interaction with clients. ◦ Cell phone clients gave clients the option to receive and pay electronic invoices, as well as to receive SMS notification that invoices were available on the company’s Web site. • Allows clients to check the electronic invoices issued by it. ◦ At SII’s Web site, www.sii.cl, clients can consult the validity of the document and its basic data, increasing the security of ecommerce. ◦ Several companies have enabled e-invoice validation systems on their own Web sites. • Invoicing at the sales points. In Chile a mobile billing system with electronic-invoice was approved. ◦ The companies that distribute their products issue their invoices in their clients’ facilities, avoiding carrying stamped blank or filled invoices, which sometimes have to be voided and rewritten due to order changes at the selling points. ◦ A food manufacturer and distributor experienced a 20% reduction in the time needed to cover its points of sale due to the mobile billing system.

a platform for business, the electronic invoice has the potential to become one of the highest impact public procedure reforms in terms of boosting a country’s or region’s economic activity, because “windup business”, such as the invoicing process. The introduction of the electronic invoice in Brazil has the potential to deliver several benefits for the country. Table 2 identifies some of the benefits that the Electronic Invoice (Nota Fiscal Eletrónica – NF-e) project aims to achieve. In Chile, where there was an early introduction of the electronic invoice, benefits can already be noticed. Empirical evidence shows that the ben-

efits go beyond mere simplification of the procedures with the tax authority. Table 3 provides examples of the economic impact caused by the introduction of the electronic invoice in Chile (source Santiago Chamber of Commerce - SCC). With regard to reduction of costs, the electronic invoice permitted savings equivalent to ½ point of Chile’s GDP. This conclusion arises from a study of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (SCC). The study provides background on the use of the digital invoice in different developed countries and the results obtained. It also cites studies done in the US that indicate that 8% of the com-

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panies showed productivity improvements following the adoption of the electronic invoice and more than 50% reduction in billing costs. The unit cost for the issuance, processing and storage of the electronic tax documents is one third the cost of the paper versions. A study by the SCC’s Center for Digital Economics analyzed the cost structure of the manual and electronic billing process, taking into account the various components—printing, stamping, processing, physical remittance, physical storage, internet connection, loss of papers and e-storage—and evaluating the cost of billing to different sized companies in terms of the billing volume. The study concluded that the average cost for tax document issuance, processing and storage is one dollar. On the other hand, an electronic tax document has a third of the cost. The electronic invoice also impacts tax administration processes. Following e-invoice introduction, the authorization procedure for documents often becomes automated and is included in commercial transactions. In the Chilean case for example, where the organizational impact has been greater than in other countries due to existing infrastructure for tax document management, the e-invoice transformed internal practices for document authorization and stamping. The electronic invoice strengthens tax oversight regulation. The e-invoice prevents unfair competition, by permitting the identification of economic agents that use fake invoices for example. Also, as companies’ transaction documentation is stored electronically in the informatics systems of the tax authorities provides taxpayers greater security with regard to their tax documentation and facilitates government oversight of tax payment. In addition to the above, the electronic invoice fosters: •

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Promotion of business formalization and a resulting reduction in the use of fake tax documents. Electronic regulation of invoices and by extension of busi-

•

•

ness transactions more generally, in the tax authorities’ websites as well as in the taxpayer’s registries, promotes business formalization, documentation. Taxpayers are incentivized to cooperate with authorities to identify those agents that intend to evade taxes as well as those applying unfair competition. Strengthening of regulation of tax documents. E-invoice models adopted thus far in Latin America allow tax administrations to keep copies of electronic documents underlying commercial transactions. Therefore, tax returns and the transaction documents on which they are based, particularly as related to value-added taxes (VAT2), can be more thoroughly verified. More consistent tax regulation. This is particularly relevant in the link existing between income tax and sales tax, where the last constitutes the basis of the first. As a consequence, the electronic invoice ensuring trustworthiness and effectiveness in transactions should lead to a more coherent regulation of the VAT.

3. EXPERIENCES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ELECTRONIC INVOICE IN LATIN AMERICA The electronic invoice grows out of two developments that have oriented the work of the countries now attempting its implementation: i) the development of a regulatory and control platform that promotes a culture of use of tax documents (or tax receipts), with regard to indirect tax administration (especially the VAT or similar taxes, which represent one of the main taxes in the region); and ii) the development of a technological platform following the advent of the Internet that allows the tax administrations of the region to develop and offer e-Government services covering a range

E-Government and Competitiveness in Latin America

of procedures with the tax authorities to facilitate tax compliance. The electronic invoice projects are not born as isolated experiences. Rather, they are the logical offshoot of the legal, technological and cultural platforms that were built and which have recently reached a maturity. Increasing use of the internet to carry out economic activities and as the primary method of interaction with the taxpayers over the past several years has created an enabling environment for e-invoice use. Earlier attempts by tax administrations in the region to implant the electronic invoice failed in part due to the lack of synergy between the existing culture and the legal and technological platforms available at the time. However, the current, internet platform-based einvoice models arise out of a new, technological and cultural context. As such, the current models are more likely to achieve successful implementation and, potentially, to generate large-scale economic impacts in the implementing country.

Strategies and Motivations for the Implementation of the Electronic Invoice in Latin America3 Context factors supported and catalyzed the introduction of the electronic invoice in Brazil and Chile. Chile was the first country to adopt the electronic invoice in 2003 (Resolution 45 of the Servicios de Impuestos Internos - SII, September 2003). Argentina followed, passing legislation for e-invoice use in October 2005 (General Resolution 1956 of the tax authority (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos - AFIP, later perfected and substituted by AFIP’s General Resolution of December 2006), as did Brazil (Ajuste SINIEF 07/05 issued by the CONFAZ, December 2005). Motivation and context for the introduction of the electronic invoice in Chile. The introduction of the electronic invoice in Chile was seen as necessary to speed up tax authorization and use processing as well as commercial transactions. The maintainer correcting use paper invoices in

Chile dates back to 1954, when a law was passed requiring the tax authority (Servicio de Impuestos Internos – SII) to stamp invoices prior to their use. In 1995, the country tried to establish a model for the exchange of electronic documents based on an Electronic Data Interchange platform (EDI). Issued in March 1995, resolution N°1515 authorized taxpayers to electronically exchange tax documents using this technology. This model required issuance of a paper invoice to be backed-up by a transaction summary filing in the EDI. Despite its novelty, the EDI electronic invoice model did not take off, and Chilean taxpayers largely continued using paper invoices alone. The advent of internet (an open platform) and the fact that SII promoted its use for tax procedures discouraged use of EDI. The current e–invoice model, developed in 2001-2002, grew out of a joint Government/private sector4 study of microeconomic initiatives to speed growth. This in turn led to the launching of the pro-growth agenda,5 a public-private initiative aimed at fostering national economic development through regulatory reform, streamlining of public procedures, a series of efficiency boosting measures for public administration and active privatesector participation in business development. The electronic invoice was identified as a key initiative to simplify tax procedures and generate savings for the companies by reducing management costs associated with the use of paper invoices (such as obtaining SII authorization). In 2004, the electronic invoice gained additional momentum with the launch of the Digital Agenda Initiative (DAI). Promoted by the Chilean Association of Technology of Information Companies (ACTI), the DAI aimed to increase competitiveness, equality of opportunity, individual freedom, quality of life, public sector efficiency and transparency, and the strengthening of national cultural identity through the use of ICT. The digital agenda focused on six (6) areas: increased access, education and training, e-Government, private sector digital development, rapid expansion of the ICT industry and legal framework. The electronic

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invoice was considered one of the key initiatives under the private sector digital development and e-Government areas. As the entity responsible for the implementation of the electronic invoice, the SII called on taxpayers from different sectors to participate in the development of the electronic invoice. Initially 12 companies were selected, among them supermarkets, construction material distributors, cellular phone companies, agro industry companies, manufacturers and distributors of beverage and bread, a print house and a state-owned company. Information technology companies oriented to the development of billing solutions and of applications for tax compliance were also invited.6 Following the identification and commitment of key actors, the SII created a task force a formal structure for project development, implementation, and administration in the following manner: •

•

•

•

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A strategic committee was created, chaired by SII’s Director and made up of Sub-Directors from SII’s Oversight and Technology department and high-level managers of invoice-using and technology companies. Two units inside the SII were created: one from oversight and another from technology, to lead the technical developments inside the taskforce. An electronic invoice technical committee was created, led by SII’s heads of oversight and technology and made up of technical representatives of the invoice-using and technology companies. A schedule for the development and implementation of the electronic invoice was defined, including the following phases: ◦◦ definition of the model to be adopted, ◦◦ development of technological model for the SII and the private sector, ◦◦ model piloting (including adjustments of the proposed model), during which time the model would

◦◦

operate alongside the paper-based transactions, launch of the system, to be operated exclusively with the electronic invoice.

In April 2003 the electronic invoice was launched, following the conclusion in March 2003 of the joint work of the user companies and the technology companies to develop the technological and operational model. The launching was initially limited, for a 6-month period, to those companies; during which time the government passed individual resolutions authorizing them to issue electronic invoices for their transactions. In September 2003, the new electronic billing regime was made available to all taxpayers through the passage of Resolution Nº 45. This soft launching allowed for adjustments to be made to the model while still meeting the original implementation deadline. Today, approximately 20.000 electronic billing companies are registered (see: http://www. sii.cl/portales/mipyme/index.htm). The degree of development of the Chilean experience and the need for spread of the electronic invoice caused for the development of a specific strategy for the micro and small companies, in association with the chambers representing them, the Inter-American Development Bank and through the development of specific instruments to manage the relation with those companies, such as the Portal - “Portal MIPYME del Servicio de Impuestos Internos de Chile” (see: http://www. sii.cl/portales/mipyme/index.htm). It is interesting to stress that the work with small and medium companies is in many cases a consequence that arises from certain successes and conditions that are achieved in the pilot experiences carried on with larger companies, which in many cases are those that encourage the adoption of electronic billing systems by their supplier companies. Argentina: first the legal framework, then the electronic invoice. Using a substantially different strategy to introduce the electronic invoice

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than Chile, Argentina – like Brazil – first passed regulation to launch an e-invoice pilot project. Thus, the legal framework provided structure to the development of the electronic invoice and a basis from which companies were able to provide implementation guidance and feedback. The first regulation was published in October 2005. The first electronic invoices were issued at the end 2006. In Argentina, regulation on the use of tax documents is principally found in administrative resolutions issued by the country’s tax authority, the AFIP, beginning in 1997.7 Among the main regulations affecting the use of tax documents are: resolution 1415 on issuance of receipts; resolution 259 (substituting 4104) on tax inspectors, and resolution 100 on printing or import of receipts. Passed in 2002, resolution 1361 was a key element in the introduction of the electronic invoice in Argentina as it laid out the technology to be used for registration; which would later be applied to electronic invoices. A forward-looking piece of legislation, the resolution defined the technological parameters of the e-invoice model later adopted. As in many other countries, the participation of the private sector was key to the development of the electronic invoice in Argentina. However, much more emphasis was placed on involving companies, the eventual users, in e-invoice development than in drawing in technology services companies. This is due to the fact that the technological requirements of the Argentine model were less strict than in Chile or Brazil. Brazil and its vocation for the use of technology in administrative procedures. Widely known the dissemination of the use of technology means for the presentation of income tax returns, which in a first phase was addressed through the presentation on magnetic means and later through the internet, reaching more than 99% of presentations on this modality. This technological calling is seen at the federal tax administration (Secretaria da Receita Federal) and also at state tax administrations level. Therefore, a whole e-Government platform

has been under development for tax compliance, aiming to take as many procedures as possible to the internet modality. Brazil has three levels of government—Federal, State and Municipal—with authority to levy taxes. Consequently, each level of government tended to develop tax-related e-Government services independently, establishing redundant and overlapping requirements of taxpayers. Given an increasingly more loaded tax system and acomplex three-tiered tax system, Brazil passed a Constitutional amendment in December 2003 to foster better coordination across the different levels of government with regard to tax issues. A paragraph was added to article 37 (Constitutional Amendment N° 42, 2003) stating: “XXII… the federal, federal district, state and municipal tax administrations,... shall act in an integrated manner, and shall also share taxpayers’ registry and tax information, as established by agreements by and between them …” Federal and state tax administrations responded quickly to the Constitutional amendment; organizing national forums for tax administrators (ENAT) to coordinate actions across Income Offices, and to develop an integral, inter-governmental vision of the taxpayer. The first forum took place in Salvador de Bahia on July 2004. The main motivation to modernize tax procedures is business climate improvement and reduction of the called “Brazil cost”. Three emblematic, modernization projects were launched: a synchronized taxpayer database, the Electronic Invoice (Nota Fiscal Eletronica - NF-e) and electronic tax and accounting registration. Under the auspices of the Public System for Digital Registration (SPED), the projects supported Brazil’s ambitious technological goal to modernize the relationship between the tax administration and the business community. It was expected to increase the speed incorporation, which heretofore had taken approximately 140 days due to

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excessive bureaucracy and lack of coordination between the different levels of government and the institutions involved in the process and gave Brazil a low world ranking. The aim was to create a synchronized (not unified) database that would allow information generated during a company’s initial registration to be shared across agencies regardless of where such registration was made. The project was piloted first in Bahia and São Paulo states and with the Federal Tax Authority (Receita Federal). The NF-e was also seen as a key instrument to support tax reform and in turn indirect taxation. In Brazil, the VAT is applied by three levels of government, with each using a different calculation basis. This creates compliance difficulty for taxpayers. It is not uncommon for taxpayers to be charged the Tax over Manufactured Products (IPI) and the Tax over Circulation of Products and Services (ICMS) when purchasing certain products; which produced a cascade tax effect on certain activities and products, increased these products’ final cost and, therefore, decreased the seller companies’ competitiveness. For several years Brazil analyzed the how to correct such distortions and create a national VAT. A key problem to be resolved was how to determine taxed resource distribution if tax collection was centralized federally. The information generated by the NF-e may allow easier, more precise identification of the origin and destination of taxes collected and thereby makes it possible to create an appropriate distribution mechanism. Similar to the Chilean case, Brazil called for the active participation of the private sector in the development of the NF-e; though at first only larger companies. In the Brazilian case, private sector participation was particularly critical because of the ICMS’s functioning logic that an e-invoice be issued to circulate merchandise. In a first phase, nineteen companies took part in the development process and during the second phase approximately fifty. The National Portal of the Electronic Invoice gives detailed infor-

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mation thereon, and registers more than 1.000 million invoices issued for an aggregate amount of R$33.000.000.000.000 in the middle of 2010 (www.nfe.fazenda.gov.br/portal/). Colombia has been fostering the use of electronic invoice for more than a decade. In June 1996 the Colombian Government issued Presidential Decree 1094, which defines the electronic invoice as “… the digital document that supports a sale of goods or a rendering of services, transferred under a universal standard language denominated Edifact from one computer to another.” The electronic invoice implemented through this Decree constitutes in a certain way the validation of a practice that was already taking place in the private sector: the electronic exchange of computer files representing (in data) the invoices.8 This practice facilitated commercial transactions as well as purchasers’ registration and digital storage of invoices without manually recording paper invoices received - which should continue to be issued and stored physically modality as they are valid tax documents. The operational model of electronic invoice defined by the Decree 1094 also took into account existing practice. Actually, the Decree established a model with the following characteristics: • •

•

reliance on service provider companies that manage private networks. authorization of service providers by the Communications Ministry to intermediate the transmission of invoices foreseen in the Decree. service providers are required to register at the Sub Secretariat of Oversight of the National Secretariat of Tax and Customs (DIAN) and to meet the following additional, mandatory requirements: ◦◦ domicile in Colombia and the physical location of the network’s main server in the country;

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◦◦

◦◦

◦◦

◦◦

shall inform DIAN of, and keep upto-date, the registry information and address of its affiliates; shall prove that the transmission of the invoice and other accounting documents affecting a sale or provision of services are done through the network its manages, using universal standard language denominated Edifact; shall make available to DIAN’s an electronic mailbox in which it registers all transactions - sales or provision of services - and any amendments thereof; and shall keep the following information for presentation upon request of the tax administration: a) name or trade name and NIT of the invoice issuer indicating the date of transmission and identification of the recipients; b) name or trade name and NIT of the invoice recipient indicating the date of transmission and identification of the issuer; and c) registration of unsuccessful data transmission or incomplete exchanges.

Two laws issued in recent years affect the electronic invoice model established under Decree 1094 and led to its amendment. In August 1999, Law N° 527 is Publisher, regulating about on the access and use of data messages, e-commerce and digital signature, as well as establishing certification entities. In July 2005, Law N° 962 expanded the uses of the electronic invoice in an effort to ensure technological neutrality. Article 26 established that, “For all legal effects, the electronic invoice may be issued, accepted, stored and in general transferred using any type of available technology, as long as all legal requirements are complied with and the respective technology guarantees its authenticity and integrity at issuance and during the whole time of its keeping.”

On May 2007 the government established a new electronic invoice model. With Presidential Decree N° 1929, dated May 29, de 2007, it redefined the electronic invoice model to incorporate, among other considerations, aspects arising from Laws 527 and 962, such as the use of the digital signature and a technological platform in the transmission of electronic invoices. DIAN is in charge of the specific regulation on the new operational model and was granted a 6-month term therefore. Among other responsibilities, DIAN is to draft regulations on the characteristics and technical content of the electronic invoice, information related to the tax content at the moment of issuance and electronic form for conservation of the document. Notwithstanding this delegation, the Decree establishes the legal framework in certain critical aspects: •

•

• •

•

A broad definition of electronic invoice is established: “It is the document that supports sale of goods and/or service transactions, which for tax purposes shall be issued, delivered, accepted and kept in electronic means, through an informatics based billing process, directly or through third parties, which guarantees its authenticity and integrity from its issuance and during the whole time of its keeping, as established in this Decree, including the documents that affect it, such as the credit notes. The export invoice is excluded from the possibility of electronic issuance.” The electronic invoice shall be numbered in a consecutive manner by a system previously authorized by DIAN for the numbering of electronic invoices. The electronic invoice shall follow the basic principles of authenticity and integrity. The content of the electronic invoice shall comply with the general rules of the Tax Code. Invoices shall be kept in the same format and for the same storage term as paper invoices.

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•

•

The electronic invoice may only be used when the purchaser has accepted it expressly, through the subscription of an agreement between issuer and recipient. The tax validity of the e-invoice is ratified for tax purposes.

Peru and the development of electronic tax procedures. For the past several years, the tax filing and payments may be conducted via the Telematic Tax Return Program (PDT); an informatic application that the tax administration (Superintendencia Nacional de Administración Tributaria - SUNAT) offers. In 2007 99.8% of the taxpayers used PDT to prepare their annual tax returns. In a similar vein, online tax filing via the SUNAT’s Web page – rather than through in person filing at a bank- has progressively increased; moving from 3.5% in 2003 to 83.6% in 2007. SUNAT’s made its virtual office the priority channel for taxpayer interactions. Similar to the experiences in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, the Peruvian tax administration has also pushing the Internet-based tax procedures as the priority channel for interaction with taxpayers. The agency’s acronym merges the internet-based tax process with a cultural “icon” in Peru in creating its platform SOL (SUNAT On Line), for SUNAT’s virtual presence. SUNAT has also involved the private sector in the development of the e-invoice’s technological and management model, similar to the tax administrations in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, the implementation of the new electronic tax procedure. The agency worked closely with technology companies rendering electronic services to economic actors, especially in accounting and e-commerce area, in order to draw on their experience and involve them in the validation of the adopted option.9 As of 2005 the SUNAT has been exploring introduction of the electronic tax invoice in the country and has studied other countries’ experiences implementing electronic invoices to gather

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comparative experiences and evaluate different technological options. Such study, together with national experience as to legal and technological platforms on the use of tax documents, allowed the definition of a technological and management model for the electronic invoice that is currently in the final stages of definition. In summary the electronic invoice model would operate as follows: •

•

•

•

•

SUNAT issues regulation on the characteristics of the digital storage, recognizing it as an electronic payment receipt with tax validity—defined as a digital archive in XML standard that is signed by the issuing taxpayer with its digital signature granted by authorized certification entities. The authorized issuer of electronic payment receipts shall send all electronic invoices to be issued to the SUNAT for authorization, prior to sending it to the buyer.10 The remittance of the invoice to SUNAT shall be made exclusively by an electronic services provider (PSE). Therefore, the PSE shall have a dedicated line for connection with SUNAT and a technological solution for issuance of electronic invoices, pre-authorized by SUNAT.11 Once SUNAT receives the electronic invoice, it carries on two types of oversight: technical and business. The technical oversight aims to ensure that the digital file complies with the technological requisites imposed by regulation. The business oversight validates PSE and participant tax compliance in the transaction.12 SUNAT approves electronic invoices that pass the oversight inspection described above, informs PSE online that SUNAT sent the invoices and stores it in the database of approved invoices for later consultation, for example, by the purchaser.

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•

Once PSE receives SUNAT’s authorization on the electronic invoice submitted for review, the PSE can send it to the recipient or purchaser.

4. LESSONS LEARNED: BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ELECTRONIC INVOICE Drawing on the experiences of countries where the electronic invoice has been adopted, and those that are preparing to adopt it, we can begin to identify the common issues that a country should consider in adopting the electronic invoice, as well as methods to evaluate impact of changing to an electronic billing system model. Analysis of the implementation of the electronic invoice indicates four main pillars undergirding its success. Different from “bilateral and discreet” tax procedures, which take place between taxpayer/tax administration at specific times over the fiscal year such as submitting a tax return or paying taxes, the electronic invoice overlaps with purchase and sale transactions. Furthermore, the models adopted imply transforming a procedure pre-use approval of tax documents, as with paper, to approval during the commercial transaction. This paradigm shift required implementing countries to develop regulatory, institutional, technological and interaction with the private sector. A solid legal basis, with regard to the use of tax documents, is crucial to enable the change to the electronic invoice. The modernization of procedures at a tax level, especially if they include a substitution of the technology that supports them, implies “braking” taxpayers’ and tax authorities’ aversion to change Taxpayers’ resistance to change is due in part to a desire to have certainty about the legality of their actions. Assuaging taxpayer fears with regard to the legality of their actions vis a vis the State is one of the main challenges that must be addressed when changing tax procedures; particularly given the fact that. This fear is

amplified in Latin America as given the models being adopted implicate taxpayer-to-taxpayer commercial transactions, which adds an additional arena in which taxpayers are seeking legal certainty in acting. The use of the digital signature has been a key step to establishing legal certainty in use of the e-invoice in Brazil and Chile and, prospectively, in Colombia and Peru. Specific legislation must be passed to establish the legality of the digital signature and an administrator institution. Digital signature legislation gives legal validity to the electronic exchange of documents and allows the modernization of agents’ relationships through electronic document support. This is the basis for a digital economy and e-commerce. The tax administrations in Chile and Brazil incorporated (Colombia and Peru would later do the same) the digital signature as a fundamental component of their electronic invoice models, to guarantee the authenticity and integrity in a legal framework that goes beyond of the purely fiscal. A solid, general legal framework on the use of tax documents as well as specific regulation designed in harmony with the general legal framework—is fundamental to allow a change towards the electronic modality13. To allow the smooth transition from paper to electronic invoices, taxpayers must be certain that applicable regulations are legally solid and coherent as a whole, particularly as the two types of invoice will co-exist for a period. Actually, the majority of the taxpayers will keep receiving and eventually issuing both types of invoices and the security on the legal validity of both must be guaranteed. The possibility of a precise verification of the invoices through the consultation services rendered by the tax administrations eases this transition and strengthens the legitimacy of the electronic invoices. A solid institutional basis is required to effectively promote the electronic invoice at each stage of implementation. The electronic invoice has a potentially high impact project; the eventual impact being related in large part to the number of

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taxpayers affected and the type of model adopted. The informal, ad-hoc capacity generated during the development phase and launching of the e-invoice must become a more formal institutional capacity during the application and dissemination phases. Given the need for joint development with the private sector, it is necessary to involve upper management of affected companies at a project management level as well as at a technological level in the e-invoice development process. For this reason, during the design and development phase, working groups were formed with specialists from the business areas (especially oversight) and technological areas. Technology companies, as well as administration, finance and technology executives of companies participating in the pilot phase (in general focused in the participation of large companies) were invited to take part in development working groups. In the case of Brazil, the electronic invoice also faced institutional challenges as the introduction of the NF-e affected the tax procedure of the principal state tax. As a consequence, it was necessary to develop a permanent coordination between the state tax administrations, in addition to coordination at a national level with the Federal Tax Authority (Receita Federal). In the case of Chile, due to the early implementation, after the conclusion of the design phase, special units were created at oversight and technology levels for the spread of the use of the electronic invoice. Therefore, to effectively manage the change process leading to implementation of the einvoice and ensure wide-spread adoption of the technology, it is critical to manage the different players implicated in the change and to call on the private sector to actively participate in the design, introduction and, especially, promotion and dissemination of the new billing model. A solid technological basis is fundamental for the electronic invoice. As the electronic invoice is incorporated into companies’ billing cycle tax reporting procedures, it requires reliable technological infrastructure in terms of both software and

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hardware. Even in the Argentine case, where the electronic invoice model was not as rigid in terms of electronic storage option, which constitutes the electronic receipt, the operational model is equally strict as those adopted in Brazil and Chile, in the sense that it is part of the billing cycle. All the models are based in internet platform and as a consequence, the software and hardware platforms that the tax administrations shall implement—so that the electronic invoice does not negatively impact the business cycle or commercial interaction with and between taxpayers—should have a high security, trust worthy, and rapid response capacity. To achieve this both Brazil and Chile, made large investments to develop software and hardware for the technological platform; including high-speed internet connectivity, complex communication nets and transmission capacity, and powerful servers for databases, among other features. In the Brazilian case, such requirements are even more rigid because the electronic invoice is required prior to the circulation of merchandise and, therefore affects the billing cycle as well as the business itself. For a country adopting the electronic invoice, it is important to draw on the experience of countries that have already developed and are providing e-Government services for tax compliance and which have achieved use levels that prove service quality. A solid alliance with the private sector is crucial for the development and effective use of the electronic invoice. In the majority of cases of digital tax procedure development, focus has been placed on the development of the tax administration’s e-Government service. The development phase has been conducted by the tax administration without input or buy-in from the private sector and emphasis placed solely on the creation of the online service. Taxpayer use of the online service is incentive by a variety of government measures; including, in some cases, making certain electronic procedures mandatory for certain classes of taxpayers or in specific

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types of situations. In the case of the electronic invoice, especially for the models that have been adopted or are in the process of being adopted in the Region and which the tax administrations mediate in the commercial transactions between taxpayers—it would have not been possible to follow such an approach. Indeed, involving the private sector in the e-invoice development process is crucial to effectively developing an appropriate electronic invoice form and an operational model that improves business cycles rather than creating obstacles to commercial transactions. This is especially critical in the case of Brazil where the operational model requires the tax administrations approve the electronic invoice prior to merchandise sale and application of the tax on circulation of goods and services (ICMS). Making the private sector part of the process is also fundamental to ensuring the effective use and dissemination of this electronic procedure. Ultimately the taxpayers should be the ones to prioritize the use of the electronic invoice not only as a means to comply with tax reporting requirements but as a crucial method of improving commercial efficiency, productivity and commercial competitiveness. Once implemented, the electronic invoice can become a platform for electronic commerce in the country; particularly in countries which opt for a model that foresees the use of a digital signature.

REFERENCES CCS. (2009). La Economía Digital en Chile. Centro de Estudios de la Economía Digital. Cámara de Comercio de Santiago (CCS). Editorial CCS. Santiago de Chile. European Competitiveness Report. (2004). Commission Staff Working Paper SEC (2004) 1397 of November 2004, European Union. Retrieved from http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ enterprise_policy/competitiveness/doc/comprep_2004_en.pdf

IDABC (2005). The impact of e-goverment on competitiveness, growth and jobs. IADBC eGoverment Observatory. Background research paper. February. IDB. (2007). La factura electrónica en América Latina—Oportunidades para que el BID Apoye su Fortalecimiento. Juan Toro, Inter-American Development Bank. Ojha, A., Palvia, P., & Gupta, M. P. (n.d.). A Model for Impact of E-Government on Corruption. Exploring Theoretical Foundations. Indian Institute of Technology. Delhi. Sotelo Nava, A. (2005). Government Digital: fostering the e-Competitiveness and the e-participation in México. Paper presented at the Xth Congress of the CLAD. México. Retrieved from http://www.iij.derecho.ucr.ac.cr/archivos/documentacion/inv%20otras%20entidades/CLAD/ CLAD%20X/documents/sotelona.pdf United Nations. (2008). United Nations eGovernment Survey 2008. From e-Government to Connected Governance. st/esa/pad/ser.e/112. ESA. New York: United Nations. West. D. H. (2008). Improving Technology Utilization in Electronic Government around the World, 2008. Brookings Institute. Washington D.C.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Electronic Government (E-Gov): A government’s ability to provide services to citizens and private companies electronically with a significant impact on the productivity levels of such country’s economy and social development. Invoice: An invoice is the justification of the delivery of a product or the provision of a service, affecting both the issuing taxpayer (the vendor) and the recipient taxpayer (the purchaser). Traditionally, it is a paper document, of which the original

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is kept by the recipient of the invoice. Usually the issuer of the invoice also keeps a copy thereof. Electronic Invoice (E-Invoice): The electronic invoice (e-invoice) is the digital equivalent of the traditional paper invoice. Instead of the physical support used by the paper invoice, the e-invoice uses informatics supports for its filing. Depending on the size of the companies involved and the volume of their turnover, the electronic invoice can imply significant savings in matters of issuance and printing. Competitiveness: Ability of a nation, region or firm to produce and offer products and services that meet the quality standards of the local and world markets and provide adequate returns on the resources employed or consumed in producing them, while simultaneously maintaining and expanding the real incomes of its people over the long term. Tax: A fee charged by a government on a product, income, or economic activity. If tax is charged directly on personal or corporate income, then it is a direct tax. If tax is charged on the price of a good or service, then it is called an indirect tax. The purpose of taxation is to finance government expenditure. Tax Policy: It is the government’s approach and its strategy to taxation. Income: The financial gain (earned or unearned) accruing over a given period of time.

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For example, the migration of the processes of presenting tax returns and paying tax through the internet implied a great simplification and decrease of compliance for the taxpayers and efficiency in the gathering and use of the tax information for the tax administrations that walked in this direction—in the General Meeting of CIAT on 2006, the Chilean delegation presented a study about the decrease of costs in the compliance with

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the income tax in Chile, as an example of the impact of the change to the electronic modality. The invoice is key to apply and control the compliance with the VAT. The VAT is a tax to commercial transactions of value-added type and tends to substitute previous sales taxes with added value logia and, therefore, produced cascade effect in the taxation of consumption. To identify the added value in each stage of the commercialization chain and have the tax apply over such amount, the VAT applies over a financial basis. That is, the seller applies the VAT’s rate to the net value of its sales of goods or services to determine the tax to be transferred to the purchaser. The VAT paid by the purchaser in such transaction is reflected in the invoice to be issued by the seller. A similar payment is made by the seller to those from whom she purchased, and the VAT that she pays for her purchasing affects such tax. The difference between the VAT that the seller applies in the selling invoices and the VAT paid on the purchases made by the seller in the same period is VAT to be paid by such seller—in general the tax period used for VAT purposes in the calendar month. This logic is the financial basis and therefore the importance of the invoice as a means to apply the VAT. La electronic invoice in Latin America constitutes today a relevant issue for discussion and exchange of management practices in Latin America. In the majority of forum and bilateral exchanges between the tax administrations of the region, the electronic invoice is starting to occupy a relevant place in the discussions about e-Government related to tax compliance. Nevertheless, there has not been a special meeting focused in discussing the electronic invoice in the region, in the annual meeting organized by the CIAT,

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especially in the General Meeting and the Technical Forum. The private sector was principally represented by the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril, SOFOFA. The agenda pro-growth considers eight areas: modifications in the regulation to favor competitively, technology policy, tax structure, capital markets, efficiency in public spending, labor, simplification of procedures, and exports development. In the area of technological policy a critical line is the promotion of modernization and the use of information technologies. In this line, Government and SOFOFA experts agreed on the importance to promote the dissemination of the Internet and the start of institutions that enable the wide use of the digital signature, fostering the economy’s competitiveness, the modernization of the State and the decentralization of the country. Once the Digital Signature Law was approved, the system that allows its wide use shall start operating. At the same time, the Government will promote three initiatives crucial for the e-commerce in Chile: (i) the electronic invoice under the responsibility of the Servicios de Impuestos Internos, the Bill on public procurement that will allow electronic transactions between the State and the companies, and the development of payment tools on the Internet. The summoning of taxpayers was made through the union association representation the private sector, SOFOFA among them, and the technology companies through the ACTI. The Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP) was created as a merge of the DGI and the Administración National de Aduanas (Customs Department), through Decree 618, from July 1997. This decree sets forth the substitution of those two entities by the AFIP and the granting of power to

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issue mandatory regulations on different areas, among them: books, registration and documents that taxpayers and third parties, customs agents, transportation customs agents, importers, exporters, among others shall keep, carry on and store, also establishing the terms during which they must keep such documentation and as the case may be, the corresponding receipts. This exchange was made through platforms and communication networks of private companies providing services of exchange of electronic data (Electronic Data Interchange-EDI). For this reason it is said that those are non-open proprietary platforms, such as is the case of the Internet. An aspect to stress in the case of Peru is that the business community has been developing its own solutions for the exchange of electronic documentation to facilitate the registration of transactions between purchasers and sellers. Notwithstanding, from a tax point of view, sales transactions shall still be supported in paper payment receipts, which are the only ones with tax validity. In order to be an issuer of electronic payment receipt, the taxpayer shall file a request to SUNAT, which will evaluate a series of requirements of tax compliance to register to the system and also technological requirements: hold a digital certificate to sign electronically, an e-mail address for notification and a valid agreement with a Provider of Issuance of Electronic Invoices (PSE). If the request is approved the taxpayers registry is indicated as electronic issuer and recipient. The PSEs shall also request adhesion to the system and shall comply with tax compliance and technical requirements, among the last ones is the software certified by SUNAT that allows for control that the issuance of electronic invoices comply with the technical requirements set forth by the regulations.

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The verification of business rules (that it is registered, that it is VAT taxpayer, etc.) is an aspect still under discussion that does not define up to which depth those tax compliance controls will be made. The existence of a solid general legal framework that is strictly applied allows on its turn

to develop a cultural of use of tax documents that is fundamental for the implementation of the electronic invoice. Is this cultural basis does not exist, the incentives to move to the electronic invoice can even cause an opposite result, due to the greater tax control that the use of the electronic invoices implies.

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Chapter 22

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance in Latin America Nestor Zapata Main Advisor of the PROA/GTZ Project, EL Salvador Christof Kuechemann Resident Director of the GTZ, El Salvador

ABSTRACT The GTZ has developed numerous projects in the good governance sector and in some of those projects; it has incorporated actions promoting the use of ICT, as a manner of strengthening transparence levels, citizen participation and public management efficiency. In this document, we will describe three experiences currently under development and that had their origin with the accompaniment of GTZ projects. Two of the cases occur in El Salvador, Central America, and one in Chile. The realities of these countries are very diverse, because of the level of access of their populations to Internet. Chile shows a growth in its access to Internet that goes from 18.4% in 2000 to 48% in 2008 (PUC, 2009), while in El Salvador it barely reaches 16% in 2009 (MINEC, 2009). Although the three cases that we describe have not been evaluated in their impact, they turn out to be valuable, specially because they show that countries with scarce resources can likewise face this type of initiatives successfully, providing a signal of commitment with a more efficient and specially more transparent government. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch022

Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance

INTRODUCTION “Governance refers to the exercising of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country’s affairs, including the expression on the part of citizens of their interests and the exercising of their legal rights and obligations. Electronic governance can be understood as the capacity of this governance through electronic means, of providing a dissemination process of efficient, fast and transparent information for the public and other agencies, and to develop efficient administrative activities on the part of the government” (UNESCO, 2004). Based on this concept, the efforts for the promotion of good governance in developing countries must include the offer of assistance for the construction of new management styles, new forms of discussion and making decisions about policies or investments. Innovative forms of citizen participation must also be promoted, as well as for the delivery of information and for the provision of services. Electronic governance refers to the use of ICTs by the public sector with the objective of improving the supply of information and services. In this manner, it is sought to encourage the participation of citizens in the decision-making process, thus promoting a more responsible, transparent and efficient government. The Digital Strategy 2007 – 2012 of the Chilean government promotes the widespread implementation of access to Internet and the reduction of the so-called “technology gap” (MINEC, 2007). With this objective, the South American nation expects to generate the conditions for the digital services offered by the state to be accessible for most of the population. This case shows that the promotion of e-governance must not be reduced to the incorporation of digital procedures, because if the majority of the population does not have Internet access, this type of efforts can increase the inequalities existing in society.

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The access to Internet of the population is, then, an essential condition for e-governance measures to produce positive effects. Therefore, the cases of institutions that generate portals, mechanisms for the exchange of information or even digitize their procedures cannot be successful if they are not part of a policy for the reduction of the digital gap. However, these actions can be a good start to encourage that policy of a more comprehensive nature. In the case of El Salvador, such a policy for the promotion of Internet access is still under construction; however, there are already numerous efforts of the public sector to make the information about their processes more accessible to the public. In this context, one of the priority areas of work of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has been the sector of State and Democracy, in which numerous projects towards the modernization of State, decentralization, democratic participation, transparence and probity have been conducted. Here, like in other sectors, GTZ focuses on capacity building, thus helping to generate favorable and stable conditions for a more efficient exercise of the democratic system, to directly benefit the citizen’s quality of life. This approach translates into a development and/or adaptation of instruments, tools and effective procedures that are feasible and sustainable in order to achieve a more efficient management of the State’s affairs, but also includes the building of a management culture for public affairs based on values like sustainability, equity, transparence, participation and accountability. The three experiences that we will describe below are related to the topic of territorial planning, urban development and housing. They try to response to the problematic associated with a disordered use of the territory, inequity in the territorial distribution of employment, housing, services and life conditions in general that have equally promoted such serious effects in all Latin America as the abandonment of zones with agricultural potential, deterioration of the environ-

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance

ment, explosive and inorganic growth of the main cities, increase of violence, generation of ghettos of urban poverty, among the most important ones. National governments have delayed the conduction of systematic efforts of planning, regulation and territory management for many years, allowing an indiscriminate use of non-renewable resources and the deterioration of those of vital importance, like water and forests. In the recent years, nevertheless, these entities have begun showing signs of an active concern, conducting urban planning efforts in the main cities, programs for the recovery of public spaces, policies and even regulatory rules for land use, etc. These initiatives have generated a positive impact, though insufficient for the problem’s magnitude and have uncovered the fact that the regulatory and institutional frameworks are obsolete for this purpose, that there are not enough existent technical capabilities and that available resources are very scant, to mention a few problems. Governments need to keep building their policies for land use, modernizing their territorial management structures and applying innovative instruments for territorial planning and have to make efforts so that these have a clear sense of citizen’s participation, transparence in the process and promote public and private cooperation from the beginning. In search for tools that help adequately combine these principles and aspirations, the GTZ has explored diverse formulas, always attempting that its contributions adapt to the changing needs of societies and to the possibilities of the State’s apparatus. One of these formulas is the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) to carry out improvements for public management. Below is a brief history of three representative experiences in two different countries: Chile and El Salvador. The case of Chile refers to the creation of an Internet portal for the processing of permits for the use of the coastal zone, aimed at diverse users such as port enterprises, fisheries, or even

community associations or fishermen co-ops. The first of the Salvadoran cases refers to a portal for access to housing construction procedures and the second one, to an effort to facilitate communication between municipalities and the community of a region. Although both countries belong to Latin America, their realities are very diverse, both because of their per capita income and because of the respective level of access of their populations to Internet. These two factors are in our judgment determining for the level of priority granted by each country to the implementation of e-governance policies. While El Salvador still discusses the need of an e-government strategy, Chile counts on it since 2007 and shows important progress in its implementation. Chile shows growth in Internet access going from 18.4% in 2000 to 48% in 2008 (PUC, 2009), while El Salvador hardly reaches 16% in 2009 (MINEC, 2009). The cases that we will illustrate do not correspond to projects designed for the generation of e-government platforms, but they are unexpected results of projects whose objectives were quite more traditional. All of them are related to territorial planning and management and in all cases, the idea was incorporated into the project’s process of facilitating the access of local users to the information generated in planning processes. It is about experiences that have not been evaluated for their direct impacts; in the Salvadoran case, because these are very recent experiences and even under development; in the Chilean case, given that the project that accompanied this initiative ended. However, it must be pointed out that in this last case, it is evident that the exercise described is inserted into a national strategy for the promotion of access to information and the digitizing of government administrative and management processes. It must also be highlighted that differences can be seen in the objectives and scope of the measures in both countries. In the Salvadoran

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case e-vivienda, the initiative aims at facilitating communications between government entities and the private enterprises in the construction business. Therefore, massive access to Internet is not a limitation for its success. In the second case in that country, the network of recipient actors is also very limited and is narrowed down to institutions fundamentally public. In the Chilean case, however, the portal bordecostero.cl is oriented without restrictions to the use by large enterprises, but also by individual citizens; therefore, its success is indeed associated to the degree of access to Internet. The use in the coastal zone comprises large investment projects, as well as small community initiatives. With these differences at sight, we wish to present these three cases as experiences from which GTZ has learned, to include in a more explicit manner in its good governance projects, the use of ICTs as a tool for support to the promotion of transparence, participation and efficiency. “Governance is strongly associated to aggregate processes of participation and participative planning and in Chile, these are more and more sophisticated due to economic progress, to the access to more and better information, citizens are requiring better quality spaces and not just traditional ones” (DREWSKI, 2007).

THREE ILLUSTRATIVE CASES Case 1. Information Systems for the Use of the Coastal Border, Chile With the support of the Coastal Zone Project of the GTZ and the regional government of Bío Bío in Chile, an innovative experience of establishing an information system open to the public for the planning and management of the marine coastal territory of this region in the South of Chile was conducted. The initiative had its origin in the National Policy for Use of the Coastal Border, promul-

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gated in the year of 1994 whose mandate to all the regions was to prepare a management system in the coastal zone that includes, among others, aspects like participative planning, public access to information and transparence. Results of this initiative have become today an information system that allows public registry of the State’s actions and private sector at the coastal zone that has expanded to the rest of the regional territory. It also allows having access to information on procedures, taxes, regional and municipal planning processes, among others of utility for users (www.gorebiobio.cl/CRUBC). This regional initiative is complemented with the initiative of the National Government, which offers an on-line request of new permits for use of the coastal border (www.bordecostero.cl).

1.1 Background Chile is a country that is strictly bound to the coast and the sea. It couldn’t be different, as it has more than 4.200 kilometers of coastline in front of the Pacific Ocean. Its economic activities are strongly associated with produce from the sea but also linked to an export facilitation derived from the possibility of having numerous ports along the country. Nevertheless, only a little over 30% of the population lives in the coast, because the greatest part of the coastal zone has geographical accidents with only few coastal plains that have made the unfolding of big cities close to the sea. But coastal cities that are inhabited and economically busy zones in the coast are tremendously complex due to the lack of appropriate and enough land for urban and industrial development and the strong and growing demand for these land portions shown during the last decades. Growth of the export activity, development of the sea produce processing industry and others plants that, even when they process non marine raw materials, are installed in the coast for their proximity to the ports. There is also an interest

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance

for recreational and touristic spaces that should be included. All this configures coastal cities with a high conflict potential and impose enormous challenges to the institutions responsible for planning and management of the coastal regions. Traditionally, the Chilean Army has exercised a double role in the administration of the coastal and marine areas. On one side, as the marine and coastal police, conducting coastguard activities and taking care of security at the port and fishing facilities. On the other side, as administrator of the coastal spaces owned by the Chilean State, this is the sea and solid land in a fringe next to the line of the highest tide. Municipalities and regional governments have traditionally had a role of lesser hierarchy in these matters as well as the sector ministries, thus generating a gap in the coordination of public activities in this area. Chile, as a subscribing party of Agenda 21, Chapter 17, decided in 1994 to promulgate a National Policy for the Use of the Coastal Fringe and reorganize the work of the State in planning and regulation of the uses of coastal and marine resources.

1.2 Issues The main management problems in the coastal zone are the conflicts because of space usage (coastal and marine) between the different economic and social activities, as well as the growing risk for sustainability derived from an indiscriminate use of the natural resources. A proof of the seriousness of these problems is the confirmation that some of the most polluted cities in the country are located precisely on the coast and the source of such contamination is – to a great extent - a result from an indiscriminate use of resources and disorder in the use of spaces. Planning and management systems of the coastal area have demonstrated not to be prepared to face an accelerated growth and an unprecedented pressure to the coast and marine resources. Many

activities in the coast that are perfectly legal generate, though, a negative impact due to the lack of clarity on the load capacity of the coast or because of the lack of coordination among the different institutions with competences in the activities developed there. Finally users inclusively claim for systems that are sparsely transparent in the awarding of permits for coast usage and an eventual inequity among great industries and artisanal fishermen and inhabitants of the coast.

1.3 Experience In 1994, the National Policy for the Use of the Coastal Border (NPUCB) defines the coastal fringe and sets goals for its planning and management. In the same manner, the NPUCB creates a new institutional frame work for management of the coastal zone, based on the principles of interinstitutional coordination, private participation and transparency. This is how the National Committee for the Use of the Coastal Border (NCUCB) and the Regional Committees (RCUCB) are born for each one of the coastal regions of the country. These regional committees provide space to municipalities, other governmental organizations, private enterprises and citizens’ organizations. Development projects in the coastal zone are also born in this context, among which the Project of the Coastal Zone can be found, a project executed by the regional government of the Bío Bío region. This project aimed for the strengthening of capabilities of the regional government and coastal municipalities of this region, for the planning and management of the coastal zone, in accordance with the postulates of the National Policy. In 1998 and based on progress made by the National Committee in terms of the design of territorial information systems for the awarding and monitoring of maritime concessions, the Coastal Zone Project of the GTZ supported the regional government of Bío Bío, in the establishment of an information system that would allow them to

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participate actively in this new process of territorial management. This system was harbored in the own Regional Government (www.gorebiobio.cl), but also in the coastal municipalities, who have information since then and can provide guidance to their inhabitants, industrials and other users about the best way to sustainably take advantage of the coast’s resources. The origin of such a system lies in the planning process that gave birth to a Zoning of the Uses of the Coastal Border that was conducted for each one of the 14 coastal municipalities of the region. This processes that are highly participative gave origin to rich information that was later introduced to the mentioned system. The system allows the local authorities to take decisions, but also to users interested in developing projects of every kind in the coastal zone. Access to information and the possibility of reducing risks for investment have become engines for the development of these zones. This measure is part of the actions toward the strengthening of the electronic government as a way to promote transparency of the State and efficiency in public management.

1.4 Lessons Learned A key element for success in this initiative is that it has its origin in participative planning processes, in which leadership of the municipalities and the participation of the different actors of the coastal generated a new way of doing public policy and generated mutual trust. These processes translated into a Zoning of the Coastal Border, a new tool that is complemented with the plans for urban development and economic development in each municipality. Greater transparency in the taking of decisions has promoted at the same time greater involvement of the private sector in these processes and greater confidence in the same companies to invest in the zone. The relationship between transparency and local economic development becomes evident.

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Case 2. E-Vivienda Portal in El Salvador With support of the PROA Project of the GTZ in El Salvador and the contribution of the Government of Chile, and through an initiative of triangular cooperation, it was possible to establish a pioneer initiative in this country in the Vice-Ministry for Housing and Urban Development of El Salvador. Once the need of counting on a unique registry of beneficiaries for housing was identified, an exchange with the Ministry for Housing of Chile was established, from whose experience lots of methods and tools where taken that were applied and adapted to El Salvador’s reality. One of the products of this effort was the establishment and launching of the Internet portal e-vivienda (www. evivienda.gob.sv). It is the first portal with public access for information on housing programs, including a unique registry of users or beneficiaries of social housing programs. It also includes information of territorial planning processes, requesting urbanization or construction permits, professional registry, etc.

2.1 Background The housing deficit in El Salvador is one of the social problems with highest importance for the country. The absence of a housing policy and weakness of the sector’s institutions have caused dragging out the problem for a long time without effective solutions to it. The Vice-Ministry for Housing and Urban Development (VMHUD), responsible entity in this sector, began a discussion in 2004 on a national housing policy with the purpose of guiding the different public and private actors of the sector towards a joint strategy to design solutions for the housing and habitat demands. The policy was approved in June of 2005 and included a series of administrative and management measures that pointed towards a strengthening of the sector’s institutions and towards achieving

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance

a more active role of the private enterprise and society in general. During this same period, the Vice-Ministry also promoted a strong program for territorial planning along the country, which originated from the National Plan for Territorial Ordering and Development and it was applied to the 14 identified regions. These processes generated an enormous volume of valuable information for the territorial and urban management.

2.2 Issues Housing deficit grows and social housing programs are not able to respond to demand. The dispersed actions of the State worsen this problem and weaken their impact. One of the weaknesses of the sector in the Salvadoran case is the absence of mechanisms for access to information, transparency in the housing market and administrative decisions. The private sector, represented by the Salvadoran Construction Chamber has expressed repeatedly a strong demand to the State for clearer housing policies, transparence in its decisions and coordination between the responsible public entities. Public organizations of the sector conduct actions with results and impacts that are difficult to measure, because of the lack of mechanisms for efficient information registries. For entities like the Vice-Ministry it remains impossible to identify the beneficiaries already addressed, as well as to avoid receiving similar benefits from more than one institution. The lack of coordination increases with NGO´s and other private organizations, who conduct social housing programs with unknown registries.

2.3 Experience Starting from this diagnosis and based on the National Housing Policy, the Vice-Ministry began building mechanisms for information registry and its later circulation to the public.

It was in 2006 that a measure for triangular cooperation began, involving the government of Chile, through its Ministry for Housing and Urbanism, the Salvadoran Vice-Ministry itself and the German Technical Cooperation through the programs Región Activa in Chile and PROA in El Salvador. Through this activity, the Vice-Ministry was able to get first hand information about the Chilean experiences on the design of social housing policies and, especially, about the establishment and management of the registry system for beneficiaries persons of the social housing programs. Starting with these experiences and the ability of the staff teams at the Salvadoran Vice-Ministry itself, the building of an information registry system began, that would include an updating and debugging of the databases. At the same time, the design of a portal to allow the public to have access to all this information was initiated. It was so that the Internet portal e-vivienda was born in the year 2008, where it is possible today to have access to different kinds of information that help users, companies and all stakeholders of the housing sector to make better decisions. It is an innovating advanced step in regard to access to public information and a strong stimulus for investment of the private sector in social housing projects.

2.4 Lessons Learned The validity of a public policy lies in its concrete actions. The launching of a Housing Policy in 2005 generated lots of expectations. Even if the majority of them concentrated in the rapid and notable reduction of the housing deficit, there were also lots of expectations in regard to a more efficient management role of the State in this area. The e-vivienda portal has shown some signals to this regard and has become a good basic tool for the achievement of those other essential goals of the housing policy.

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Coordination of the different actors of the sector is still an unconcluded task. Even if this tool facilitates communication, it is still insufficient to optimize a good performance in a sector that is still dispersed. The challenge lies now in the reorganization of the sector from the perspective of the public environment to show a signal of leadership and guidance to the private sector and confidence to the population.

Case 3. Information Technology and Land Use in the Local and Regional Development of El Salvador Within the same project, PROA - already mentioned in the previous case - advice has been provided to the Municipalities Association Los Nonualcos that gathers 16 municipalities in the region of La Paz in El Salvador for the formulation and implementation of a plan for territorial land use. For this purpose and during its first phase, a deep analysis of the following data has been conducted: economical, social, data on the population, data related with the road and energy infrastructure, data on the levels of poverty, agricultural production, etc. These data were related to the territories with the help of the Geographic Information System, after which and - with support of the ICT’s - a vision of the characteristics of the territories was established, identifying the problems and development potential in each municipality. This information makes an exhaustive analysis that allows the definition of priority development measures at the level of local governments as well as at an aggregate level in the region as a whole. That is, for example, how it becomes possible to establish joint actions for the elimination of solid wastes, for the local economic development, for the prevention of risks from natural disasters, for the development of the road and also communication network, among other aspects.

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All this work is reflected today in de Territorial Information System of the region La Paz, which is administrated form the planning office of the mentioned association.

3.1 Background The region of La Paz is located to the East of the capital city of El Salvador, San Salvador. It has an extension of 1.400 km2 and a little over 350.000 inhabitants. This region also harbors the only international airport of the country and therefore has an enormous development potential for the industry and air transport logistics. There, the Municipalities Association of Nonualcos that embraces 16 of the 19 municipalities that constitute this territory exercises a strong leadership in the development process of the region. This entity has established a cooperation agreement in 2005 with the Vice-Ministry for Housing and Urban Development for the formulation of a Plan for Territorial Development and for the development of institutional capacities for territorial management. This process has been accompanied by the GTZ with the PROA Project and the PROMUDE Program, both of them strongly focused in this territory but, at the same time, cooperating in the design of public policies for decentralization and territorial management in El Salvador.

3.2 Issues The planning process has given birth to a lot of relevant information for the implementation of the plan itself, as well as for the managerial decisions that each municipality and other actors of the territory have to adopt on a daily basis. Nevertheless, neither the municipalities nor the association of Nonualcos have the formal mechanism or the tools to spread this information. In addition to a lack of technical resources, there is an absence of a clear legal framework, because key organizations for territorial manage-

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance

ment place serious difficulties for the management of information. Human resources aren’t also capable of administrating, updating and operating an open information system. Demand for information from the user’s side is very high and absence of these registries allows an indiscriminate use of land by constructors and urban planners that generates a severe impact in the development in the region.

3.3 Experience As a result of an agreement between the Association and the Vice-Ministry of Housing and Urban Development the Office for Territorial Planning and Management (OPLAGEST) of the region of La Paz was created in the year of 2008. This office would concentrate, from this moment on, the management and authorization of construction and urbanization permits that were previously processed at the central office at the Vice-Ministry of Housing. This office would then be the unit responsible for the operation of the Territorial Information System (SIT) of the region of La Paz, through which it is possible to obtain complete and detailed information about the zones established by the Regional Plan for development of the different activities in the territory. In order to make the information of the SIT publicly available, a copy of the same was installed in each one of the municipalities and the municipal officers were trained to be in charge of its administration. The existence of this information has been spread to the general public to promote the consultation at the OPLAGEST offices as well as at the municipalities themselves. The region has limitations as to Internet access; nonetheless the information of the SIT La Paz is available through the Internet at www.evivienda. gob.sv and www.losnonualcos.org. Information material has been prepared for its massive distribution and to encourage users to use

the SIT in the municipalities’ and OPLAGEST offices.

3.4 Lessons Learned An important challenge is the sustainability of this type of systems, something that results especially important in view of the scant funds of the municipalities. Association of municipalities could help solving this aspect; nevertheless, it becomes very important for this entity to count on the necessary income, for example, through the selling of services by OPLAGEST itself. The use of information of territorial management generates beneficial conditions to attract investment to the region, something that needs to be promoted by the Association of Nonualcos in its positioning and regional marketing efforts. Cooperation with national organizations like the Vice-Ministry of Housing, become of great importance to optimize the available and scant resources and, at the same time, promote greater coordination. This will ensure a greater coherence with public management that favors the implementation of new development projects.

CONCLUSION In all these experiences, GTZ has wanted to contribute to improve the management, efficiency and efficacy capacities of our counterparts by adding elements to this effort that promote transparency, participation and citizenship information. We believe that in this way we are contributing in a more profound and lasting way to the consolidation of more democratic, modern and efficient States. These three cases are still being fruitful and show their usefulness on a daily basis. This demonstrates that territorial ordering and urban development processes are indeed a good way to coordinate the interests of the different actors and allow establishing shared visions. The use of information technologies can provide techni-

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cal value, but at the same time transparence and confidence to this task. Nevertheless, it is important to remark that in the Chilean case, a national strategy for the reduction of the digital gap, massification of the Internet access and massification of Internet access for the State’s processes has followed this particular experience. There are already numerous Chilean public institutions that currently have online access. In the Salvadoran case this policy is till being formulated and even if there are already numerous institutions that offer access to their information, there are still very few ones that effectively provide more efficient and quick access thanks to the use of digital procedures. It is then about cases that illustrate a direction, but need to be accompanied by more systematic efforts to ensure permanent impact on the quality of the State’s services.

REFERENCES Drewski, L. (2007). Gobernabilidad regional: Dinámica regional, experiencias y conceptos desde la perspectiva de la cooperación alemana en América Latina. GTZ, Santiago de Chile. Gobierno de Chile. (2007). Comité de Ministros para el Desarrollo Digital, Estrategia de desarrollo digital 2007-2012. Santiago de Chile. Ministerio de Economía – MINEC. (2009). El Salvador. El Salvador: Propuesta de Estrategia de Gobierno Electrónico. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – PUC. (2008). Informe de resultados WIP Chile. Retrieved from from http//www.wipchile.cl. Viceministerio de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. El Salvador (n.d.). Política Nacional de Vivienda. Retrieved from http//www.evivienda.gob.sv

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Capacity Building: Is a coordinated process of deliberate interventions to (i) upgrade skills (ii) improve procedures, and (iii) strengthen organizations. Capacity building refers to the investment in people, institutions and practices that will enable persons, institutions and even countries to achieve their development objectives (World Bank). Coastal Border: The Chilean legislation defines the shoreline as part of the territory that consists on the sea, the beach and the 80 meters wide strip of land measured from the highest tide line. Decentralization: Is the process of transferring power, (and the knowledge and resources) of a central government to authorities that are not hierarchically subordinate. Good Governance: Good governance is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy-making, a bureaucracy imbued with professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society participating in public affairs. Poor governance (on the other hand) is characterized by arbitrary policy making, unaccountable bureaucracies, unenforced or unjust legal systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society unengaged in public life, and widespread corruption (World Bank). Public Participation: Is the set of activities, processes and techniques by which people are involved in public affairs that affect them. Territorial Information System: It consists of the toolkit of information management including geographical information systems and other databases for planning and land management. Territorial Planning: The process of defining development objectives for a territory, based on the constraints and opportunities offered by the physical space, so it relies on geographic information systems and cartography.

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Chapter 23

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective: Case Studies and Lesson Learned Luca Cernuzzi DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Magalí González DEI-Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”, Paraguay Marco Ronchetti University of Trento, Italy Adolfo Villafiorita Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy Komminist Weldemariam Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-IRST), Italy

ABSTRACT In a world characterized by rapid change driven by globalization, an ICT-based economy transformation poses some challenges and opportunities for the private sector and the government sector alike. ICT has for some time been at the core of government tasks, inseparable from strategy, planning, consultation and implementation to improve citizen’s life in different ways. Nevertheless, indications are that the government sector has been falling behind in these practices (mostly in developing countries), compared to the private sector. This realization has prompted some governments to put ICT high on their policy agendas, with the aim of introducing ICT-based solutions to improve their public administration processes, and thus deliver ‘quality public services’. We define ICT for Good (ICT4G) as the use of ICT to addressing critical problems in societies characterized by low ICT penetration in a way that life is impacted for the better. Along this line, we have been working on the design, development, and evaluation of ICT solutions that directly require the involvement of citizen on the usage of the developed system itself and/or on the decision-making processes. In this chapter, we discuss our experiences and lessons learned in this holistic approach to e-Governance projects from the ICT4G perspective and the role it can play for developing countries. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch023

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

INTRODUCTION The impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on developed countries is quite evident in terms of services to final users, transformation of the way in which people work and live, and prosperity and wealth. The change induced by the use of ICT is so remarkable that the term digital divide is commonly used for specifying the gap between those who have access to new technologies and those who do not, also because of infrastructure, education, and contingency (Aibar & Urgell, 2004; Dada, 2006). We focus, in particular, on the application of ICT to support public administration processes. These, in fact, can improve coverage, quality, and costs of public services, enhancing inclusion and equity for citizens. However, their implementation is often far from trivial. For instance, it has to consider different (if not conflicting) goals of various stakeholders. Government (perhaps) might want to present an image of modernity and transparency. Public agencies might focus on improving their efficiency, e.g., by reducing time and costs in offering services. (Sub)contractors might try to secure long-term maintenance contracts. Ironically, citizens, the actual end-users, have limited opportunities to make their requirements and needs get into the systems. This lack of investigation is often a cause of project (or service adoption) failure (Heeks, 2003;Vakan et al., 2002; Basole, 2008; Qureshi & York, 2008). One of the most recent trends to address some of the issue mentioned above is based on multidisciplinary cooperation and coordination. Several studies have witnessed its positive effects in various domains, such as, e.g., Healthcare (Lenz & Reichert, 2005; Suomi, 2005; Avison & Young, 2007), e-Government and Public Administrations (Willcocks et al., 1997; Thaens et al., 1997; Ciaghi et al., 2009), and Education (Buckley et al., 2004; Buckley et al., 2008).

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In this chapter, we move a step further in characterizing both the complexity of deploying e-Governance solutions and the way in which ICT practitioners might look at ICT and e-Governance projects. For this purpose, recently in (Eshete et al., 2010), we defined ICT for Good (ICT4G) as the use of ICT to addressing critical problems in societies characterized by low ICT penetration (i.e., infrastructure and services) in a way that life is impacted for the better. Notice that with “low ICT penetration” we not only refer to developing nations, where the penetration is remarkably low, but also to territories in developed countries characterized by digital divide. ICT4G, thus, moves the emphasis to challenges for ICT researchers and practitioners, including: •

•

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User-centric approaches to system development. As systems are increasingly reaching wider segments of population, it is of paramount importance to deliver systems made for people and for the benefit of users. Process and Technologies. The adoption of the relevant processes, methodologies and techniques to improve the development process not only has the advantages everyone expects (e.g., quality, costs) but, in ICT4G contexts, it is a key enabler to foster growth. Sustainability. The effectiveness of deployed solutions relies, in the longer term, on a clear definition of sustainability and growth models. This point refers both to how the service is made available (e.g., delivery channels that are actually used by a wide audience) and how local capabilities are created and governed to provide affordable maintenance of the services in the long term.

Clearly, these challenges vary according to the needs of each individual project and the situation

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

Table 1. Summary of the case studies Case Study

Time span

Country/Territory

Actors

ProVotE

2005-2008

Autonomous Province of Trento and Autonomous Region FriuliVenezia Giulia

Autonomous Province of Trento, Trentino/Alto-Adige Region, Autonomous Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Consorzio dei Comuni Trentini, Municipality of Trento, IPRASE, FBKIRST, University of Trento (Faculty of Sociology), Graphitech Foundation, Informatica Trentina

eGIF4Py

2002-

Paraguay

Technical Planning and Finance Ministries of Paraguay, Catholic University of Asuncion, Inter-American Development Bank-IADB

eGIF4M

2008-

Mozambique

Technical Unit for the Implementation of eGov (UTICT), FBK-IRST, TASLAB, University of Trento, CREATE-NET

of the country in which the project is implemented. In this chapter, we introduce some considerations about e-Governance projects and we motivate why addressing them using an ICT4G approach yields several benefits. Moreover, we argue that the way in which these issues are addressed ultimately influence the maturity of services citizens can adopt, the level of adoption, and the impact they have in one’s life. We do so by presenting three case studies summarized in Table 1. The case studies put a different emphasis on each of the three items highlighted above. The first case study focuses on a user-centric approach to the development, experimentations, and evaluation of an electronic voting (e-voting) system, called ProVotE (Caporusso et al., 2006). The project put a strong emphasis on citizens’ participation and allowed to include in the final system various requirements elicited through experimentations run in parallel to elections, interviews to stakeholders, questionnaires, and focus groups. Aspects related to low connectivity in the polling stations and to the capillary deployment required for elections make it an interesting case of ICT4G application. The second and third case studies are closely related, as both focus on standardizing processes and technologies to build sustainable solutions. The second case study, called eGIF4M (Shvaiko et al., 2009), specifically focuses on the definition,

introduction, and implementation of an interoperability plan for the e-Government systems of Mozambique. On top of the technical and procedural challenges related to the switch to an interoperable framework, the project had to address various sustainability issues related to, e.g., lack of skilled resources. The third case study, called eGov4Py, whereas defines a controlled process model for the development of software systems and relies on a standardized architectural model for the development and production environments. This allows to factor out maintenance costs, address issues related to availability of skilled resources, and reduce the vendor locking effect. The project started in 2002 with the financial support from the Inter-American Development Bank-IADB and included the Technical Planning and Finance Ministries of Paraguay. This chapter is structured as follows. First, we analyze the needs for e-Governance and ICT4G by considering different perspectives. Second, we present three case studies carried on in diverse socio-cultural environments, by covering complementary aspects of e-Governance processes and electronic solutions. Third, some lessons learned from these experiences are discussed paving the way for a methodology covering the main relevant issues for positive e-Governance realizations. Finally, we conclude the chapter.

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

FROM E-GOVERNANCE TO ICT4G: NEEDS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES The advent of the Internet in the mid nineties implied a dramatic decline in the cost of communicating, processing, and sharing information. The “new-economy” bubble showed the perception of a rich variety of opportunities, which, however, were somehow inflated and unrealistic in the short term. A blossom of e-anything followed for a few years. The prefix “e” suggested a variant of the suffix activity, which is electronic or digital in nature. Later a more adequate evaluation of the short-term impact took place with the painful deflation of expectations and shares values. The “e” prefix has since become less fashionable. One of the thriving instances is that of e-Government and/or e-Governance. Sometimes many people treat these terms as synonyms, while for others these terms have different meanings. e-Governance is defined as a broader topic dealing with the public sector’s use of ICTs with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective (Misuraca 2007). e-Government, vice versa, has a narrower interpretation, and deals primarily with the government’s use of information technology to exchange information with and provide services to the citizens, business and other sectors of a given government. As such, in an analogy to the B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) flavors of e-Commerce, e-Government is often subdivided into four branches: Government-to-citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Government (G2G), and Government-to-Employees (G2E). Examples of e-Government include the use of ICT in supporting education, health, agriculture, governance, etc.

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Not surprisingly, developing and deploying applications and systems in most of these fields are difficult and complex tasks. One reason is that they often need to deal with delicate privacy issues (e.g., personal data in (e-)health applications) and need to be regulated by strict legal frameworks (Dunleavy & Markets, 2006; Helbig et. al, 2008). Another motivation is the need to integrate knowledge and information of different sub-sectors. An example of such complexity is when an elderly care subsystem needs to obtain information from an application in the fiscal sector (e.g., for deciding which fee should be applied) and with a healthcare system, to provide an integrated care to the citizen. Notice that these processes and services often need to be performed manually by the citizen who is in charge of transferring information from the Government to the Government, physically going in different offices and thus working as a bridge between systems that are “unable” to exchange information. In fact, a number of applications, tools, and methodologies (and techniques) have been built in favor of e-Government domain —see, e.g., in (Couscous et al., 2003; Eddowes, 2004; Ciaghi et al., 2009; Menda et al., 2010). Most of these are created according to specification that implied conceptual models, which may even be incompatible with each other, as contrasting implicit assumptions were often taken. The task of making models compatible with each other (e.g., through semantic translation or mapping services) in first place, to allow data flow among subsystems and to define unified processes that cross the boundaries of the single organizations is one of the titanic tasks that e-Governance faces today. On top of the technical issues highlighted above, we need to mention the difficulties related to large-scale deployment of ICT —see, e.g., in (Heeks, 2003). Problems in this area range from usability issues by the end-users to lack of adoption due to the “perceived” security risks. An example of this is: a system might be perceived

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

as a “Big Brother” threat, independently from its actual implementation and data protection mechanisms. When we move our attention to developing countries, moreover, literacy and lack of ICT infrastructures constitute a further bottleneck. ICT4G tries and addresses the issues mentioned above by incorporating in the specification, design, and development of applications and/or systems exactly those activities that might positively impact the adoption, usefulness, and longer-term sustainability of a solution. Among the broader benefits we expect —as also pointed out in (Misuraca, 2007): •

•

•

Increased efficiency and cost reductions. Namely, ICT should minimize transaction costs and stimulate a simplification of the bureaucratic procedures, making operations more efficient, and liberating resources that can be otherwise employed. This allows fostering economic and social growth. That is beyond the cost reduction, the use of ICT in government and in its interaction with the business community and citizens can create new businesses, attract investments and generate employment. Better quality and easier access. Namely, ICT-enabled services provided to citizens should be effective (e.g., by reducing the need to physically accessing offices, less time spent on traveling and queues, access 24/7/365) and should have an impact on making citizens’ needs explicit, resulting in a better governmental policy formulation, and finally in an increased coverage and quality of the services. Better participation, interactive dialogue, as well as empowerment. Namely, ICT could support increased interaction between citizens and their governments, such that allowing citizens to participate in the decision making process and making them more aware of their personal and community development.

CASE STUDIES Effective e-Governance typically requires crosscutting approach that addresses the typical barriers to the delivery and adoption of systems and services. Independently of the socio-political cultures, at a more technical level, we mention, for instance, services and processes definition and delivery, interoperability and architectural models, systems development methodologies and platforms, as well as user centric design with large-scale experimentations to get feedback and critiques from users of the system, above all from citizens.

ProVotE The Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) sponsored the ProVotE project with the goal of evaluating the switch to electronic systems for local elections (Caporusso et al., 2006). Starting from the experience gained by other countries in previous attempts, the project was organized across crosscutting disciplines that strictly interact: sociological, technological, procedural, and normative. From the technological point of view, the project delivered a custom-built e-voting machine —a DRE-VVPAT1 system— and various sub-systems aimed to address two main process flows in elections: voting and verification. The first includes the electronic devices responsible for automating the voting procedures. Its main sub-systems include a management system, the voting machine, and vote tally system. The management system is responsible for uploading the candidates and encryption keys (used to verify if the results are coming from legitimate voting machine) into the e-voting system. The voting machine is used for casting votes and performing administrative operations during the election (e.g., testing the voting machine, tabulation of data). The vote tally system is responsible for aggregating collected data and publishing provisional results. The sec-

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

ond flow (i.e., verifying and validating the data produced during the election) includes the Paper Ballot Counter (PBC), an automated recounting system that reads the barcodes printed on the ballots, and the Log analyzer System, an application used (after the election) to generate reports about the life-cycle of machines in the polling stations (e.g., when the machine was first started, how many times the machine was started, etc). Of these systems, the e-voting machine was considered one of the most interesting components because of its liveness and security requirements and because citizens are its end-users and usability is of paramount importance. For these reason, the development of ProVotE has proceeded in cycles of six months each, paced by experimentations, during which opinions and suggestions were collected from citizens, using standard sociological “tools”, such as interviews and focus groups. Liveness and security issues were addressed by adopting a rigorous development approach based on the Waterfall development process (Royce, 1987), that we extended and adapted to incorporate BPR (Business Process Re-engineering), security analysis, and formal verification activities (Villafiorita et al., 2009). In what follows we highlight the two main characteristics that make this project an ICT4G initiative. The first characteristic is about the adoption of user-centric approach to system development. Before being deployed for legal elections, various prototypes of the ProVotE system have been used in six experimental trials by about 28,000 citizens to fine-tune the interface and the citizens’ experience. Each experiment was conducted in systematic and repeatable way by using a methodology we defined for this purpose (which includes, such as, free simulation, training of poll workers, data collection and analysis). Three different hardware prototypes/configurations of the e-voting machine have been experimented: two monolithic designs —in which all components are enclosed in a single case— and one non-monolithic design, in which DRE,

412

VVPAT, and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) are three separated components, assembled in the polling station. The non-monolithic design, although simpler to handle, raised concerns related to accidental or malicious un-plugging of the cables connecting the components. The connection between the UPS and printer resulted particularly critical because the printers we use do not have batteries. Any loss of connection to the UPS, although unlikely, thus, might have caused an interruption of the printing operations, leaving a half-printed ballot pending on the printer. Protecting anonymity in such situations would have been quite hard. Additionally, the delivery of election results to the Electoral Office varied from physical transportation of the memory supports (e.g., USB keys) containing the results, to the electronic upload through a web application. Concerning the systems for determining the elected candidates, we tried both a commercial system adopted by various electoral Services in Italy and an inhouse solution. In one trial, we have also tested a system that automates the registration phase of the voting process. Table 2 summarizes the experiments that have been conducted during the project and the two elections with legal value (row 5 and 6). The first and the last experiments are the most significant in terms of participation. They correspond to general electoral turns, for which we selected the biggest possible subset given the resources available2. The selection of the polling stations in which to experiment the system was driven by the Faculty of Sociology, which selected polling stations in order to include the widest possible range of voters’ age, scholarship, type of job, and geographical distributions. The other experiments were conducted during special electoral turns that often involved just one municipality. We had little or no flexibility in sizing the experiment in those cases. As a matter of fact, we nearly always covered all the polling stations in which elections were being held.

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

Table 2. Experimental results using the ProVotE system Date

Election

Legal

Cities

Polling Sites

Machines

Voters

Turnouts

May 2005

Municipality

No

5

16

16

15375

6950

November 2005

Municipality

No

1

1

2

554

336

May 2006

Municipality

No

1

3

4

1650

1134

November 2006

Municipality

No

1

2

4

2334

1361

November 2006

School

Yes

2

4

4

1392

1207

November 2007

Referendum

Yes

2

2

4

1082

561

November 2008

Provincial

No

39

55

110

44032

16939

The column Voter (see Table 1) is a count of the people listed in the polling stations equipped also with the e-voting machines and Turnout is the number of people who tried out the e- voting system. Notice that affluence to elections is usually about 80%. So, for instance, during the last experimentation, about 35225 (= 0.8 x 44032) people showed up at the polling stations. Of these, about 50% tried the system. All data can be found from the website3 of the Autonomous Province of Trento, where people interested in participation to the experiment can get the precise figures. Common to all the experimentations is the usage of e-voting machines and of the recounting system. In some experiments the automated recounting has been paired to a manual recount. The resulting final system is quite unique for the following reasons: the development methodology, which is a model-driven integrated development based on UML; the incorporation of formal techniques for specification and verification of the core logic of the system based on the state of the art model checker; the introduction of signaling system, which displays the status of the machine to pollworkers, such that the pollworkers can control if the voter has completed voting process correctly or withdrew from voting without reveling the privacy of a voter; the choice of Java and Linux operating system (customized, with specific functionality); the incorporation of citizens feedback in defining various characteristics of

the user interface, down to the preferred method to cast votes with the machine. The second characteristic focused on the adoption of processes, technologies, and their integration. With respect to this, one of the major challenges in e-voting is guaranteeing the integrity of elections, in a context in which the introduction of new technologies in the polling stations shifts security risks and requires the modification of various procedures and checks performed during elections, and consequently of various laws describing such procedures. A strict integration between process modeling and laws was achieved by using VLPM4 (Visual Law Process Modeler) tool. The tool was built in order to maintain traceability between laws and models (i.e., the business process models of the voting procedures) (Ciaghi et al., 2009). We have applied VLPM for the modeling of the electoral law and procedures and the laws for the introduction and evaluation of an e-voting system for local polls. The results of the process modeling and analysis led to enrich and improve the business process model of the conventional electoral procedures by re-organizing voting processes that define the system-to-be description for ProVotE e-voting system, and consequently for the development of the system itself, by helping eliciting, structuring as well as maintaining requirements for the ProVotE system. A rigorous analysis of the electoral procedures was conducted by defining a framework and ge-

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

neric methodology for the analysis of (electoral) procedures. This allowed to understand how the switch to new system would affect the security of elections and could be used as one way of familiarizing actors (election officials or polling officers) with the possible procedural threats and attacks that can happen during the electoral phases. Such confidence could have been unthinkable had not we used formal methods. See, e.g., in (Weldemariam & Villafiorita, 2008), for further details.

eGIF4M In this case study, as noted in the introduction of this chapter, we focus on the definition, introduction, and implementation of the interoperability plan for the e-Governance systems of Mozambique (eGIF4M). Furthermore, relevant techniques, semantics and aspect related to the organizational structure for the implementation of eGIF4M project will be highlighted. The government of Mozambique initiated the development of a national ICT policy in 1998, by establishing the ICT Policy Commission. This work resulted in the release of the national ICT Policy in 2000 and, subsequently, its implementation plan. The plan, approved in 2002, has identified e-Governance as a strategic area for the development of the country. One of the final goals is switching to a citizen-centric government, that is, to a state of affairs in which the government delivers integrated services focused on the needs of citizens and private sector and where these are able to interact with government in a manner, time and place of their choice. The implementation plan was initially characterized by the rapid, parallel, and independent development of different e-Governance solutions to cover the most important ICT gaps. However, it soon became clear that without proper coordination, the approach would have led to a patchwork of solutions, which could not communicate nor interoperate. Duplication of data, increased maintenance costs of the ICT systems, and lower efficiency and efficacy in

414

delivering services were among the main concerns. For these reasons, the government decided to initiate the eGIF4M project, with the specific goal of harmonizing the existing solutions and converging to common standards. Several interoperability frameworks have been defined in the world (see, e.g., UNDP, 2007 for an overview). However, on top of the main risks identified and experienced by governments all over the world in implementing their eGIFs, eGIF4M needed to take into account the specific issues and opportunities that are typical of an ICT4G initiative among which we mention: governance, skills and sustainability. In context of the first (i.e., governance), international donors often support ICT projects and the resulting governance process is more complex than that of other projects. The possibility to enforce common architectural solutions and standards on these projects, for instance, is limited and requires a strong political commitment and clearly defined organizational roles. In the second case (i.e., skills), the limited availability of technical and managerial skills in the country implies a strong dependence on external support to implement and manage ICT projects. The risks include a lower commitment to enforce interoperability (as foreign resources might have a time-limited involvement in the country and more urgent priorities to address in their projects), and more difficulties in maintaining the solution in the longer term. Finally, in the context of sustainability, the traditional approach of setting up specific projects to respond to the needs of government agencies is not suited for an initiative like an interoperability project, in which results require a long term commitment. This led us to a holistic and multidisciplinary approach in which the traditional technical activities that constitute an interoperability framework (e.g., definition of the technical interoperability platform; definition of the standards to adopt) have been complemented by a set of support actions, among which we mention (see Shvaiko et al., 2009 for more details):

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

•

•

•

Organizational Implementation. This includes the definition of the organizational structure in charge of the implementation of eGIF, together with the processes and procedures to support supervision and monitoring of the initiative. Noteworthy in this area is the definition of an interoperability maturity model, which is meant to measure the level of compliance and of adoption of eGIF4M. This, in particular, is essential to quantify and make visible the benefits (or disadvantages) of eGIF4M, allows to set different speed at which agencies and projects can converge, and can be used as an important tool for the setup of incentives for the more virtuous projects. Project Standardization. This is meant to provide a set of common guidelines for project and quality management. The guidelines are inspired to the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and to some best practices in software development (e.g., Rational Unified Process) and define the recommended minimum set of documentation and the best practices that have to be adopted by new ICT projects. Longer-term goals include better maintainability and integrability of systems and improved competiveness, e.g., by mitigating the risk of locking to a specific solution vendor. Living lab. This is meant to connect endusers, research centers, and local companies. The eGIF4M project is strongly tied to the Maputo Living Lab (LLM) initiative that has recently become part of the European network of Living Labs. This is an organizational approach in which reallife user-centric research and innovation will be a normal co-creation technique for new products, services and societal infrastructure. We expect LLM to become the reference point for the strengthening of national and international networking of

•

local companies and the place for the exchange of best practices. Dissemination, networking and higher education. One of the key issues in implementing a sustainable eGIF initiative in a developing country like Mozambique is to grow the skills of the local players, both in the public and private sector, and to better connect them with international initiatives. The eGIF4M initiatives, therefore, includes aspects related to increasing national and international visibility of eGIF4M and the definition of exchange programs between Mozambique’s and international universities.

From the technical point of view, the proposed solution addresses two key areas to achieve interoperability: the definition of an architectural framework and the specification of the standards to be adopted at each level of the architecture, including semantics standards for annotation of data. The former is based on a government service bus, where all the systems will converge to interoperate. It also follows the standard SOA (service-oriented architecture) and EDA (eventdriven architecture) approaches, which in turn allows the service delivery architecture to serve as the basis for interoperation of data, systems, and processes. The latter include most of the standards proposed by the UNDP interoperability framework, see (UNDP, 2007b), for more details. The integration of the technical solution and of the support actions in a plan that fosters convergence through an incremental approach based on measures of the level of compliance and on incentives to complete the framework. Given the current project output, the Council of Ministers of Mozambique approved the final version of the eGIF4M at the end of 2009. Several steps lay ahead, but we expect various benefits from the adoption of the framework in this context. Among the benefits the main is governing a transition to more interoperable solutions, while,

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

at the same time allowing for certain independence in the choice and development of ICT solutions. This is one of the priorities of these countries that are quickly introducing ICT-based services to automate the government processes. The possibility of measuring the penetration of interoperability at different levels of granularity (such as government, agency) together with the broader actions suggested in the framework, constitute a further opportunity to sustain and accelerate the growth of countries like Mozambique which, in the last years, have experienced a steady and fast economical growth.

eGov4Py This case study reports an approach to define an e-Governance framework for the Paraguayan government (i.e., eGov4Py). The Paraguayan context related to e-Governance presents some challenges, which include: •

•

416

Access to the service. In some situations the public administration processes are hindered by complex workflows composed of several steps involving several government dependencies. Moreover, since the majority of the services are not accessible via Web, there is not much citizens’ participation in government management. It is worth considering that the penetration of Internet is quite reduced (ITU, 2008) and that the 55% of users with access to Internet do not use government sites to access Information, and 45% use some services that offer these sites, but the access is limited to Portals that offers information about movements inside the dependencies5; e-Government. The efforts in e-Government services and information are not centralized; there is a lack of interoperability among the different systems (from diverse ministries and agencies of the government); replication of data (problem with

integrity and consistency) and workflows (effort and time); lack of management report to support the making of decisions; and reduced portability of the applications. There are also some relevant features that could help to improve the development of e-Governance solutions: for instance, ICT infrastructure and skilled ICT human resources as similar to the eGIF4M project. In the context of the ICT infrastructure, the agencies of the government on the entire country are connected by means of a metropolitan network. Moreover, the most relevant ministries of the government count on infrastructure, servers and security plans. In the second case (i.e., related to skill), whereas some ministries count on a fixed staff of developers, backbone service, administrators, and customer service teams. Even though there are some initiatives in developing ICT solutions for better support of the services for final users, the government of Paraguay soon realized that an integrated and coordinated effort was necessary to overwhelm the limitations said above. We have to mention also the need of looking for “economic solutions”, since Paraguay is a developing country. These constraints represent the main motivation for the definition of the eGov4Py framework. Generally, eGov4Py is based on two main pillars: process model and architectural model. The first model (i.e., process model) streamlines, structures and organizes the process of developing applications and software systems for the governmental agencies. More specifically, the process model is primarily intended to provide useful tools for the systematization of the activities of software life cycle. This model aims to identify systems that help achieving the goals of the institution by defining a strategic framework; improve productivity in software development where reuse becomes a fundamental goal; facilitate communication and interoperability among different participants in the production of

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

Figure 1. Development Model6

software throughout the project life cycle, taking into account their role and responsibility as well as the needs of each participant; and facilitate the operation, maintenance and use of software products. The general outline of the proposed process model is divided into six stages: feasibility study, analysis, design (including acceptance plan, migration procedures and initial data load), development, implementation and system acceptance, and system maintenance. Each stage can be performed in an incremental and evolutionary manner (spiral) (Boehm, 1988); the process can also be customized and only some stages or activities performed according to the problem complexity. The novelty resides in the definition of the activities for each stage focusing on the specific context of Paraguayan government institutions. In addition, for each activity in the various stages of the process model, we also defined a set of guidelines and nomenclatures to facilitate the standardization of the system development process. The main objec-

tive of this standardization is to provide access to information for analysis, modifications, updates, and any other activity to the existing systems in a structured and understandable way. This also includes a series of guidelines to be considered in the construction stage or system programming. Moreover, it is also specified a model for the analysis and design of interfaces. The second model (i.e., architecture model) supports for the development and production (i.e., software running for the final users) environments of software systems considering open source as a key factor. This model attempts to define an environment composed of a series of open-source tools that support the process model. It consists of two sub-models: development and production models. The development environment includes the specific products such as development tools oriented to Java technology applications. An outline of the development model is shown in Figure 1. The production environment presents specific products, as components based on Web

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Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

Figure 2. Production Model

Services, operating on centralized servers and consolidated into a Datacenter to provide functionality and basic security for the use of applications and technology services. Figure 2 shows the production model. The framework was introduced and experimented on two strategic systems for the government of Paraguay. The first application is the development of one module of the integrated system of budget programming (SIPP —Sistema Integrado de Programación Presupuestaria), called the Plurianual module. For the development of this module, we applied the whole eGov4Py framework, i.e., the process model and architectural model in the development and production environments. The second is the Planning System (SISPLAN), which includes a number of concepts presented in eGov4Py framework. The SISPLAN is integrated to the SIAF (Financial Administration) legacy system in order to unify concepts that handle the government of Paraguay at budget level. At the same time, this provides the necessary elements for the definition of a first version

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of the general budget of the nation. With this, thus, it is possible to perform a monitoring and evaluation of achievements by mean of another module of the SISPLAN. Along this line, we have experienced the development and integration of the “Plurianual” (multi-year) and SISPLAN integrated with SIAF, although the latter is not fully adapted to the eGov4Py architectural model. The Plurianual application was successfully validated in the 2007 budget planning when the system was used by all centralized and decentralized government agencies that are connected to the metropolitan network. In addition, we carried on usability tests and integration with SIAF verification for the SISPLAN obtaining very positive results. This paves the way for a more goal-oriented approach in the planning and control of the general budget for Paraguay. eGov4Py framework brought some benefits to the process of implementing e-Governance in Paraguay. First, the mentioned experiences have shown the benefits of standardizing the process

Experiences in E-Governance from an ICT4G Perspective

of developments of software systems and organizing teamwork for development of the systems described in the section. Second, providing an open platform that allows an easy applicability has reduced important economics aspects, considered fundamental for Paraguayan government. Third, the eGov4Py has also facilitated the integration and interoperability between different systems of the government. Finally, the development and production models had provided the necessary elements for developing applications in Web environments that encourage the use of e-Governance in the whole country. Finally, there are also some issues that arise from the experience. As a first issue, we need to mention that the applicability of the eGov4Py framework implies training of professionals that suits the needs in this regard: design and development of e-Governance solutions considering open source a key factor. In this sense, the Ministry of Finance has a team with strengths in development and production environments. However, other government agencies are still limited in this regard. A second important point is that the use of e-Governance in Paraguay also involves important investment of resources and connectivity to allow access to the Internet from anywhere in the country.

DISCUSSION AND LESSON LEARNED e-Governance is not about ‘e’, but rather about ‘governance’; it is not about computers and websites, but about services to citizens and business. It is concerned with the transformation of government, modernization of government processes and functions and better public service delivery mechanisms through technology. Analogously, building successful e-Governance systems is not only a technical matter, but, rather, requires taking into account all different multi-disciplinary dimensions characterizing a project. When we

move to the context of developing countries, additional considerations need to be taken into account, such as the lack of recipes, the need for consistent approaches to tackle society problems using ICT, the lack of cross-fertilized professional mix or makeup, the problem of interoperability, the compatibility with Legal and Social Norms, the need for simulations and prototypes, the need for adequate methods and tools to support the governance processes and their implementation, to mention few. Dealing with all this challenges may be really hard (Dada, 2006;Heeks, 2008). We claim that moving the development paradigm a step further, by taking into account what we call an “ICT4G approach” can bring several benefits and relevant opportunities —incidentally, not just to developing countries. Clearly, the basis to ensure sustainability to e-Governance programs is guaranteeing the internal and local availability of resources. Depending exclusively on international donors, as it is often the case in developing countries, is a very effective way to deploy new systems, but an unlikely approach to long-term maintenance of such systems. A strong dependency on foreign donors, in fact, increases the risk of a lower commitment to enforce more integrated platforms of services (i.e. usually the projects are subject to time-limited involvement in the country and perhaps different priorities to address), and more difficulties in maintaining the solution in the longer term. A major challenge in guaranteeing such resources in ICT4G countries is the lack of required ICT skills in government. This is a particular big problem in places where the chronic lack of qualified staff and inadequate human resources training are endemic. However, the availability of skilled professional in ICT is just part of the story. In our vision, many other actors need to be involved and participate in the definition of effective eGovernance solutions. e-Governance requires multi-disciplinary human capacities: technological skills for installation, maintenance, designing and implementation of ICT infrastructure; skills

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for using and managing online processes; skilled manager; collaborative attitude of the private sector; educated citizens; and committed stakeholders are necessary. No e-Governance applications can be successful without proper reforms in the Public Administration. Automating complicated government processes will create more problems than it can solve. Thus, supporting public administration implies, for example, the use of business process reengineering (BPR) tools, techniques and methodologies (see, e.g., Thaens et al., 1997; Ciaghi et al., 2009; Alpar & Olbrich, 2005; Olbrich & Simon, 2008). Moreover, it is of paramount importance to take into account the experiences of private sector and of NGO’s. In addition to the points mentioned above a citizen-centric approach, that takes into account the cultural aspects, the skills, the grade of participation maturity of the final users, are a key factor in determining user adoption of services and, ultimately, in guaranteeing a return of investments —which for e-Governance services is in the form of reduced costs for the administration, increased satisfaction and productivity of citizens. Good governance requires a systems approach wherein various facets of government are linked to each other in an organic way. Thus, a capillary and integrated support infrastructure is critical for e-Governance implementation; the reliability and

Figure 3. The triple-helix strategy

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reach of electric and telecommunication networks as well as the Internet accessibility are critically important. A common ICT infrastructure and architecture standard, as well as data standards and service delivery definitions are keys to ensuring development in a coherent and integrated way and interoperability (e.g. system compatibility). The infrastructure and processes requires a strong political commitment, leadership, and clearly defined organizational roles. Everything in government is linked with every other thing; developing and implementing ICT-enabled processes in narrowly defined departmental silos tend to have limited impact on improving governance and limited interest from stakeholders in the medium or long-term.

FUTURE WORK To help overcome some of the issue mentioned above, we are working to build a transnational triple-helix system (Etzkowitz, 1997), that, by fostering and promoting the interchange of competences, personnel, and skills among countries with different level of ICT maturity, will lead to mutual growth of all national systems participating. In our vision, people are the main vector of such interchange; student exchanges, higher education, partnerships and collaborations on

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(common) problems, and the sharing of (research) know-how and competences are some of the tools to bring up such collaborative system. A possible tool in the implementation of such a vision is represented by the Living Labs (e.g., European network of Living Labs), whose goal is the undertaking innovative projects that make a difference to lead by example, adopting best practices and pushing for their adoption by others and developing public-private-people partnerships. In line with this, defining concrete list and detail of requirements such as infrastructure, collaboration, policy support, standardization and regulations is also one desirable direction to ensure the smooth scaling of ICT4G initiatives in the foreseeable future. Clearly, this it is impossible without a strong commitment of all the involved actors and a solid leadership.

REFERENCES Aibar, E., & Urgell, F. (2004). E-government and Public Services: a Case Study of the Interadministrative Portal CAT365. Research Report. Barcelona: UOC. Retrieved from http://www.uoc. edu/in3/pic/eng/pdf/PIC_Generalitat_eng.pdf Alpar, P., & Olbrich, S. (2005). Legal Requirements and Modelling of Processes in e-Government. Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 3. Avison, D. E., & Young, T. (2007). Time to Rethink Healthcare and ICT? Communications of the ACM, 50(6), 69–74. doi:10.1145/1247001.1247008 Basole, R. C. (2008). Enterprise Adoption of ICT Innovations: Multi-disciplinary Literature Analysis and Future Research Opportunities. In HICSS (p. 419). IEEE Computer Society. Boehm, B. (1988). A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement. Computer, 21(5), 61–72. doi:10.1109/2.59

Buckley, M., Kershner, H., Schindler, K., Alphonce, C., & Braswell, J. (2004). Benefits of using Socially-Relevant Projects in Computer Science and Engineering Education. In SIGCSE (pp. 482–486). New York: ACM. Buckley, M., Nordlinger, J., & Subramanian, D. (2008). Socially Relevant Computing. In SIGCSE (pp. 347–351). New York: ACM. Caporusso, L., Buzzi, C., Fele, G., Peri, P., & Sartori, F. (2006). Transition to Electronic Voting and Citizen Participation. In R. Krimmer (Ed.), Electronic Voting (Vol. 86, pp. 191-200). GI. Ciaghi, A., Villafiorita, A., & Mattioli, A. (2009). VLPM: A Tool to Support BPR in Public Administration. In ICDS’09 (pp. 289-293). IEEE Computer Society. Couscous, D., Lambrou, A. M., Mentzas, G., & Georgiadis, P. (2003). A Methodological Approach for Defining One-Stop e-Government Service Offerings. In Electronic Government (EGOV’03) (LNCS, pp.173–176). Dada, D. (2006). The failure of e-government in developing countries: A literature review. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 26(7), 1–10. Dunleavy, P., & Margetts, H. (2006). Digital Era Governance: IT Corporation, the state, and EGovernment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Eddowes, A. L. (2004). The Application of Methodologies in e-Government. Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 2(2), 115–126. Eshete, B., Mattiolli, A., Villafiorita, A., & Weldemariam, K. (2010). ICT for Good: Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward. In ICDS’10 (pp.14-19). IEEE Computer Society.

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Heeks, R. B. (2003). Most e-Government-forDevelopment Projects Fail: How Can Risks be Reduced? In iGovernment Working Paper Series, No 14. Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/ intradoc/groups/public/documents/NISPAcee/ UNPAN015488.pdf, 2003 Heeks, R. B. (2008). ICT4D 2.0: The Next Phase of Applying ICT for International Development. Computer, 41(6), 26–33. doi:10.1109/ MC.2008.192 Helbig, N., Gil-García, J. R., & Ferro, E. (2008). Understanding the complexity of electronic government: Implications from the digital divide literature. Government Information Quarterly, 26(1), 89–97. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2008.05.004 Lenz, R., & Reichert, M. (2005). IT Support for Healthcare Processes. In Business Process Management (pp. 354–363). LNCS. doi:10.1007/11538394_24 Menda, Y. P., Lee, D., & Persisters, V. (2010). The WAVE Platform: Utilising Argument Visualisation, Social Networking and Web 2.0 Technologies for eParticipation. To appear in the International Conference on Methodologies, Technologies and Tools enabling e-Government (MeTTeG10). Misuraca, G. (2007). E-Governance in Africa: From Theory to Action. A Handbook on ICTs for Local Governance. Africa World Press/IDRC. Olbrich, S., & Simon, C. (2008). Process Modelling towards e-Government – Visualisation and Semantic Modelling of Legal Regulations as Executable Process Sets. Electronic. Journal of E-Government, 6(1), 43–54. Retrieved from www.ejeg.com. Qureshi, S., & York, A. S. (2008). Information Technology Adoption by Small Businesses in Minority and Ethnic Communities. In HICSS (pp. 447). IEEE Computer Society.

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Rappard, W. (1923). Democracy Vs. Demagogy. [The Academy of Political Science.]. Political Science Quarterly, 38(2), 290–306. doi:10.2307/2142637 Royce, W. (1987). Managing the development of large software systems: concepts and techniques. In ICSE ’87 (pp. 328–338). IEEE Computer Society Press. Shvaiko, P., Villafiorita, A., Zorer, A., Chemane, L., Fumo, T., & Hinkkanen, J. (2009). eGIF4M: e-Government Interoperability Framework for Mozambique. In EGOV’09 (LNCS, pp. 328–340). Suomi, R. (2005). Governance Structures for IT in the Health Care Industry. In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (II) (pp. 1305–1308). Thaens, M., Bekkers, V., & van Duivenboden, H. (1997). Business Process Redesign and Public Administration: a Perfect Match? In Taylor, J. A., Snellen, I. Th. M., & Zuurmond, A. (Eds.), Beyond BPR in Public Administration: An Institutional Transformation in an Information Age (pp. 15–36). Amsterdam: IOS Press. UNDP. (2007). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). e-Government Interoperability: A Review of Government Interoperability Frameworks in Selected Countries. UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok. UNDP. (2007b). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). e-Government Interoperability: Guide. UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok. Weldemariam, K., & Villafiorita, A. (2008). Modeling and Analysis of Procedural Security in (e) Voting: The Trentino’s Approach and Experiences. In EVT’08. Berkeley, CA: USENIX Association. Weldemariam, K., Villafiorita, A., & Mattioli, A. (2007). Assessing Procedural Risks and Threats in e-Voting: Challenges and an Approach. In VOTEID (LNCS, pp. 38-49).

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Willcocks, L., Currie, W., & Jackson, S. (1997). Radical Re-Engineering and Information Systems: Evidence from UK Public Services. In Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference In Information Systems, Cork, June 19-21st.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ICT for Good (ICT4G): An approach to ICT that focuses on addressing critical problems of societies where ICT penetration is low in a way that life is impacted for the better and the impacts are tangible. e-Governance: The usage and adoption of ICT to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. Interoperability: the ability of government organizations to share information and integrate information and business processes by use of common standards. Government adopting and using common standards to ensure agencies and their partners can work together, and users can access government services and information. E-Voting: One of the many forms of voting systems that allows a voter to record his or her secure and secret ballot electronically. Living-Labs: An environment, a methodology, and/or a system in which ICT-based innovations and solutions are developed in a user-centric fashion and deployed in real-world contexts. User-Centric Approach: An approach where the needs, wants, and limitations (or feedback) of end-users of an application and/or a system are

given extensive attention through each individual stage of the design and development process. Service-Oriented Architecture: (SOA): A collection of services that communicate with each other by involving either simple data passing or it could involve two or more services coordinating some activity [http://www.service-architecture. com/].

ENDNOTES 1



2



5 3 4

6



It is touchscreen-based machine that produces a printout of each vote, verified directly by the voter, to maintain a physical and verifiable record of the votes cast. There are about 600 polling stations in Trentino. The general electoral turns involved all of them. The size of electronic experiments was mainly limited by the number of e-voting machines available and by logistics. http://www.elezioni.provincia.tn.it http://ict4g.fbk.eu/vlpm/ “Sitios del Gobierno en Internet”. Electronic Edition of ABC Newspaper. Asunción, Paraguay. http://www.abc.com.py/ abc/nota/78147-Sitios-del-Gobierno-enInternet/, 2010 Acronyms of figure 1 are: PMD (Programming Mistake Detector available at http:// pmd.sourceforge.net/meaning.html), JUnit (Java Unit available at http://www.junit. org), JavaDoc (available at http://java.sun. com/j2se/javadoc/), Subclipse (available at http://subclipse.tigris.org/)

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Chapter 24

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society: The Case of Latin America Leonardo Pineda Serna Universidad del Rosario, Colombia

ABSTRACT It has become increasingly evident that knowledge is intimately associated with strategic innovation (i.e. as a deliberate action allowing the benefits arising from new technological changes to produce better conditions for being able to become part of the so-called knowledge society). Several academic studies and empirical investigations carried out by international organisms have agreed on this point. However, Latin-America (including Caribbean countries) are still far from achieving levels above the world average, there being very few exceptions which thereby seem more to corroborate the rule. One difficulty seems to stem from the low level of ICT positioning in the region’s countries, as well as the lack of research and development policies and innovation strategies for improving such countries’ competitiveness (and that of the region taken as a whole). This chapter proposes schemes which would provide a viable solution to the quandary which Latin-America is in.

INTRODUCTION Rapid technological change, along with the great advances being made in information and communication technologies (ICT), biotechnology and DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch024

new materials, presents a series of opportunities and challenges for society and countries’ production structure. Those countries which do not manage to adapt to the transformations imposed by new technologies, especially in industry, agriculture, health, the environment, energy and education, run the fatal risk of lagging behind in terms of

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development and welfare. In the particular case of developing countries, the so-called digital and information technological divide separating them from the industrialised world is becoming greater. From an economic point of view, the key and repercussions on this process lie in the greater importance acquired by technology as production dynamising factor because of the changes which have been made possible regarding aspects such as the nature of the goods being produced, the markets and international competition. All the foregoing has been accompanied by (and has mainly been a consequence of) increased technological content of goods and services derived from scientific knowledge, advanced design concepts, intelligent materials, automation, software, advanced service concepts and medical and biological discoveries. It is considered that innovation plays a central role in differing economic processes within the new economics of knowledge, as pointed out by (Garnett. R. Jr, 1999). There is evidence at macro level that innovation is the dominant factor in international competitiveness and thereby in national economic growth and determining world trade patterns. R&D (resulting in innovation) at micro level (within companies) is considered to be a factor which improves a company’s capacity to absorb and exploit all types of new knowledge, not just technological know-how, thereby improving and maintaining its competitive position. Innovation is defined broadly here as the ability to develop new and better ways to organize the production and marketing of new and better products and services (Porter, 1990; Lundvall, 1992; Nelson, 1993; Nonaka, 1994; Grant, 1996). This does not mean that cost considerations are irrelevant, but simply that combined forces of the market globalization are enhancing the real impact of knowledge as an intangible resource and learning as a production process. Furthermore, innovations frequently occur as a result of a link interaction between multiple elements, rather than an effort of an isolated individual (Håkansson, 1987; von Hippel, 1988;

Lundvall, 1992). This fits with a Schumpeterian view of innovation as a new mix of already existing knowledge with organizing production process and entering new markets in unconventional ways by improving or redesigning goods (Schumpeter, 1934). All of this confirms not only the statement that organizations are unable to compete as lonely agents but also that a system interaction is needed in order to shape the innovation process. This is a key factor regarding the interaction of different players and regional conditions on a cluster organization. Technological development, however, refers to activities involved in steering an invention towards having a practical use. The Green Paper on Innovation states that, “In the context of this document, innovation is taken as being a synonym for the successful production, assimilation and exploitation of novelty in the economic and social spheres. It offers new solutions to problems and thus makes it possible to meet the needs of both the individual and society” (European Commission, 1995).

ISSUES AROUND KNOWLEDGE BASED DEVELOPMENTAND THE ROLE OF INNOVATION Background Knowledge-based development has been analysed within several academic contexts. The UNESCO World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) report (presented at the 2005 Tunis Summit) stated that “Does the aim of building knowledge societies make any sense when history and anthropology teach us that since ancient times, all societies have probably been each in its own way, knowledge societies?” (UNESCO, 2005). One of knowledge societies’ central elements concerns, “Capabilities for identifying, producing, treating, transforming, disseminating and using information to build and apply knowledge for

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human development” (UNESCO, 2005). Such societies therefore, “Require an empowering social vision which encompasses plurality, inclusion, solidarity and participation” (UNESCO, 9th and 10th October 2003). This thus provides the source for modern knowledge-based development where new objectives are focused on human resource-based development and a strong knowledge economy system leading to the knowledge society era. This is a society where most workers will be producing, managing and distributing information or encoded knowledge (i.e. working more with intellectual effort or with neurons rather than with physical effort or their hands). The “organisational change” which the knowledge society brings with it is thus not an isolated event but is rather directed by the need for improving human talent’s competitiveness and is linked to and has complementarities with technological changes and the knowledge company, and thus the market. Such aspects are attractive due to their intricate complexity and have led several authors to consider that they may be regarded as being the main characteristics of the new knowledge economy and knowledge enterprise era. James Brian Queen has pointed out in his book entitled “Intelligent Enterprise” that knowledge has come to account for three-quarters of the manufacturing sector’s added value (Brian, 1992). Don Tapscott and Arc Carston have identified discontinuity between machines and the information era in “Paradigm Shift. The New Promise of Information Technology” (Tapscott, 1993), which has led to national economies being restructured to form production sectors which are more orientated towards creating, using and disseminating knowledge. Today, this is reflected by the growth of exports in technology- and knowledge-intensive goods from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC) countries. Don Tapscott has also visualised a new organisational modality (the virtual network) in his book

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entitled, “The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence” (Tapscott D., 1996). Concomitant with the new economy, the fact of being networked leads to profound and rich interconnection within organisations. Such new organisation becoming interconnected is made possible by the modular and independent integration of its organisational components. Individualism’s traditional view is replaced by a network logic-based economy, this being a network which has no centre. All nodes are important and become strengthened depending on how many more members there are. It is the new icon of interdependence. The power of the network is greater than the individual power of each of its components since they cause a migration of the value of place to the value of “space” (Weill, 2001). This eliminates physical and temporal restrictions hampering team formation. New properties have appeared regarding such profound characterising of new business: Firstly: convergence: products, companies, technologies and business are engaged in the full process of becoming integrated. Business being developed in different fields becomes combined within entrepreneurial clusters where each participates differently and where all have to collaborate in developing the new sector on becoming integrated into the production value chain. Secondly: interactivity: the real time era. Facts and events are communicated at the exact same time as they are happening. The new technologies ensure linking between different network nodes. Events are experienced by all parts at the same time and all parts can play an active role in such exchange. Thirdly: versatility: this is one of the new knowledge-based economy’s inherent characteristic. Companies must develop the ability to reinvent themselves and, above all, to improve so that they can increase strategic innovation capacity. This is the key for companies on the road to new business. This means escaping from the vicious circle

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of innovation in products, processes, services and business models to create an industrial ecosystem where the leitmotif will become the company as strategically innovative unit (i.e. aligned with its organisational strategy). Fourthly: customisation: consumers demand products adjusted to their particular needs in the new markets. The strategy employed is mass personalisation, not mass products. Intelligent products and services are in demand today. It should be noted that the new technological paradigm is transforming the entrepreneurial scenario. Such paradigm menaces traditional companies’ survival, promotes new markets, makes accumulated skills become obsolete, facilitates globalisation and is forcing the creation of knowledge enterprises. To this must be added the fact that techno-globalisation (the internationalisation of research and technological development) and new technologies have set radical technological and organisational change in motion which must become maintained in the foreseeable future. Traditional competitive advantages have lost ground and work must now be done at an incomparably more rapid rhythm than at the end of the 20th century for developing new knowledge economybased competitive advantages. New theories of economic growth are now based on the fact that the forces behind lasting development are increased knowledge and technological change and not the pure and simple accumulation of capital or machinery and equipment having a high technological content. Furthermore, even though new technologies facilitate increased production, it is considered that entrepreneurial management (especially strategic management associated with strategic and systemic thinking) will be the key factor contributing most towards preparing organisations for operating satisfactorily in an environment characterised by hyper-competitiveness, resulting from greater internationalisation of economies and companies.

Better Practice for Forming Knowledge Regions or Cities A region or knowledge city is a strategic innovation centre, a city or region in which the ICT and technology sectors represent an important component of GDP growth. It is also a site at which the technology-based entrepreneurial spirit prospers, creating wealth and high value-added jobs for the local community, as formulated by (Gibson, 1992). Such city/region’s distinctive e-governance framework is the dynamic marketing of technology amongst public and private sectors for boosting economic development and technological diversification. A mature region produces a continuous flow of innovations, provides many mechanisms for bringing such innovation from the laboratory to the market and has a rich network of structures facilitating and supporting such process. The result is a constant flow of new ideas which become transformed into new, high-growth business. The objective of knowledge cities is thus to strengthen regions’ R&D capacity in technology and strategic innovation so that they can attract or retain highly qualified personnel and technologically advanced activities in the region’s production sectors, as well as assisting other regions by fomenting innovation which could result in local economy diversification. The following action for forming knowledge cities is thus proposed within such context: •

•

•

Strengthening regions’ physical installations for R&D in technology and innovation; Supporting the creation or development of R&D technology and innovation capacity in a small number of research fields and for a small number of research centres (including universities); and Prioritising pre-competitive R&D in technology and innovation considered important for broadening the regions’ economic

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Table 1. Key Competitive Factors for Knowledge Cities Type of Capital

Definition

1. Identity capital

Capability to create and evolve a distinctive and well-positioned urban personality.

2. Intelligence capital

Capability to identify/foresee and adequately respond to significant agents and events.

3. Financial capital

Capability to generate and sustain a healthy monetary base

4. Relational capital

Capability to develop quality interactions with all significant internal and external agents.

5. Human Individual capital

Capability to create conditions for the full biological and psychological development of residents.

6. Human Collective capital

Capability to enhance the goal achievement potential of its constituent communities.

7. Instrumental-material capital

Capability to take advantage of location and to build and renew a world-class physical infrastructure.

8. Instrumental-knowledge capital.

Capability to transfer knowledge and foster innovation in all major areas of city life.

Source: MAKCi

potential. This will also favour investigation having a direct relationship with potential regarding natural resources and the region’s specific environmental conditions and that of adjacent regions.

International Benchmarking of Knowledge Cities The 2008 Most Admired Knowledge Cities (MAKCi) report states that, “Creating and sustaining knowledge cities also involves benchmarking for identifying those cities and regions setting the pace through their knowledge-driven, global competitive edge (page 9)” (The World Capital Institute & TELEOS, 2008). Despite the young age of the knowledge cities field, a number of comparative frameworks have already been proposed to assess the relative importance of different development factors relative to specific explanatory and technical approaches. Amongst such approaches, emerging frameworks provided by an integral identification, evaluation and systematic development of a city’s traditional and knowledge capital seem to be arousing interest amongst cohorts of international experts. The following Table 1 describes MAKCi’s key competitive factors. MAKCi were selected from different parts of the world in 2008 based on such key competitive

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factors; no Latin-American city was included, nominated or proposed for inclusion. MAKCi outcome seems to be corroborated by the World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology KAM (World Bank, 2010), as it indicates “The application of knowledge, as manifested in areas such as entrepreneurship and innovation, research and development, software and product design, and in people’s education and skills levels, is now recognised to be one of the key sources of growth in the global economy” (World Bank, 2009). Countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Finland, China and Chile illustrate the rapid progress which can be made over relatively short periods of time by pursuing coherent strategic approaches towards building their country’s ability for creating, accessing and using knowledge. An actual and relative value is available for each variable (normalised on a scale of 0 to 10 relative to other countries in the comparison group) to allow flexible, cross-country comparison. The KAM methodology’s strength lies in its cross-sector approach, allowing a user to take a holistic view of a wide range of relevant factors rather than just focusing on one area. The variables serve as proxies for the 4 pillars of the knowledge economy framework: •

An economic and institutional regime providing incentives for the efficient use of

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Table 2. Cities Finalists of MAKCi 2008 Cities in alphabetical order (Finalists in bold)

Region

Total vote %

1. Bangalore, India

Southern Asia

8.8

2. Boston, USA

North America

2.9

3. Brisbane, Australia 4. Donostia, San Sebastian, Spain 5. Dubai, United Arab Emirates 6. Holon, Israel 7. Manchester, U.K. 8. Melbourne, Australia

Australasia

4.9

Southern Europe

2.0

Middle East

5.9

Middle East

3.9

Northern Europe

7.8

Australasia

5.9

9. Montreal, Canada

North America

6.9

10. Nuremberg, Germany

Northern Europe

2.0

11. Ottawa, Canada

North America

7.8

12. Pune, India

Southern Asia

2.0

13. Seattle, USA

North America

1.0

14. Seoul, Korea 15. Sheffield, U.K.

Northern Asia

0

Northern Europe

0

Asia

5.9

16. Shenzhen, P.R. China 17. Singapore, Singapore

Southern Asia

7.8

18. Stockholm, Sweden

Northern Europe

4.9

19. Valencia, Spain

Southern Europe

6.9

Central Europe

2.0

20. Zurich, Switzerland Source: MAKCi 2008 Report

• •

•

existing and new knowledge and the flourishing of entrepreneurship; An educated and skilled population for creating, sharing and using knowledge well; An efficient innovation system of firms, research centres, universities, consultants and other organisations for tapping into the growing stock of global knowledge, assimilating and adapting it to local needs and creating new technology; and ICT for facilitating effective information creation, dissemination and processing.

Contrary to some beliefs, the knowledge economy concept does not necessarily revolve around high technology or information technology. For example, yield can be increased significantly by

applying new techniques to subsistence farming or using modern logistical services can enable traditional craft sectors to serve broader markets than before (World Bank, 2005). 1

THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY FRAMEWORK Main Features of a Knowledge Economy Any economy essentially becomes a knowledge economy through the sustained use and creation of knowledge at the centre of its economic development. A knowledge economy (KE) is one which uses knowledge as the key to economic growth.

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It is an economy where knowledge is acquired, created, disseminated and used effectively to enhance economic development. It has been found that successful transition to a KE typically involves elements such as long-term investment in education, developing innovation capability, modernising the information infrastructure and having an economic environment which is conducive to market transactions. These elements have been termed by the World Bank as being, “K4D’s Four Pillar KE Framework.” (The Wordl Bank Institute, Bruno Laporte, 2007) More specifically, the four KE framework pillars are: •

•

•

•

An economic incentive and institutional regime providing good economic policies and institutions permitting efficient resource mobilisation and allocation and stimulating creativity and incentives for the efficient creation, dissemination and use of existing knowledge; Educated and skilled workers who can continuously upgrade and adapt their skills to create and use knowledge efficiently; An effective innovation system of firms, research centres, universities, consultants and other organisations which can keep up with the knowledge revolution and tap into the growing stock of global knowledge and assimilate and adapt it to local needs; and A modern and suitable information infrastructure which can facilitate the effective communication, dissemination and processing of information and knowledge.

The KE framework thus asserts that investing in the four KE pillars is necessary for sustained creation, adoption, adaptation and use of knowledge in domestic economic production, consequently resulting in higher value-added goods and services. This would tend to increase the probability of economic success and, hence, economic develop-

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ment in today’s highly competitive, globalised, world economy. KAM comparisons are based on 80 structural and qualitative variables serving as proxies for the four KE pillars. Data for 128 countries and 9 regional groupings are currently available in KAM. The most recent version of KAM 2005) assesses a country or region’s KE-based position on: • • •

•

A global scale (comparing it to all 128 countries available in the KAM database); A regional scale (comparing it to countries in the same region); Human development (comparing it to other countries in the same human development category); and Income level (comparing it to other countries in the same income bracket).

The Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) for Latin American and Caribbean Countries The KAM knowledge economy index (KEI) is an aggregate index representing a country or region’s overall development level in the KE. It summarises performance regarding the four KE pillars and is constructed as being the simple average of the basic scorecard’s normalised values from the 12 knowledge indicators. The basic scorecard can thus be seen as a disaggregated representation of the KEI. Country-level data should be carefully analysed since it could be poorly interpreted if not. It is obvious that, in spite of Barbados occupying position 41 on KEI ranking for all countries, and being number one in the region, it is a small country having a production structure concentrating on tourism and the economy’s primary sector. However, it has the highest ICT index for all countries which it has unquestionably obtained as it has the greatest telecommunications infrastructure coverage, placing it at similar levels to that of regions having greater development, like

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Table 3. Key KAM indicators for Latin American and Caribbean Countries, 2005 KEI

KI

Economic Incentive Regime

Innovation

Education

ICT

Barbados

7.16

7.58

5.92

7.63

8.09

7.00

Rank

Country

41

3

42

-3

Chile

7.09

6.53

8.76

6.85

6.48

6.27

46

-3

Uruguay

6.49

6.54

6.35

5.37

7.79

6.45

50

-8

Costa Rica

6.03

5.84

6.60

6.25

5.19

6.07

54

15

Brazil

5.66

6.11

4.31

6.19

6.02

6.13

55

91

Dominica

5.65

5.47

6.19

3.67

6.40

6.34

57

2

Trinidad and Tobago

5.59

5.49

5.88

6.10

4.43

5.95

59

-19

Argentina

5.57

6.50

2.78

6.89

6.64

5.96

67

-12

Mexico

5.33

5.42

5.06

5.82

4.88

5.56

70

-20

Panama

5.16

5.10

5.35

5.35

4.90

5.06

74

-12

Jamaica

4.90

5.19

4.01

5.03

4.13

6.41

75

-3

Colombia

4.84

5.02

4.27

4.48

5.09

5.50

77

1

Peru

4.79

4.88

4.49

3.87

5.61

5.16

83

0

Cuba

4.36

5.37

1.31

5.14

8.36

2.61

87

-17

Venezuela, RB

4.18

5.41

0.48

5.46

5.33

5.46

91

2

El Salvador

4.06

3.74

5.02

3.29

3.37

4.56

92

-8

Paraguay

4.00

4.15

3.56

3.90

4.25

4.29

94

-15

Ecuador

3.90

4.55

1.94

4.00

4.52

5.12

96

0

Dominican Republic

3.85

3.77

4.09

2.91

4.39

4.03

101

-16

Bolivia

3.46

3.61

3.01

2.95

4.81

3.08

107

-3

Honduras

3.21

3.09

3.59

3.16

2.97

3.13

110

-1

Guatemala

2.89

2.69

3.50

2.01

2.75

3.31

111

-5

Nicaragua

2.81

2.60

3.46

2.09

3.09

2.61

146

-25

Haiti

n/a

n/a

2.41

1.54

n/a

3.16

AVERAGE

Latin America & Caribbean

5.21

5.37

4.71

5.80

5.05

5.27

AVERAGE

All Countries

5.95

6.19

5.21

8.11

4.24

6.22

Source: World Bank KAM

Europe and Central Asia (6.46), different to the EU and the G7, as well as east Asian and Pacific countries (6.64) and above that of the average for all countries (6.22). It is interesting to note that other Caribbean countries having similar size and structure (such as the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and even Cuba) have much lower KEI than Barbados has. Chile occupies second place, this having been made evident as it is a country that has achieved

a degree of development placing it amongst those emergent countries which have managed to change their production structure; nevertheless, it still has great dependence on copper mining. Its economic incentive index (EII) is the highest for all countries, including the most advanced ones and those having the greatest income (8.71 for Western Europe and 8.15 for G7 countries). Likewise, the Chilean economy is recognised for the aggressive policy which has been adopted during the last two decades in that concerning

431

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

sound innovation strategies and modernisation policies regarding the educational system. However, the ICT Index ranks it slightly below the average for all countries (i.e. 6.22). The first ten countries in the ranking from the region (i.e. as far as Panamá) appreciate that whilst Barbados is ranked in 41st place, Panamá is in 70th place, meaning that other countries from other regions are situated in better conditions regarding the knowledge society. The distance between the first 8 is relatively small; however, this is becoming more evident in the case of México (67) and Panamá (70) where their ICT index rating is also well below the world average. A sine qua non condition for the knowledge society is the innovative capacity which countries must reach (i.e. to reach the status of innovative developing country - IDC). The World Bank’s Innovation Index (KAM) shows a region which has not managed to develop such capacity, this being symptomatic and providing evidence of the divide between developed and developing countries regarding the challenges of the knowledge society.

Quo Vadis Latin-America Vis-à-Vis the Knowledge Society Regarding such developments, it is worth asking oneself, “Quo Vadis Latin-America?” This is because everything seems to indicate that LatinAmerica is suffering from what one could call a paradigmatic Latino-sclerosis which is hampering the region from assuming an accelerated rhythm towards the new knowledge economy. The interpretations which can be made of the World Bank-KAM figures show that LatinAmerica and Caribbean countries taken as a whole are at very inferior levels, not just regarding developed regions but also in relation to regions having a similar degree of development. In a certain way such data thus answers the question why countries from the region do not fulfil the minimum requirements to become incorporated into the knowledge society.

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It can thus be said that R&D in technology and innovation in Latin-America continues being characterised by (Bortagaray & Scott2000): • • • •

•

Generally low technological R& intensity; Public sector over-representation and less private sector presence; Primary emphasis on basic research and very low concentration on applied research; Low levels of technology transfer between public and private sectors and within the private sector itself; and Little involvement with international R&D in technology and innovation networks.

These qualitative differences lead one to think that investing public funds in R&D in technology and innovation activities in Latin-America and the Caribbean could produce fewer economic benefits than investing in countries’ other traditional production activities. There will thus have to be more emphasis on the private sector. Companies must participate more in R&D in technology and innovation and regional public authorities must facilitate such participation by promoting risk capital and offering other incentives for stimulating activities such as e-business. Countries from the region should implement R&D in technology and innovation technology transfer-associated regional strategies for developing the information society; these should have the following main objectives: •

•

•

Creating a clear strategic framework for integrating innovation into the region’s production structure; Creating cooperation networks amongst companies and between companies and the public sector; and Reinforcing the supply of R&D in technology and innovation in the region.

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Table 4. Key KAM indicators at Regional Level and by Income Level, 2005 Regions KEI

KI

Economic Incentive Regime

Innovation

Education

ICT

Western Europe

8.76

8.78

8.71

9.27

8.29

8.78

Rank

Region

1

1

2

-1

G7

8.72

8.91

8.15

9.19

8.75

8.80

3

2

Europe and Central Asia

6.45

6.69

5.71

6.99

6.62

6.46

4

-1

East Asia and the Pacific

6.41

6.71

5.52

8.49

5.00

6.64

5

-1

All Countries

5.95

6.19

5.21

8.11

4.24

6.22

6

0

Middle East and North Africa

5.47

5.68

4.86

7.57

3.75

5.71

7

0

Latin America

5.21

5.37

4.71

5.80

5.05

5.27

8

0

Africa

2.71

2.72

2.68

4.31

1.38

2.45

9

0

South Asia

2.58

2.55

2.65

3.29

1.92

2.45

Income Groups Rank

Income Level

KEI

KI

Economic Incentive Regime

Innovation

Education

ICT

1

0

High Income

8.23

8.30

8.02

9.02

7.47

8.42

2

0

Upper Middle Income

5.66

5.85

5.08

6.03

5.63

5.89

3

0

Lower Middle Income

3.78

4.04

3.01

4.96

3.32

3.85

4

0

Low Income

2.00

1.98

2.05

2.52

1.61

1.82

Source: World Bank KAM

Latin-America and Caribbean countries must consider four critical factors for reducing such innovation divide: •

•

•

•

Technology: an ongoing source of innovation which could become the basis for a new production structure regarding sectors having greater added-value in technology; Human talent: a highly-trained work-force at all levels, having the abilities and skills to become incorporated into new conditions regarding the knowledge economy; Capital: access to financing from different sources and a way for investors to obtain a yield on their investment; and Know-how: a technology transfer and knowledge structure from world-class centres of excellence, consolidating communities of practice and learning with a network

of mentors, assessors, models to imitate and service providers. Strategic innovation is increasingly considered to be a complex, dynamic process covering many social and economic factors, and a large amount of people, companies and institutions. The latter’s capacity for applying new knowledge via a cumulative learning process is linked to the whole economy through an information and knowledge diffusion system and determines an economy’s capacity for generating competitive advantages associated with technological change. Such new systematic approach towards promoting innovation determines the need to pursue three independent objectives: •

Promoting a favourable setting leading to innovation and technology becoming assimilated by society. This principle

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Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

•

•

supposes concentring on the fundamental objectives’ main agents (companies, innovation support structures, technology providers and those responsible for R&D programmes) and demands their direct (and wholehearted) participation. Encouraging the creation of an open space for the diffusion of technology and knowledge. This type of model will have to play a catalysing role by creating synergies amongst initiatives established with the same purpose in mind. This must take place within national science and technology programmes and also other regional and national policies and strategies, making the best possible use of the diversity of existing approaches within countries and stimulating a common learning process. Supplying appropriate and suitable technology in the knowledge society. Regional efforts must be concentrated on the demonstration phase and on conceiving and experiencing suitable technology diffusion processes. Initiatives visibility must be raised and they must also be encouraged and supported both within the programme and at regional or national level.

Applying the necessary measures will be guided by policies and strategies governed by operational methods and procedures in line with the foregoing philosophy and objectives. The common objective is to reinforce regions’ competitive capacity, thereby guaranteeing that the policies and strategies adopted in R&D in technology and innovation become integrated within the context of knowledge cities. National and regional authorities and economic operators must thus be made more aware of the need for: •

434

Reinforcing countries’ ability to integrate R&D in technology and innovation into their national economic development;

•

•

•

Improving learning processes so that companies can make themselves more innovative; Helping companies and institutions to respond to problems regarding their adaptation to new ways of organising work; and Ensuring better coordination of national sector policies to help regional development efforts.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS Research in greater depth showing the knowledge society’s relationships has become necessary so that knowledge cities can be formed in line with three main elements: •

•

•

Promoting regional innovation: by concentrating innovation strategies on demand-based technological projects, promoting total quality management, developing new financing and management mechanisms and knowledge derived from best practices; Promoting the establishment of contacts and entrepreneurial technological cooperation: by developing channels of communication between companies and promoting collective activities (i.e. training, subcontracting). National innovation systems’ institutions in countries from the region must play an important role when facilitating local companies’ participation in regional programmes, even though such networks must take local conditions into account; and Developing human resources: special attention must be paid to forming and creating links between universities and research centres and, on the other hand, between universities and industry. Based technology companies must be supported in aspects related to management so that they

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

can adopt new methods and technologies more easily. Latin-American and Caribbean countries must formulate and put integrated R&D in technology and innovation strategies into practice, these being directly involved with economic development as they form part of a broader perspective. Such strategies will be implemented through coordinated local, regional and national action. The following Table 5 shows the generic strategy for ICT development in Latin-America. Five main objectives should be pursued, and for each of them a formulation, goals and activities are proposed, namely: 1. Ongoing formation and updating HR for ICT RD+I 2. Forming strategic alliances and shared ICT development 3. Strengthening strategic ICT innovation management 4. Marketing ICT RD+I results 5. Fund raising for ICT RD+I

CONCLUSION Latin-American countries still need to formulate and implement a sound strategy associating both innovation and consolidating ICT to access the knowledge society (i.e. to bridge the divide in the digital economy). The following concluding remarks have been proposed by Scheel (Scheel, 2007). The first step in the proposed framework consists of creating the conditions for building relational value collaboration networks, their flows and their appropriate environments where all players (regions, industries and enterprises) can take advantage of the support that related industries and external drivers can offer, thereby generating increasing economic value for all participants.

Once conditions have been identified as being capable of creating an appropriate environment, then structural connectivity and effective liaisons must be added amongst selected supporting players. The most visible stage is thus to create a robust framework, capable of using ITC as a catalyst for integrating the asymmetric non-associative parts into a systemic structure (an industrial grid), having a dynamic innovation and learning mechanism capable of enabling participants to become involved in a win-win, sustainable, economic cycle. This value network structure is an industrial ecosystem which, enabled by information and telecommunications technology, can generate, “Viable systems capable of converting innovation and technological cycles into business cycles, creating an effective economic value mechanism, as well as highly leveraged companies, industrial sectors and regions, as a holistic whole” (Scheel. C, 2002). Again, this procedure of networking is not simple in Latin-America where there are severe barriers to such collaboration exercise. The purpose of this stage is to formulate an integrated (not vertical integration but networked integration) extended industrial structure, capable of supporting the connectivity and the leverage of the participants, all into a continuous positive learning cycle capable of creating enough differentiation and competitive leverage until firms achieve world-class performance. In the search for innovative resources and viable frameworks, it is found in several diagnosis cases made by international non-governmental organisations, and multilateral financing system as the World Bank that have failed or simply are not sustainable in Latin American countries because their proposals don’t consider the implementation of its operations. On the other side, significant efforts have been found in diverse worldwide regions by other institutions. One of them is the work done by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) which devoted the 2002/2003 World Industrial Development Report to introducing a methodology orientated

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Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Table 5. Towards an integral strategic plan for developing ICT in Latin-America Objective

Formulation

Goals

Activities

1. Ongoing formation and updating HR for ICT R+D+I

Quantitatively and qualitatively strengthening HR potential, stimulating participation in worldclass research

Establishing coaching and/or accompaniment programmes for junior researchers

Initial training for junior investigators

Creating a dynamic setting for Latin-American HR creativity and excellence

Ensuring stability of personnel carrying out applied research Creating and fomenting interinstitutional multidisciplinary research Creating and maintaining work settings favouring human development

Modelling labour stability for research HR Supporting investigators presenting new products and new business models

Consolidating research lines according to tendencies

Identifying new and better interdisciplinary technological and scientific research opportunities

Acquiring a research team (and equipment) leading to the present and future exploitation of LatinAmerican intellectual potential

Constructing a model for ICT knowledge management and innovation in Latin-America which, together with the academic world, industry and other stakeholders, would exploit new research related to new ICT trends

Promoting the applicability of investigation in companies so that less time is spent ensuring that results are brought to the market

Supporting research lines aimed at developing projects led highly competitive teams

Promoting the development of international research staff

2. Forming strategic alliances and shared ICT development

Establishing ongoing development and training schemes aimed at promoting researchers

Establishing strategic alliances with on national and international private companies Establishing strategic alliances with national and international research institution Granting licences for developing ICT products Defining interests and benefits in collaborative projects Promoting business arising from strategic alliances Designing sustainable technological management programmes

Creating transnational research staff Acquiring research personnel and equipment allowing present and future Latin-American ICT intellectual potential to become exploited Defining strategic shared alliances and development agreement schemes regarding support for resources, capital and HR Defining interests and benefits in collaborative projects Establishing shared ICT development research agreements for product and process sustainability Organising business conferences and roundtables facilitating knowledge transfer Creating synergies providing added-value amongst companies and support entities Supporting joint research focused on improving the quality of farmto-table products Evaluating capacity and facilities for joint investigation (research and marketing)

Source: L. Pineda. Personal elaboration

continued on following page

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Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Table 5. continued Objective

Formulation

Goals

Activities

3. Strengthening strategic ICT innovation management

Optimising the use and development of better infrastructure dedicated to investigation and helping to create fresh infrastructure, according to future Latin-American ICT needs

Using Latin-American ICT plant and equipment and that of strategic allies’ laboratories

Creating a management and maintenance support system for the new research infrastructure

Updating personal in using new technology

Participative motivation entity supporting ICT clusters

Using and disseminating the technological competitive intelligence and vigilance system

Joint development and updating of the regional agenda

Strengthening research potential, particularly in key areas leading to forming ICT clusters Constructing an effective and democratic knowledge organisation stimulating scientific and technological community integration

Updating major topics on the regional agenda

Promoting and supporting local and international research networks

Involving public and private support for ICT cluster preincubation

Synergies for exchanging and divulging pertinent information on ICT topics

Obtaining accreditation as CDT par excellence

Strengthening participation in the national innovation system

Obtaining national and international certification

Notifying all partners and strategic allies regarding knowledge of and implementing the strategy and the Latin-American action plan Promoting public debate on ICT and the benefits for society Developing policies defining the role of universities in producing and divulging scientific information

4. Marketing ICT R+D+I results

Constructing business plans for being marketed with potential strategic allies, as well as divulging successful results regarding technological investigation carried out in and by Latin-America

Creating a database of cases and business plans

Exploiting new markets by using new organisational and business models leading to ICT’s greater rapprochement with society

Developing sufficient services according to needs and demands

An operating publications centre Creating the post of Technology Business Development officer

Ongoing benchmarking of best ICT practice

Defining and/or constructing models for identifying technology business having good marketing potential Constructing business plans for products having marketing potential Presenting successful business plans and results in technological research to national and international private companies Training HR in ICT-orientated technology business Training HR in intellectual and industrial property rights Designing plans and business models for ICT products and/ or services produced in LatinAmerica Designing simulation models for ICT products and their later development and/or modification Presenting research results, emphasising the type of business model for achieving results

Source: L. Pineda. Personal elaboration

continued on following page

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Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Table 5. continued Objective

Formulation

Goals

Activities

5.The search for capital for ICT R+D+I

Identifying sources of resources for financing research, managing and marketing it

Obtaining external financial resources

Identifying national and international risk capital firms

Structuring investment budgets

Identifying international ICT investigation support programmes Structuring real investment option models in business plans for products and/or services regarding ICT developed for Latin-American ICT Proposing better tax benefits to national public entities for technological investigation Designing action plans for selecting potential investors

Source: L. Pineda. Personal elaboration

towards high levels of competitiveness through linking, learning and innovation of well-structured practices (UNIDO, 2003). This organisation, together with a group of consultants, during 2001 arrived at a model based on linking, leverage, and learning mechanisms, capable of empowering the development of industrial sectors in an effective way, (Mathews, 2001), (Cooke, 2001), (Scheel, 2005 Issue Volume 9, Number 4). This enhanced approach offers the capability of reaching invaluable leadership, achieving a prolific alignment of technological innovation in production, together with business strategy and industrial strategy; all supported by information and telecommunications technologies, upgrading the firms into new repositioned value chain networks. Based on a well-structured strategic innovation system, capable of mastering the network of diverse organisations, to manage the knowledge and value flows, all aligned to a common goal: the economic, social, political and cultural development of the region. A new paradigm is essential. Determinant conditions must be created, mainly those related to building ecosystem structures which will em-

438

power industries and firms to achieve high levels of competitiveness and regional attractiveness. The innovation roadmap framework proposed in this chapter leads to: • •

•

•

Creating determinant structural conditions; Building industrial ecosystem environments coordinating all relational elements and participants networked into a competitive, attractive, cluster of world-class participants; Developing an industry dynamics’ mechanism capable of coordinating linking and leveraging learning, leading local firms into world-class leagues (Scheel, 2007); and Creating and sharing sustainable wealth through a social capital network.

Although benefits from clustering are not equal for everyone and sometimes create strong barriers unreachable by non-competitive players, efforts must be made to lower the barriers and to allow more and more firms and supporting and related industries, academia, etc., to become part of a collaborative network effect.

Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

Figure 1. Regional Innovation System (RIS) roadmap

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Strategic Innovation and the Knowledge Society

The larger the collaboration network becomes, the more added value can be shared, new advantages created and increasing returns may be shared by all current and potential participants. This is the clustering structure’s ultimate purpose. The Figure 1 proposes a roadmap for integrating the different stakeholders through a regional innovation system, as a way to fostering a strategic innovation as a key factor in the e-governance of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

REFERENCES Bortagaray, I., & Scott, T. (2000, August 28-31). Innovation clusters in Latin America. Paper presented at 4th International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation. Brian, J. (1992). Intelligent Enterprise. Boston: The Free Press. European Commission (1995). Green Paper on Innovation. Bussels: European Commission. Garnett, R. Jr. (1999). New Economics of Knowledge. London, New York: Routledge. Gibson, D., Kozmetsky, G., & Smilor, R. W. (1992). The Technopolis Phenomenon: Smart Cities, Fast Systems, Global Networks. Austin: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Grant, R. M. (1996). Prospering in dynamicallycompetitive environments: Organizational capability as knowledge integration. Organization Science, 7, 375–387. doi:10.1287/orsc.7.4.375 Håkansson, H. (1987). Corporate Technological Behaviour: Co-operation and Networks. London: Routledge. Lundvall, B.-Å. (Ed.). (1992). National Systems of Innovation: Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning. London: Pinter.

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Nelson, R. (Ed.). (1993). National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization Science, 5, 14–37. doi:10.1287/orsc.5.1.14 Pineda, L. (2002). Estrategia para la operalización del Sistema Regional de Innovación de la Región Caribe Colombiana. En: Innovación Tecnológica en el contexto del desarrollo económico y social de las regiones, el caso del Caribe Colombiano. Ediciones Universidad del Nor. En R. Abello, Innovación Tecnológica en el contexto del desarrollo económico y social de las regiones, el caso del Caribe Colombiano (pp. 303–332). Barranquilla: Universidad del Norte. Scheel, C. (2002). Knowledge clusters of technological innovation systems. Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(4), 356–367. doi:10.1108/13673270210440866 Scheel, C. (2005). Creating Economic Value Added through Enabling Technologies. Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science, 9(4), 41–59. Scheel, C. (2007). Collaborate to compete: How clustering can change the rules of globalization. Positioning businesses and industries of developing countries into world-class value systems. Monterrey, México: EGADE ITESM. Schumpeter, J. (1950). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper and Row. Tapscott, D. (1993). Paradigm Shift. The New Promise of Information Technology. McGrawHill Ryerson, Limited. Es necesario revisar esta referencia (falta la ciudad). Tapscott, D. (1996). The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Teleos (2008). 2007 Global Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Report Executive Summary. London: Teleos. The Wordl Bank Institute. Bruno Laporte ¿Bruno Laporte es autor? (2007). Building Knowledge Economies: The Critical Role of Education and ICT. Washington: The World Bank. The World Capital Institute & Teleos. (2008). The Most Admired Knowledge Cities (MAKCi) Report - 2008 Edition. London: Teleos. Unesco (2003, 9-10 October). Communiqué of the Ministerial Roundtable on “Towards Knowledge Societies”. Paris: Unesco. Unesco (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies. Paris, 2005. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Unido (2003). Innovation and learning. Vienna: Unido. Von Hippel, E. (1988). The Sources of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Weill, P. A. (2001). Place to Space-Migrating to e-business Models. Harvard. Harvard Business School Press. World Bank. (2005). The Knowledge Economy, the KAM Methodology and World Bank Operations. Washington, DC: The World Bank. World Bank. (2009). Developing Knowledge Economy Strategies to Improve Competitiveness, Knowledge for Development (K4D). Alexandria, Egypt: World Bank.

World Economic Forum. (2003). The Global Information Technology Report 2002-2003. Oxford University Press.

ADDITIONAL READING Brooking, A. (1996). Intellectual Capital. Core Asset for the Third Millennium enterprise. London: International Thompson Business Press. Carrillo, F. J. (Ed.). (2006). Knowledge Cities. Burlington, MA, USA: Elsevier. Butterworth: Heinemann. Ernst, D. (2005). The new mobility of knowledge: digital information systems and global flagship networks. In Sassen, S. (Ed.), Digital Formations in a Connected World. Published for the U.S. Social Science Research Council. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Mertins, K., Heisig, P., & Vorbeck, J. (2001). “Knowledge Management” Best practices in Europe. Berlin: Springer. Porter, M. (1998). Clusters and the New Economics of Competition. EUA. Harvard Business Review, 77–90. Porter, M. (2001). Locations, Clusters and Company Strategy. In Clark, G. L., Feldman, M. P., & Gertler, M. S. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography (pp. 253–274). New York. Porter, M., & Stern, S. (2001). Innovation: Location Matters. MIT Sloan Management Review.

World Bank. (2010, January 31). Knowledge Assessment Methodology. From www.worlbank. org/kam

Santos, J., Doz, Y., & Williamson, P. (2004). Is your innovation process global? MIT Sloan Management Review, 45(4), 31–37.

World Bank. (2010 March 15). World Bank e-Government website, hosted by the e-Government Practice Group of ICT, Definition of E-Government,2010:www.worldbank.org/egov. From e-Government Practice Group of ICT, Definition of E-Government: www.worldbank.org/egov

Sveiby, K. E. (2001). A Knowledge based Theory of the Firm to Guide Strategy Formulation. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 2(4). doi:10.1108/14691930110409651

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World Bank. (1998). World Development Report 1998: Knowledge for Development. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Digital Divide: Gap between those who have access to ICT platforms, and those lagging behind as beneficiaries of the new technological developments. E-Governance: Capability required by public and/or private institutions to formulate policies allowing sound applications of Information and Communications Technologies to improve the access of citizens to value added services. Innovation: Ideas that are converted in processes, products, services or new business models, creating value for the benefit of society.

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Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM): Methodology developed by the World Bank to evaluate the readiness of countries to participate in the new knowledge economy. Knowledge Society: Buzzword used to landmark the features of a changing world, shifting from an industrial society to a new one based on intangibles. Paradigmatic Latino-Sclerosis: Term used by the author to underline the lack of political willingness of Latin American policy makers to embark in profound social and economic transformations, and rather to accept the status quo of the countries. Strategic Innovation: Deliberate actions, which are undertaken by policy makers to foster innovation in their organizations and communities.

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Chapter 25

E-Government Clusters:

From Framework to Implementation Kristian J. Sund Middlesex University Business School, UK Ajay Kumar Reddy Adala Centre for e-Governance, India

ABSTRACT The concept of industrial clusters has received much attention in the literature over the past few decades and many examples of clusters exist today in a variety of industries, from manufacturing to services. Within such clusters, competitive cost and innovation advantages are generated through co-location. Very recently several examples of e-government clusters have emerged. This chapter offers a conceptualization of what an e-government cluster is, and how it may be different from other industrial clusters. This chapter is an attempt to formulate a framework for e-government clusters and bring out the necessary conditions for policy decisions to support the creation of such a cluster. An attempt has also been made to validate the proposed framework on the basis of case studies and to derive some recommendations to sustain the operation of e-government clusters.

INTRODUCTION Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are increasingly being used in government as indispensable tools, in an effort to transform them into efficient, effective, transparent and reliable organizations at national, regional and local levels. Electronic government (e-Government) DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch025

has been defined as the application of ICTs in transforming the internal and external relationships of governments [UN World Public Sector Report 2003]. While many governments across the world have implemented e-government projects, many have failed to live up to expectations due to the design-reality gaps, which were often not considered during the planning stages (Heeks, 2001). Since e-government is as much about government as about electronic (‘e’) (Riley, 2002),

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its implementation is likely to involve active and shared participation of several players from private, public and social sectors. Often, governments face a shortage of the right expertise, right technologies and right solutions to successfully implement e-Government projects. This situation is similar to that faced by most industries during their initial stages, especially when they set-up in new locations or regions. Subsequently, the availability of right skills and technologies improves with several firms joining the region resulting in the formation of clusters. The concept of industrial clusters has received much attention in the literature over the past few decades and many examples of clusters exist today in a variety of industries, from manufacturing to services (Porter, 1990). Recently, several projects have seen the light of day under the heading of “e-Government clusters”. Examples of these include the e-Government cluster in Hungary, Ubiquitous IT (u-IT) cluster in Korea and the GAUDI e-Government cluster of the European Union. The e-Government Cluster in Hungary has been the initiative of the private sector with active support from the Government of Hungary at local, regional and national levels. The u-IT cluster of Korea is driven by the government and primarily focuses on the development of ubiquitous technologies for the implementation of e-Government at the local level. The GAUDI eGovernment cluster is the result of the PRELUDE project initiated by the European Commission under the 5th Framework Program with an aim to establish 9 European Clusters for Innovations (ECI). The GAUDI e-Government cluster is a consolidation of the Lombardy cluster of Italy, Kouvala cluster of Finland and Catalonia cluster of Spain. Unfortunately, although the concept of industrial clusters has been widely examined in the literature, no framework has yet been developed within the context of e-Government, something from which e-government clusters such as those mentioned previously might benefit. This chapter proposes to develop such a framework answer-

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ing the basic question ‘What are the necessary pre-conditions for Government to support the creation of e-Government cluster?’ As a logical sequence to this question, an attempt has been made to address the question ‘What can be the likely success factors which sustain the operation of e-Government cluster?’. Historically, different regional economies around the world had within them specialized industries operating in the form of so-called clusters. These clusters were composed of main firms, which produce industry output, and supporting firms which actively contribute to the efficient operation of the main firms. Through a mix of competition and cooperation, such firms tend to create sustainable competitive advantages within their industry and the cluster, as compared to other isolated players of the industry (Porter, 1990). Famous examples of such regional clusters include Silicon Valley of the United States, the pharmaceutical cluster centered on Basel in Switzerland, and fashion-leather cluster of Northern Italy. Such agglomeration of firms brings about improvement and innovation owing to the mutual reinforcement of cluster-based factors, subsequently leading to sustained competitive advantage. In other words, firms within such a cluster benefit from agglomeration economies with reinforced effects. The cluster becomes a vehicle for maintaining diversity and overcoming the inward focus, inertia and inflexibility that slows or blocks competitive upgrading and new entry (Porter, 1990). It is with these advantages in mind that attempt have been made around the world to create e-Government clusters. However, it remains unclear whether the concept of cluster can be applied in the context of e-Government. Neither can one readily find a specific framework for e-Government clusters in the literature. Simply transposing the original notion of clusters, as defined by economic geographers, to the field of e-Government may not be the best way to plan or enhance such a cluster.

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The most common formulation of industry clusters is probably that of Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, made famous by his 1990 book, “The Competitive Advantage of Nations”. In this chapter we adopt a similar approach, and analyze the Porter “diamond” model of clusters from the perspective of its application to the e-Government “sector”. The e-Government clusters in Hungary, Korea and EU have been critically examined through interviews, e-mail enquiries and secondary research. The outcome of this chapter is a detailed framework on e-Government Cluster, adapted from the “diamond” model of Michael Porter, and a description of various factors to be considered when implementing e-Government clusters. Also, the importance of each factor and their role in eGovernment competitiveness has been assessed. This chapter also provides insights on critical aspects of clusters which governments should carefully examine prior to its decision on supporting the creation of e-Government cluster. The validity and necessity of physical proximity of firms while forming such e-Government clusters has also been considered, given the possibilities for remote working offered by modern ICTs. The results generated not only would guide e-Government cluster investments, but also more generally the outsourcing of e-Government projects.

CLUSTERS AND E-GOVERNMENT Clusters Defining Clusters Clustering, in broad generic terms, involves the grouping together of tasks or entities with similar goals and attributes. The subject of clusters is a traditional concept which is increasingly being used currently in diverse fields and areas to achieve goals in a collaborative and cooperative yet competitive environment. For example, a marketing

cluster involves the segmentation of customer market based on the nature of the product, age of the customer, income level of the customer etc. Similarly, a research cluster involves the grouping of teams working on a particular subject, technology, device etc. Clusters, in general, may be categorized as marketing clusters, academic / research clusters, partnership / alliance clusters, industrial clusters, project clusters, knowledge clusters etc. With the rapid growth of information and communication technologies, online partnership clusters have seen the day in the form of online communities and online forums. Today, the concept of industrial clusters is well known in management communities owing to the popular “diamond” cluster theory, published by Professor Michael Porter, explaining the reasons for growth or decline of competitiveness of a nation or region. The concept of industrial clusters has become so widely known in the management, research and industrial sector that the word “cluster” is quite often directly associated with the concept of industrial cluster. Prominent examples of industrial clusters include ICT cluster in Silicon Valley (USA), fashion leather cluster in Italy, wine cluster in California (USA), the forestry cluster in Finland and consumer electronics cluster in Japan.

The Formation of Clusters It is very interesting to study the formation of clusters in various parts of the world. The forest cluster of Finland was more of a natural phenomenon owing to the ready availability of abundant and economically accessible natural resources (Rouvinen & Ylä-Anttila, 1999). The fashion leather cluster of Italy has been the result of the continued and sustained family business inheritance, whilst the consumer electronic cluster of Japan has been due more to the specific needs and wants of its citizens. Studies have shown that a strong home demand with favorable factor conditions positively influence the development of demand-related and input-oriented industries

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in a region (Porter, 1990). Furthermore, competitive advantage in the form of location becomes an important factor in determining the survival or exit of individual firms over the course of the industry life cycle (Sund, 2006). The sustained operation of firms within clusters are said to induce the development of other firms operating in related and supporting industries, supporting the main firms producing the industry outputs. The intense rivalry among organizations in a cluster often leads to stiff competition forcing companies to enhance their product features and quality, through process improvement, technology upgrades or innovative solution deployment. The firms within the cluster tend to sub-contract their procurement and other activities to the related and supporting firms set-up within the cluster as they would be able to provide more efficient and reliable services. This would further attract firms aiming for market share in the demand for suppliers generated by the cluster. The nature of firm strategy and structure is likely to have an influence on the competitiveness of firms within the cluster, leading to improved factor conditions and demand conditions. The companies not attempting to innovate, improve and upgrade, would gradually lose ground and disappear from the cluster. The phenomenon of the formation of clusters is well explained by Michael Porter in his “Diamond” theory, which has the following four determinants. • • • •

Factor conditions Demand conditions Firm strategy, structure and rivalry Related & Supporting Industries

The reinforcement among the determinants results in the cluster being competitive, thereby, enhancing the productivity and economic potential of the region. The Porter “diamond” is illustrated in Figure 1.

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Factor Conditions The factor conditions are those essential inputs accounting for the successful operation of an industry. They drive the economy of the industry and the growth of the region. They include natural resources, demographic conditions, location geography, production facilities, investment and capital potential, the presence of highly skilled and quality human resources, research infrastructure, universities present in the region, and so forth. Demand Conditions A strong home demand is usually considered a good driver to create competitiveness within the cluster and the region. The demand may be local, regional, national or even international. A strong home demand is not necessarily a question of quantity, but largely a question of the quality demanded. More demanding customers lead to better products that ultimately will be more competitive in the global market place. Thus, a sophisticated local demand is usually considered as a take-off point to stimulate the formation of clusters (Rychen & Zimmerman, 2008). Related and Supporting Industries Firms show an increased tendency to purchase from local suppliers if no compromise is seen in quality and reliability of products and services when compared to purchases from established faroff suppliers. This would induce suppliers, which are specialized in a certain field, in setting-up their base within the cluster region. Subsequently, with time, these related and supporting firms tend to become a part of the overall value chain, enhancing the drive to innovate, improve and upgrade, strengthening their competitive position. Firm Structure, Strategy and Rivalry The attractiveness of an industry may not be reliably indicated by size, rapid growth or newness of technology, but rather by industry structure. The mechanism by which companies are created,

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Figure 1. Porter ‘Diamond’ Cluster Framework

organized and managed together with the approaches adopted by them to handle firm rivalry are known to have far-reaching and influential effect on the competitiveness of the cluster and, thereby, the economic potential of the region. It has been seen that healthy firm rivalry results in a local race to introduce new technologies, enhance productivity and lower costs.

Role of ‘Chance’ and ‘Government’ The four determinants of the cluster as illustrated above are considered by Porter as internal sources of competitiveness. He further identified the external sources of cluster competitiveness as chance and the role of government. The external sources have a potential capability to change the dynamics of cluster and, thus, reorient it in different directions. Chance Chance events may be considered as occurrences with less accountability to the circumstances in a nation and are often largely outside the power of firms (and often national government) to influence. Possible examples of chance are acts of nature, major technological breakthrough, drastic changes

in input costs such as an oil crisis, sudden shifts in financial markets, fluctuation in national or global demand, offset of war and so forth. Innovative and sustainable leadership often becomes a key word to drive competitiveness of the cluster in cases of such chance events. Government Government is quite often seen as a catalyst in the case of clusters. In some instances, governments become major buyers of the products produced in a particular cluster, for example in the case of defense goods, telecommunication equipment or aircraft. More generally though, the government is seen as a facilitator to effectively support various firms in their operations with a view to enhance competitiveness of the cluster and the region. Government policies on product standards, regulations, tax, anti-trust laws, education, and so forth, are seen to greatly influence the main forces of firm structure, strategy and rivalry, demand conditions, factor conditions and the health of related and supporting industries.

Cluster Benefits The benefits associated with clusters affect competition in three broad ways – increasing productivity, driving the pace of innovation and stimulating the creation of new businesses. A cluster allows each member to benefit as if it had greater scale or as if it had joined with others formally – without requiring it to sacrifice its flexibility. In other words, it can be said a cluster is more than just the sum of its parts. The benefits of such a cluster are listed as follows.

E-Government Defining E-Government The concept of electronic Government (e-Government) has been defined in several ways by

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various authors and organizations. Some of them are as follows. Information for Development Program (InfoDev 2002) e-Government is the use of information and communication technologies to transform government by making it more accessible, effective and accountable Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (www.oecd.org) e-Government is defined as a capacity to transform public administration through the use of ICTs World Bank (www.web.worldbank.org) e-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, Internet, Mobile Computing) that have the ability to transform relationships with citizens, businesses and other arms of government European Union Commission (www.eu.europa. eu/egovernment) e-Government is the use of ICTs in public administration combined with organizational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic services and strengthen support for public policies United Nations (www.unpan.org, ‘World Public Sector Report 2003’) e-Government is a government that applies ICTs to transform its internal and external relationships Gartner Research (Gartner Group, www. gartner.com) e-Government is the continuous optimization of government service delivery, constituency partici-

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pation and governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the internet and new media Looking at the various definitions, the definition of e-Government seems to revolve around three important issues which are as follows. 1. Implementation of ICTs 2. Organizational change 3. Transformation in internal and external relationships E-Government is thus typically seen as having a potential to optimize government processes, making them more effective and efficient. If e-Government is seen only to implement ICTs, it would be seen as an old car fitted with a new engine resulting in an inefficient and uneconomical drive. More than just the implementation of ICTs, e-Government involves the reform of government policies, relationships with various State and non-State actors, the re-engineering of operational processes, and innovation in service delivery mechanisms. Thus, the innovation involved has the power to change the relationship between levels of government and within government departments (Alberti & Bertucci 2006). ICTs need to be considered as tools to facilitate online transactions and achieve the broader goals of the government (Titah and Barki 2005). It is of course worth underlining the role of ICTs as a tool for development and not as a goal in itself (Misuraca, 2006).

E-Government Frameworks E-Government frameworks have been designed in different ways by various organizations and institutions. Since countries vary in their political mandates, traditions, cultures, legacy systems, government working norms etc., it is a well accepted fact that one single e-Government framework may not be deemed fit universally.

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This section contains some condensed examples of e-Government frameworks. GePeGi (Korea) E-Government Framework The e-Government framework designed by the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute (GePeGi), SungKyunKwan University, Seoul, Korea comprises of three factors: demand factors, supply factors and policy factors (Korea e-Government 2007). The supply factors are related to the development of ICTs and include network infrastructure, hardware infrastructure and application infrastructure. The demand factors are related to the maturity of civil society and include information management, e-capacity and economic support. The policy factors are related to the maturity of government and include IT policy, Institutional and Legal support policy and IT manpower policy. NISG (India) E-Government Framework The National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), India, is of the view that the full potential of e-Government can be realized only through a focused attention on people, process, technology and resources appropriately (Satyanaryana, J 2004), which are viewed as the four pillars of e-Government framework. The people pillar is related to the human element involved in e-Government and includes training, capacity building, change management, institution building, organization structure, governance structure, consultancy, monitoring, evaluation, awareness and communication. The process pillar is related to government workflows which need to be re-examined and includes process design and development, administrative reforms, process re-engineering, program / project management, procurement, and service levels. The technology pillar is related to the deployment of technologies in government and includes enterprise architecture, information infrastructure, standards and interoperability, security and privacy policies, identity management, biometrics, private key infrastructure and digital signatures. The resources pillar relates

to the knowledge base on e-Government and includes public private partnership frameworks, service level agreement frameworks, business case analysis, mission teams, knowledge management, and user charges on services. Singapore E-Government Framework The e-Government framework designed for Singapore is based on different government interfaces with citizens (G2C), employees (G2G) and businesses (G2B). While the G2C and G2B services involve electronic service delivery as the main component, the G2G services are seen to involve knowledge management and education in information and communications (Altameem, T., Zairi, M. and Alshawi, S. 2006). The framework also suggests a strong focus on ICT infrastructure and operational efficiency in order to ensure a seamless interface and interoperability in the government interactions and transactions with employees, citizens and businesses. Common to these three e-Government frameworks, it appears that the successful implementation of e-Government is likely to involve active collaboration among various e-Government actors, including political organizations, the public sector, business organizations, trade associations, training and research organizations, citizens and civil societies, deploying right resources at the right time and promoting productivity and innovation in government.

E-Government Success Factors Many e-Government projects tend to fail owing to popular misconception of ICTs being ends rather than means (West 2007). It is important to realize the role of ICTs prior to any conceptualization of e-Government. ICTs are just a tool to provide an enabling environment to enhance efficiency and promote innovation (Misuraca, 2007). Several authors and organizations have suggested factors which account for the successful implementation of e-Government, some of which are as follows:

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•

•

•

•

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Richard Heeks (2001): The success of eGovernance depends on building e-readiness and the closure of gaps (design-reality gaps, private-public gaps, country-context gaps). InfoDev (2002): Success factors for eGovernment include process reform, leadership, strategic investment, collaboration and civic engagement. Jorg Becker (2004): The potential e-Government success factors can be viewed as organizational responsibility for Government, e-Government awareness, budgetary funding and organizational change. Altameem (2006): The critical success factors for e-Government can be categorized into governing factors, technical factors and organizational factors. Mila Gasco (2008): The key factors for the adoption of ICTs in government are political and personal leadership, strategic alignment between political strategies and IT initiatives, deployment of the encompassing institutionalization strategies, Information Technology to be a part of a more comprehensive strategy, and the management and architecture of corporate information resources.

DEFINING THE E-GOVERNMENT CLUSTER An e-Government cluster may be defined as a ‘group of inter-related and competing firms and organizations that offer products and services in the broad area of e-Government, and derive synergistic advantages from their co-location in a given region’. Typically, firms involved in e-Government services deliver hardware or software solutions to governments and government organizations

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with a view to enhance their efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accountability and reliability (Mahapatra and Perumal 2006). Services range from the identification of system requirements, which is a pre-designing phase involving interactions and discussions with government and other stakeholders in order to identify the precise needs and requirements, all the way to servicing and advising government on the use of existing systems. As e-Government is fast attaining the status of an industry sector in its own right, e-Government clusters can be thought of along similar lines as any other industry cluster, i.e. as a group of main firms operating in e-Government related software services and a group of supporting firms which operate in hardware, network, consultancy, training and research. As a necessary condition for an e-Government cluster to exist, strong demand from customers, in the form of government offices or agencies, need to be in close vicinity of the cluster. The implementation of e-Government has been gaining momentum across the globe. Owing perhaps to a shortage of e-Government expertise, as compared to other IT expertise, it is often a difficult exercise for governments to identify the right partner who can conceptualize, initiate and implement e-Government projects for them. The choice of partner is often strategic in nature, and governments are sometimes seen to favor local partners. The common practice of issuing tenders or Requests-for-Proposals (RFPs), either nationally or globally, in order to select the right partner, is at times both costly and cumbersome, involving complicated pre-qualification criteria, technical criteria and commercial quote criteria. The selection of a wrong partner in the process is seen as a potential risk, in which case governments most often have to restart the whole process once again (Jaeger, Paul, Thomson and Kim 2003). It is perhaps with this in mind that efforts have been made in certain regions to build regional competence in e-Government solutions, through the creation of clusters.

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A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK Having defined the e-Government cluster and realizing the need for productivity and innovation in government, we hereby attempt to propose a framework which can serve as a basis for understanding such clusters. The proposed framework is based on Porter “diamond” framework, which was substantiated by several clusters across various countries in the world. Since the Porter “diamond” framework is based on manufacturing industries like hardware, wine, chemical, fashion leather, consumer electronic etc., producing ready-to-use products, an attempt has been made to extend the “diamond” framework to illustrate the dynamics of e-Government cluster. Given the specificity of e-Government as a sector, the Porter “diamond” has been extended by including more constituents with a view to present a comprehensive framework for a specialized sector like e-Government. As it is believed that favorable factor conditions and demand conditions are the likely initial drivers to attract organizations to establish themselves in a region, two additional “diamonds”, the factor diamond and demand diamond, have been proposed, which would facilitate in creating favorable factor conditions and demand conditions. The factor diamond and demand diamond are based on networking dynamics among various e-

Government actors. The proposed e-Government cluster framework is therefore a combination of three diamonds, the main diamond, the demand diamond and the factor diamond. The main diamond is the original “diamond” as suggested by Porter and serves as a parent framework for the other two diamonds. The demand diamond is a framework involving various actors, whose active collaboration and cooperation is likely to generate favorable e-Government demand conditions. Unlike other industrial clusters where demand is mostly driven by the end user, the demand for e-Government is initially driven by the Government and its various agencies and organizations. The factor diamond is a framework involving various actors, whose relationship with each other is likely to create favorable e-Government factor conditions, Unlike other industrial clusters where factor conditions are more focused on the availability of raw materials, transport infrastructure and so forth, the factor conditions for an e-Government cluster specifically include the availability of skilled manpower, network and broadband services, software solutions, hardware services and other related consultancy services. The proposed framework is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Proposed e-Government Framework (based on Porter (1990))

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Main Diamond Demand Conditions The demand for e-Government services is seen as a necessary condition to enable the creation of an e-Government cluster in a region. Some of the factors which facilitate in generating favorable demand conditions are as follows. 1. Commitment to the implementation of eGovernment in all government departments, agencies and organizations. 2. Adherence to e-Government strategies to achieve e-Government vision and objectives. 3. Intention to deploy high quality and innovative e-Government solutions with strong focus on reliability and sustainability. 4. Focus to improve democracy through provision of technology to citizens. 5. Implementation of citizen participatory mechanisms through online feedback system, discussion forums, citizen surveys, messaging applications etc. 6. Strong political will and leadership to transform labor-intensive methodology to technology-intensive methodology. 7. Partnerships / relationships with other State and non-State actors in order to utilize their knowledge, skills and expertise. 8. Right attitude and mindset among staff and officials at all levels of the government.

Factor Conditions The factor conditions in a location / region may be categorized into basic factors and advanced factors. The basic factor conditions include availability of raw materials, power, land etc., and the advanced factor conditions include availability of expertise, skills, data storage centers etc. Both these factors need to be critically examined prior to setting-up of e-Government cluster. Some of the

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aspects which result in creating favorable factor conditions are as follows. 1. Easy accessibility of the region by various modes of transport. 2. Business-friendly environment at all levels of government. 3. Presence of strong telecommunication, broadband and network infrastructure ensuring reliable communication services. 4. Availability of skilled manpower (mainly engineers) in the region. 5. Willingness of skilled personnel to work in the region. 6. Presence of reasonably priced building infrastructure with basic facilities including power, security and broadband connectivity. 7. Possible presence of high capacity server infrastructure and data storage centers.

Related and Supporting Industries The related and supporting industries like IT hardware, telecommunication and so forth, are likely to impact the sustenance of an e-Government cluster as these firms provide value-added services to the main firms of the cluster. A major driver attracting and retaining the supporting industries would be the strong home demand for e-Government services resulting from a strong commitment to implement e-Government strategies. Firms specialized in hardware, telecom, network infrastructure, training, academics, research, knowledge management and consultancy would add value to the overall value chain of the e-Government cluster.

Firm Structure, Strategy and Rivalry The firm structure and strategy are often key areas to incorporate necessary changes needed to strengthen competitive position in e-Government market. Also, healthy firm rivalry is seen as an important mechanism to develop the

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Figure 3. Demand Diamond

attitude of continual improvement in delivering e-Government services. However, the presence of firm rivalry may not be seen in prominence during the initial stages of e-Government cluster formation. Subsequently, with the establishment of the e-Government cluster, firm rivalry would be seen as one of the prime factors enhancing the productivity and competitiveness among cluster members.

Demand Diamond The Demand Diamond involves active relationships among four key actors of e-Government. These are the administrative bodies and public sector in general, political organizations, business bodies and trade associations and citizens and civil societies. These determinant actors and the nature of their relationship are likely to help generate sustained demand for e-Government services. Also, these relationships are likely to transform traditional-based governments into network-based governments utilizing the right skills and expertise, readily available within the network. The Demand Diamond in Figure 3 is therefore to be seen as a map of the key actors involved in forming demand for e-Government, and we would expect to see regions with strong collaboration between these actors as being more receptive to e-Government.

Factor Diamond The advanced factor conditions needed for settingup an e-Government cluster, apart from the basic factor conditions, may be categorized broadly as: ICT infrastructure, Capital infrastructure, Skilled personnel and Knowledge. The ICT infrastructure includes network infrastructure, hardware infrastructure, broadband connectivity, software facilities, data storage infrastructure, security infrastructure and other supporting components. The ICT infrastructure would be one of the influential factors attracting firms to the e-Government cluster owing to its capability in serving as a backbone supporting numerous IT-based solutions and services. The lack of basic ICT infrastructure is often seen as a hindrance in the realization of eGovernment (Jaeger & Thomson, 2003). The factor diamond of the proposed framework involves relationships among various actors involved in creating favorable factor conditions. The factor diamond is illustrated in Figure 4. The Government through regular investment and through its e-Government projects can deploy elements like server infrastructure, network infrastructure, routing equipment and other related accessories, substantially improving the ICT infrastructure of the region (Chowdhury, Habib, Wahidul and Kushchu 2006). Likewise, the public sector contributes to the e-Government factor conditions through their strategies to implement IT solutions in their organizations. The presence of business organizations and trade associations in the region may improve basic factor conditions and some of the advanced factor conditions, which include the generation of skilled personnel and creation of knowledge societies. Training and research organizations are of course instrumental in generating skilled personnel through education, work-related training programs and research projects.

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Figure 4. Factor Diamond

CASE STUDIES In order to examine the proposed e-Government Cluster framework, three case studies of e-Government clusters are examined: the Korean u-IT Cluster, the Hungarian e-Government Cluster and the GAUDI e-Government Cluster. The analysis is based mostly on the secondary research data collected from various sources, although some critical data was obtained through telephone interviews with concerned authorities and officials. A brief description of each cluster is as follows.

u-IT Cluster, Seoul, South Korea The u-IT cluster plan has been framed for fostering industries of RFID and USN, which are the core technologies for construction of u-City and the next-generation growth drivers as clearly articulated in Korea’s IT839 strategy. The u-IT cluster is planned to form an innovative cluster by attracting related leading companies and R&D centers. Furthermore, it will build a globally-competitive cluster that can continue to grow by facilitating technological innovations in the RFID and USN industries and by creating new businesses for different value chains and contribute to the formation of the IT hub in Northeast Asia. The main purpose of this master-planned cluster, which is being developed on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land along Incheon’s waterfront, is to give opportunities to

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many leading RFID / USN companies around the world to complete RFID / USN products in the most efficient and cost-saving way. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Incheon Metropolitan City are in charge of the project and the cluster will be formed in the knowledge and information industry complex of Songdo area. They have made investments totaling $313.7 million to establish the “World’s Best Infrastructure Facility for RFID / USN technologies” with the size of the building site amounting to 81,275 sq. mtrs. in the Incheon Free Economic Zone of Songdo from 2006 to 2010. The relevant public sectors shared the view that it was important to create a world-renowned RFID / USN industrial collective complex, encompassing research, production and services. The country believes that by establishing the u-IT cluster center, the government has sought to bridge the technological gap between Korea and other technologically advanced countries (Korea IT Times 2008).

Hungarian E-Government Cluster The first Hungarian e-Government Cluster was founded in June 2007. It was a unique initiative and the only cluster Hungary has in e-Government, though plans are underway to create regional clusters in future. The e-Government Cluster aims to create an effective e-Government as well as to build a market by common enforcement of interests and harmonizing activities. The Cluster covers a wide spectrum with comprehensive specific competencies assuring the interaction of different views. The cluster members include advisor companies, consultancies, universities, system integrator companies, knowledge centers, local government and alliances of towns. While members can function independently, their ability to develop synergistic relationships and cooperate in a network has enabled them to reap the benefits of working together. However, members’ first priority has

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Table 1. Regional Clusters of GAUDI Cluster Kouvala Cluster • • • • •

IT companies National Land Survey Population Register Centre Helsinki University of Technology Lappeenranta University of Technology

Lombardy Cluster • 4 Lombardy Region General Directorate • 5 Public sector special agencies • CEFRIEL (Politecnico Milano) • 5 municipalities and provinces associations • 14 professional associations and enterprises associations • Lombardy Chambers of Commerce Union • 4 trade-unions

been to improve services significantly across the whole field of local government. The managing agent of the Hungarian eGovernment cluster is Albacomp Zrt., which is well known for its major network and system integration projects apart from operating Hungary’s largest PC and notebook assembly plant. The company has been actively involved in several IT projects, some in part funded by the Hungarian government, and has played a significant role as an integrated IT solutions provider to local governments that are in the process of setting up their local e-Government services. The cluster performed at least half a dozen projects and prepared proposals for more than a dozen projects. The cluster is looking forward to enter into partnerships with international firms and organizations to improve the competitiveness and productivity. The cluster will apply for an audit process to achieve “Accredited Polus Cluster” qualification. In the next 5-10 years, the cluster would be in a position to market itself on PanEuropean level and possibly global level.

GAUDI E-Government Cluster European Cluster for Innovation The GAUDI e-Government cluster, which was a result of the PRELUDE project initiated by the European Commission under 5th Framework

Catalonia Cluster • Consorci Localret • 800 municipalities • Catalan association of municipalities counties • Federation of municipalities • 4 Catalan provinces • Generalitat de Catalunya • 4 provincial public administration bodies • 11 Catalan municipalities • 5 universities: UoC, UPC, UB, UPF, UdG • Cat 365

Programme with an aim to establish 9 European Clusters for Innovations (ECI), provided a critical bridge to the G2C aspects suggested by GUARANTEE and the G2B aspects of the digital economy being driven by EDEn (Zalisova 2006). The GAUDI cluster was a consolidation of three regional clusters: Kouvola (Kymenlaakso) of Finland, Lombardy of Italy and Catalonia of Spain. The members of each regional cluster are shown in Table 1. The activities of the cluster included the preparation of an e-Government Roadmap, eTransaction projects, organizing the Internet Global Congress and facilitating the exchange of experiences, good practices, know-how and demonstration projects.

ANALYSIS The main ‘Diamond’ as illustrated in the proposed e-Government Cluster Framework had been firmly established by Porter based on industrial clusters across various countries of the world. Since e-Government is fast attaining the status of industry sector, bearing most of the industry characteristics, the ‘main diamond’of the proposed e-Government cluster framework has not been analyzed. The differentiating feature between e-Government clusters and industrial clusters is

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the role of demand diamond to generate demand conditions and the role of factor diamond to create favorable factor conditions. The demand diamond determinants like administrative bodies, political organizations and civil societies may not be involved for industrial clusters but are likely to have an impact for e-Government clusters. Similarly, the factor diamond determinants like the government, public sector and training organizations may not be influential for industrial clusters but are likely to have substantial contribution for e-Government clusters. The demand diamond and factor diamond have been analyzed in perspective of the three e-Government cluster cases elaborated in the previous chapter. The Demand Diamond Analysis and Factor Diamond Analysis is an attempt to examine the proposed e-Government cluster framework in the light of real-world examples, in particular its applicability for the creation and sustenance of e-Government clusters. It needs to be mentioned here that the relevant data on the three clusters was collected through the following mechanisms: • •

• •

Websites, publications and journals Interactions with concerned officials during the modules of the Executive Master in e-Governance, EPFL e-Mail enquiries Telephonic interviews

Every attempt has been made to collect as much relevant information as possible so as to achieve near-real analysis.

Demand Diamond Analysis The demand diamond analysis, which has been based on the level of involvement exhibited by each demand diamond determinant in the generation of demand for e-Government, for each of the clusters, is as follows.

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u-IT Cluster, South Korea The ubiquitous IT Cluster at Incheon is driven by strong demand generated by the Vision 2030 of Korea, which has e-Government as one of the core driving forces, along with the u-IT strategy, IT839 strategy and u-Korea strategy. The u-IT Cluster is a key initiative of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Incheon Metropolitan Authority, with relevant public sectors sharing a common view. It can be derived that the political organizations, administrative bodies and public sector had a very high level of involvement in generating demand for ubiquitous services, which in-turn are directly linked to the generation of demand for e-Government services. Korea had been implementing ICTs as early as 1980s with the active involvement of its ICT industries. The government was instrumental in establishing basic infrastructure through 11 key e-Government projects during 2002-03 and 31 e-Government Roadmap projects during 2003-07. It is likely that the successful implementation of e-Government projects, due to the active involvement of ICT industries, associations and other research organizations, would have stimulated government to visualize achieving a ubiquitous society. Business organizations had a high involvement while generating demand for future ubiquitous technologies like RFID and USN. The role of citizens and civil societies in generating the demand for ubiquitous services seems unclear, indicating a possible low level of involvement, except for the mention in the Vision 2030 document to understand customer’s needs and offer quality services in a timely manner.

E-Government Cluster, Hungary The Government of Hungary published a document on ‘Information Society’ as early as 1999 and issued the first version of the National Information Society Strategy in 2001, which had the implementation of e-Government as one of

E-Government Clusters

the priority areas. The Hungarian Parliament launched the e-Parliament programme to support the modernization of Parliament. Also, the Hungarian Parliament adopted the Act of Freedom of Information by electronic means in 2005, with a goal to establish the legal environment required to create a transparent Digital State. The Hungarian Government formulated the e-Administration Development Strategy 2007-13 which contains the ePublic Administration 2010 strategy. These series of events indicate a high level of involvement from the government (administrative bodies and public sector) in generating demand for e-Government services. Also, since the politicians from various political organizations approved the formulation of e-Parliament and other ICT projects, it shows that the political organizations had considerable involvement in initiating e-Government projects. Hungary had been implementing e-Government projects since the year 2002 with the help of local and national firms. Due to insufficient domain knowledge within government, they often ended up purchasing expensive high capacity servers and computing equipments beyond their actual needs. The government seemed to greatly benefit from the e-Government cluster as it reduced unnecessary expenditure and enabled it to have a better view of the new system. The involvement of citizens and civil societies in generating demand for e-Government seems to be unclear, indicating a possible low level of involvement, as it was found unmentioned both in secondary research and telephonic interviews.

GAUDI E-Government Cluster The GAUDI Cluster is a consolidation of three regional clusters (Lombardy Cluster of Italy, Kouvala Cluster of Finland and Catalonia Cluster of Spain) with IT companies, administrative bodies, universities, public sector, business associations, trade unions and other government agencies as members. Unlike the previous two clusters, the GAUDI cluster operates on partnerships among

the regional clusters. The physical presence of an organization within a region was not treated as a necessary condition. The cluster had a focused objective to support, promote, contribute and lead e-Government in the European Arena, thus generating demand for e-Government. The administrative bodies and public sector are seen to have a high level of involvement in generating demand for e-Government services as they had prepared an e-Government Roadmap and submitted e-Government proposals to the European Union. The involvement of political organizations seems to be less as there was hardly any mention of such organizations, either in the literature or during telephone interviews. The involvement of citizens and civil societies was not clearly defined while framing the objectives of the GAUDI cluster, indicating a possible low level of involvement. The only noticeable mention was in providing user-friendly personalized services and multi-channel access using advanced ICTs such as voice-enabled front-end public platforms. However, the need for citizen and civil society involvement was suggested for the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The summary of the Demand Diamond Analysis is shown in Table 2, which gives the level of involvement by demand diamond determinants on each cluster. From these case studies, it appears that citizen and civil society involvement was not necessarily a systematic feature in the planning of these e-Government clusters. This does not mean that the clusters, and the services and other results emerging from these, are not citizen-centric in themselves, but it does question our proposed framework in terms of what role citizens can realistically play in such clusters.

Factor Diamond Analysis The factor diamond analysis below is based on the level of influence exhibited by each factor diamond

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E-Government Clusters

Table 2. Demand Diamond Analysis Determinants

u-IT Cluster South Korea

e-Govt. Cluster Hungary

GAUDI Cluster European Union

Political Organisations

High

High

Low

Administrative Bodies / Public Sector

High

High

High

Business Organisations / Associations

High

High

Medium

Citizens / Civil Societies

Low

Low

Low

determinant in creating favorable e-Government factor conditions, for each of the clusters.

u-IT Cluster, South Korea The Korean government has established the basic IT infrastructure through its 11 key e-Government projects (2002-03), which in-turn helped the government to implement 31 e-Government roadmap projects. The government has planned to develop u-City infrastructure in major cities by putting in place 3 infrastructures viz., Broadband Convergence Network (BCN), Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) and Next-Generation Internet Protocol (IPv6). From the above, it can be deduced that the government played an important role in building the basic infrastructure. Since the State owned companies in Korea obtain direct contracts from the government, they are also believed to have a substantial role in providing IT infrastructure. Thus, the government and public sector are seen to have a high influence in creating factor conditions. The premises to host firms in the u-IT cluster have been built by the government with rental costs reported as quite low. Facilities include convenience facilities like dormitories, dining rooms, fitness centers etc. This shows that the government and the public sector have been instrumental in providing adequate and reasonably priced capital infrastructure. Korea reported in 200X that 77% of population had access to high-speed internet and 88% of

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population having mobiles. The presence of large corporates and SMEs in and around the cluster region has led to an increase in the skills and expertise of the people. It can be deduced that the business organizations have had a high influence on e-Government factor conditions. Incheon is an hour drive from Seoul, which is host to numerous universities, training institutions and research & development organizations. These institutions have been operating since a long time and have proven to be a source of rich knowledge and experience. This aspect of readily available knowledge has induced firms to set-up their base in the u-IT cluster.

E-Government Cluster, Hungary The Hungarian government launched the Electronic Backbone (EGB) in 2004, which is a secured government-wide communication network involving 600 organizations, in order to implement its e-Government 2005 strategy. The Hungarian government organized e-Government training courses for civil servants from 700 different offices in 2006 in order to enhance internal capacities and induce a change in their mindset. It can therefore be said that the government has played an influential role in establishing IT infrastructure and capital infrastructure in Budapest, enhancing the e-Government factor conditions and inducing the creation of e-Government cluster. The public sector seems to have a more moderate influence on e-Government factor conditions in

E-Government Clusters

Table 3. Factor Diamond Analysis Determinants

u-IT Cluster South Korea

e-Govt. Cluster Hungary

Catalonia Cluster Spain

Government

High

High

Medium

Public Sector

High

Medium

Low

Business Organisations / Associations

High

High

High

Training & Research Organisations

High

High

High

Hungary owing to the fact that very few public sector organizations actively contribute towards infrastructure development. Business organizations were influential in setting up the e-Government cluster in Budapest. The region had numerous SMEs involved in software development, which enriched the region with skilled manpower. Also, the presence of wellreputed training institutions made the region more favorable for the setting up of the e-Government cluster. The managing agent, Albacomp Zrt., is a leader in the supply of hardware and PCs in Hungary, and could easily enter into partnerships with various other organizations in order to market e-Government solutions as Services rather than as Products. Thus, it can be deduced that private business organizations influenced in a major way to create favorable e-Government factor conditions.

GAUDI Cluster, European Union Since the GAUDI cluster is a consolidation of three regional clusters across Europe, it was difficult to analyze how the e-Government factor conditions at European level were influenced by the factor diamond determinants. Instead, it was thought to consider a single regional cluster to conduct the factor diamond analysis. The case of the Catalonia region has been considered. The Catalonia cluster seems to have benefited from the IT infrastructure set up by the government to implement its e-Government strategies. However, the influence of the public sector on

e-Government factor conditions seems to be low. The city of Barcelona hosts Scytl, a leader in developing e-voting solutions, and other numerous consultancy organizations, internet service providers and IT based training institutions, which has resulted in creating a pool of skilled personnel in and around Barcelona. It can be deduced that business organizations have been influential in enhancing the e-Government factor conditions, especially on manpower skills, IT infrastructure and knowledge. The Catalonia region has numerous reputed universities, which are seen as a reliable source of information and knowledge on various areas. Some of these universities have initiated programs and research initiatives related to e-Government. These universities often become training institutions for providing customized training to various types of users. The creation of CAT365, a public-private joint venture, has enabled users to secure digital signatures locally, avoiding the time and effort in applying from firms located outside Barcelona. The formation of a consortium of 800 municipalities, called Localret, is again a boon to the region as it has enabled the region to develop skills and expertise on e-Government, thereby, enhancing the skills of the people. The summary of the Factor Diamond Analysis is shown in Table 3, which gives the estimated level of influence by factor diamond determinants on each cluster. The above analysis suggests that in the case of the clusters studied in this paper, each of the four actors played in important role in terms of

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E-Government Clusters

factors of production. This being said, while government and public sector do play a considerable role in providing basic factor conditions, their influence does not seem to be as high as business organizations in creating favorable eGovernment factor conditions.

CONCLUSION Electronic Government can be a more productive version of government in general, if it is well implemented and managed [Riley, 2003]. The concept of clusters has become widely known to induce productivity, innovation and competitiveness, which are key factors to sustaining regional economic growth and development [Porter, 1990]. Since the policies and regulations framed by government have a proven impact on cluster operations, they require being cluster-friendly and innovation-oriented. The network-based governance approach in the demand and factor diamonds of the e-Government Cluster Framework proposed in this paper, appears to be important for the success of these clusters. Clusters often emerge and begin to grow naturally, with little role of government policies [Porter, 1998]. It is after a certain stage, that local, regional or national governments can facilitate the growth of firms within the cluster, to help them improve their competitiveness. In the case of eGovernment clusters, the role of government and the importance of collaboration between various private and public partners appear much more pronounced. The internet age has seen the birth of numerous virtual organizations and virtual partnerships wherein firms collaborate and compete using online tools on the internet. Although internet facilitates the efficient exchange of information, it appears that the geographical proximity of firms cannot be avoided as this proximity facilitates the information and knowledge transfer between partners, and enhances trust and confidence within the cluster (Torre 2008).

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In this paper, we have extended and adapted Porter’s (1990) cluster model to the specific case of the growing e-Government sector. In particular, we hypothesized that a specific and collaborative cluster governance model needs to be in place in order to successfully create favorable demand and factor conditions for the e-Government cluster. We then examined briefly three specific e-Government cluster initiatives to give us an indication of whether various stakeholders played an important strategic role in these clusters. Our findings suggest that this was not always the case. Given the nature of the analysis, this does not, however, confirm or disconfirm the role of these stakeholders. In conclusion, the creation of e-Government clusters is strategic in nature as it facilitates the ready availability of domain experts, the rapid selection of partners, and prompt access to innovative technologies. The pre-conditions for the creation of e-Government clusters appear to include the level of involvement of both the demand and factor diamond stakeholders as this leads to more favorable demand and factor conditions.

REFERENCES Alberti, A., & Bertucci, G. (2006). Replicating Innovations in Governance: An Overview. Innovations in Governance and Public Administration – Replicating what works, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. New York: United Nations. Altameem, T., Zairi, M., & Alshawi, S. (2006). Critical Success Factors of E-Government: A Proposed Model for E-Government Implementation. IEEE. Audretsch, D. B., & Feldman, M. P. (1996). Innovative Clusters and the Industry Life Cycle. Review of Industrial Organization, 11, 253–273. doi:10.1007/BF00157670

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Backus, M. (2001) ‘e-Governance and Developing Countries – Introduction & Examples’, Research Report No. 3, April 2001. Becker, J., Niehaves, B., Algermissen, L., Delfmann, P., & Falk, T. (2004). eGovernment Success Factors. Paper presented at the Third International Conference EGOV2004, Aug. 30-Sept. 3, 2004, Spain. Carrincazeaux, C., Grossetti, M., & Talbot, D. (2008). Clusters, Proximities and Networks, Guest Editorial. European Planning Studies, 16(5). Chowdhury, G. H. Habib, Wahidul Md., & Kushchu, I. (2006). Success and Failure Factors of e-Government projects implementation in developing countries: A study on the perception of government officials of Bangladesh. Paper presented at EUROMGOV 2006. CNN. (2008). Can Postcards Survive the Digital Age. Retrieved August 4, 2008 from www.cnn.com Danish, D. (2006). The Failure of E-Government in Developing Countries: A Literature Review. The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, 26(7), 1–10. Dicken, P., & Malmberg, A. (2001). Firms in Territories: A Relational Perspective. Economic Geography, 77(4), 345. doi:10.2307/3594105 Gale (2006, September 27). Alien Technology Teaming with u-IT Cluster to Provide RFID Services in Korea. Business Services Industry, Business Wire. Gasco, M., & Jimenez, C. (2008). e-Government and Organisational IT Adoption: The Case of the Barcelona City Council. In European Conference on e-Government (ECEG), EPFL, Switzerland, 10-11 July 2008 (pp. 275-282). Goldsmith, S., & Eggers, W. (2004). Governing by Network – The New Shape of the Public Sector. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Heeks, R. (2001). Understanding e-Governance for Development: A Framework for National and Donor Action. i-Government working paper series, Institute for Development Policy and Manage. Heeks, R. (2001). Understanding e-Governance for Development. i-Government working paper series, Institute for Development Policy and . Information for Development Program (2002, November). e-Government Handbook for Developing Countries. A project of InfoDev and the Centre for Democracy & Technology. Jaeger, P. T., & Thomson, K. M. (2003). E-government around the world: Lessons, challenges, and future directions. Government Information Quarterly, 20, 389–394. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2003.08.001 Korea, I. T. Times (2008, August 27). u-IT Cluster Center, a Bucket for Gold Dust. Korea IT Times. Retrieved from www.ittimes.co.kr Korea e-Government (2007). Master Plan for the Next Generation in Korea – Digital Government Inside the People. Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, Government of Korea. Mahapatra, R., & Perumal, S. (2006, January). E-governance in India: A Strategic Framework. International Journal for Infonomics, Special Issue ‘Measuring e-Business for Development. Meier, M. (2001). Finland’s Forest Cluster – The Route of Competitiveness. Tampere, Finland: Semester Paper, Tampere Polytechnic Business School. Misuraca, G.C. (2007). e-governance in Africa: from theory to action – A Handbook on ICTs for Local Governance. Africa World Press, Inc. Porter, M. (1998). Clusters and the New Economics of Competition. Harvard Business Review, 77(1).

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Porter, M. E. (1990). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: The Free Press. Riley, T. B. (2003). E-Government vs. E-Governance: Examining the Differences in a changing Public Sector Climate. Commonwealth Centre for E-Govenance, Canada, May 20, 2003. Rouvinen, P., & Ylä-Anttila, P. (1999). Finnish Cluster Studies and New Industrial Policy Making. In OECD Proceedings, Boosting Innovation: The Cluster Approach, OECD, Paris. Rychen, F., & Zimmermann, J. (2008). Clusters in the Global Knowledge-based Economy: Knowledge Gatekeepers and Temporary Proximity. Regional Studies, 42(6), 767–776. doi:10.1080/00343400802088300 Satyanarayana, J. (2004). e-Government – The Science of the Possible. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. Sund, K. J. (2006). The Geographical Concentration of Hotels in Switzerland and the Industry Life Cycle. Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development, 3(1), 1–18. doi:10.1080/14790530600638788

Titah, R., & Barki, H. (2005). e-Government Adoption and Acceptance: a Literature Review. Research on Implementation and Management of Information Technology, HEC, Montreal. Torre, A. (2008). On the Role Played by Temporary Geographical Proximity in Knowledge Transmission. Regional Studies, 42(6), 869–889. doi:10.1080/00343400801922814 West, D.M. (2007, August). Global E-Government, 2007. Centre for Public Policy, Brown University, USA. Zalisova, I. (2006). Promoting Europena Regional and Local Sustainability in the Digital Economy. European Projects and Management Agency (EPMA). Retrieved from www.atvn-eu-gp.pl/ broker/resource/prelude.pdf

WEBSITES www.albacomp.hu www.ccegov.eu www.ccg.gov.in

The Economist. (2008). Pocket World in Figures (2008 Edition).

www.cluster-research.org

The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2007). The 2007 e-readiness rankings – Raising the bar (White paper).

www.egovindia.org

The eGov Barriers (2008). Breaking Barriers to eGovernment – Solutions for eGovernment. Retrieved from www.egovbarriers.org The United Nations Secretariat. (2008). UN EGovernment Survey 2008: From E-Governance to Connected Governance. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Public Administration and Development Management, United Nations, 2008.

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www.egovbarriers.org

www.egov.vic.gov.au www.electronicgov.net www.epractice.eu www.europa.eu www.europe-innova.org www.gartner.com www.ifg.cc www.nisg.org

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www.politech-institute.org www.unpan.org www.weforum.org www.worldbank.org

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Cluster: a geographic concentration of interrelated businesses and institutions active in a particular industry or field. e-Governance: the use of information and communication technology as a tool to achieving better governance.

e-Government: the application of information and communication technology solutions by the government, particularly with a view to better serving citizens. Framework: the structure underlying a system. GAUDI: a European cluster project launched as a consolidation of three regional clusters. Regional Development: the provision of guidance, aid and institutional structures to support the socio-economic development of a geographical region. U-IT Cluster: the name given to a cluster initiative sponsored by the Korean government and Incheon Metropolitan City to create infrastructure in the Songdo District (Incheon) for the development of RFID/USN technology.

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Chapter 26

The Knowledge Economy:

A New Development Paradigm for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Danilo Piaggesi Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Maria J. Chea American University, USA

ABSTRACT The escalating competitiveness in the international global economy has created a growing demand for the creation and diffusion of knowledge. A Knowledge Economy (KE) is one that by creating and taking advantage of new knowledge can dramatically increase the wealth of a nation. Many countries have grown to become successful knowledge economies including Finland, the United States and most recently Korea, China and India. Latin American and Caribbean countries are faced with the predicament of being left behind because of their low quality of education, their weak macroeconomic base and their poor infrastructure on information and communication technologies (ICT). There are several indicators that need to be improved to establish a base for knowledge economy such as laws, improvement and creation of research and development institutions, education infrastructure, comprehensive intellectual property rights, ICT networks, and knowledge transfers between research institutions and local enterprises. This chapter brings in the concept of the KE as a new development paradigm for Latin America and the Caribbean region.

INTRODUCTION The concept of Knowledge Economy (KE) has gained a lot of momentum in the past years by publications from international organizations DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-489-9.ch026

and universities. However, this concept lacks a substantive and coherent definition. It is because of this difficulty in truly defining what it is that makes the operationalization and measure of it extremely hard. Firstly, knowledge needs to be defined; simply put knowledge is any information or skill that a person can learn either through

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The Knowledge Economy

education or experience. Knowledge for development can therefore include the creation of research and development institutions, the construction of schools or the transfer of a technical know-how. By focusing on knowledge economy we observe that: (a) knowledge is becoming a crucial input for economic growth; (b) the products that knowledge can produce are becoming increasingly beneficial to the wealth of a country; and (c) the development of knowledge economy relies heavily on technological changes in ICT (Smith, 2002, p. 8). We move to a more practical application of the definition. The global economy has transitioned in a way that it has become more complex and sophisticated, thus causing living standards to improve. Many countries around the world have gone from being primitive agricultural-based societies, to industrial-based developed ones. Now, the knowledge economy is focusing on the production of innovative ideas in order to reap greater benefits. To put it in simpler terms, the main factor in gathering wealth in an agricultural economy is land. In an industrial economy, natural resources are the components that create wealth. In a knowledge-based economy, knowledge is the main resource that generates capital (Houghton & Sheehan, 2000, p.4). For many years conventional wisdom has told us that by building infrastructure and plants economic development can be attained. Although this is true, it is only part of a greater scheme of things. Building roads and factories are not the only elements needed to foment development; education, information and communication technologies, and intellectual property rights, among others, form part of what makes a solid foundation for economic development in a country. Joseph Stiglitz (1999) emphasizes this point when he says, “We now see economic development as less like the construction business and more like education in the broad and comprehensive sense that covers knowledge, institutions, and culture.” (p. 2) He touches upon an important concept here, which is the culture of knowledge economy and how

this is very hard to establish in a government or a corporation. It is only when people acknowledge that creativity, entrepreneurship, and effective transfer of knowledge are more important than adhering to previously established paradigms of growth that knowledge becomes an opportunity for economic development. China and other East Asian countries have been able to grasp the concept of knowledge economy and have effectively channeled resources to reduce the knowledge gap. There are many ways Asia has done this; it has improved education, invested in ICT and R&D institutions, and it has improved its economic regimen overall. The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region is lagging behind Asia. Policy makers need to understand that we are at a time in history where those who know stay on top of the global marketplace and those who do not know are left behind. Countries in the LAC region and the Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) are working together to create an environment that will produce an incentive to adopt the principles and practices of a knowledge economy. FRA hopes its involvement will make a substantial contribution in supporting the LAC countries to find a niche that will respond to their comparative advantages. The creation of a knowledge economy is very complex and requires a concerted effort supported by five pillars. These five pillars summarize the key elements needed for the formation of a knowledge-based economy. When education, ICT infrastructure, innovation, social inclusion, and a government policy environment conducive to changes like protection of intellectual property rights, seamlessly converge towards the same objective, a virtuous cycle is triggered that would eventually lead knowledge to become a tangible good that has a value in the market and facilitates the economic growth of a country. This chapter considers how the concerted development of each of these aforementioned pillars helps create an environment that will allow for the establishment of a knowledge economy

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and in effect, enhance development opportunities for the LAC region.

BACKGROUND Let us reiterate that we live in a knowledge economy (KE) at present, and that the KE is the result of an ensemble of pillars that must be in place and balanced at the same time in order to support a positive change in the economy of a given country. (Dahlman, Routti & Ylä-Anttila, p.6). Success stories of knowledge economy include Finland, Korea, China and India. These countries used to have low levels of education and low diversity of exports. In the past, Finland was faced with an economic recession; high inflation and increased foreign borrowing. However, today Finland is one of the most successful members in the Organization for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD). Finland faced tough and risky decisions, their high unemployment was hurting the economy but they decided to invest in R&D. This was accomplished through a concerted national strategy and the active participation of policy-makers from the different sectors in the economy. Since then, Finland started to specialize in intensive high-tech R&D that in the long run was able to generate domestic production of knowledge. China and India have also increased their economic growth through a joint effort to improve education, manufacturing, and the service sector. All of these countries have one thing in common: they are able to generate knowledge and disseminate it at a fast pace. Because they have improved on the five pillars that make the essence of a knowledge economy, these countries have been able to experience substantial development and economic growth. In the following paragraphs each of the five pillars are explained and their contribution to knowledge economy is highlighted. Education is a key element when it comes to constructing a knowledge-based economy. Human

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capital is increased when a greater part of the population is educated and has a set of skills. The Finns realized that in order to increase economic growth not only was the quantity of schools important but the quality of education. Their education system began a campaign that guaranteed equal quality of education for everyone, regardless of gender, socioeconomic background and region. With an educated population it was easier for the country to diversify their production. They were able to move from a resource-driven economy to an investment-driven economy. If a country invests in education the supply and demand for innovation are also affected since the more a population knows, the more it will be able to do. The development of information and communication technologies is almost synonymous with the knowledge economy since it is through these mechanisms that information is captured and knowledge is diffused at an increasing rate. Economists associate long-term economic growth with technological progress and the development of ICT is just that. According to Carl Dahlman (2005), ICTs provide the means for developing countries to accelerate their progress or even leapfrog into the current phase of development and to enable their integration into the global economy (p. iii). The improvement of ICT infrastructure can facilitate the participation of low-income people by allowing them to become more connected and have better access to knowledge and information. In this chapter, ICT will be discussed in depth as to how its application and improvement can help knowledge economies flourish. Innovation comes in hand with ICT development; ever since Finland started to invest in ICT, R&D institutions also started to arise. By diversifying its exports and investing in R&D, Finland was able to create domestic knowledge. These innovations inspired by their own people helped to expand the products they put out in the market and they also helped speed up their economic development. India and China are also substantially increasing the amount of R&D in-

The Knowledge Economy

stitutions because they are aware that profits are larger when a country is able to produce its own knowledge innovative products. Innovation is an important base for creating a knowledge economy: without the creation of new ideas or a new way to do the same things, a country can stay behind in this fast paced developing world. When Finland decided to invest in equal quality of education for all, it was also investing in equal opportunity for its citizens. Social inclusion is important because it decreases the possibility of creating a wealth gap that becomes disadvantageous to a country and promotes growth. One of the hardest pillars to manage and improve is social inclusion since this requires a change in mentality or culture within a country. A knowledge economy cannot thrive if its inhabitants are excluded from receiving such knowledge. Without social inclusion a country can economically grow but it cannot attain social development. China, for instance, has increased the rate of education among females in the country. India, although to a lesser extent, has also increased its education of women. Finland was among the first in Euro to include women in their political system as well (actually it was one of the first European countries having a female Prime Minister). When the population of a country has an equal opportunity to provide service to it, more is added to the pool of ideas. Nonetheless, LAC countries have many differences that make their transition to a knowledgebased economy harder than it was for Finland. LAC suffers from a staggering amount of inequality; the indigenous people and low-income class citizens are marginalized and their needs do not form a big part of the agenda in these countries. This inequality then give rise to many other problems such as poverty, lack of education and crime. LAC has been severely affected by crime and this places the Region as an unattractive investment for foreign corporations. A characteristic of knowledge is that it is inherently non-rivalry and non-excludible, also known

as a public good. However, knowledge can be excludable to a certain point and to an extent it should be excludable. Knowledge is most efficient when there is a charge made in order to use it; if this was not the case, firms and innovators would have no incentive to produce new knowledge. Here is where intellectual property rights (IPR) come into play: by applying IPR to the new knowledge that is being created it gives ideas a kind of ‘protection’. This protection gives security to innovators that their ideas will not be copied so that others can profit from them. Governments are responsible to create a policy environment conducive to effective IPR protection. Without them, the incentive to create is greatly diminished. However, as Joseph Stiglitz (1999) comments, strengthening intellectual property rights often means raising the price of a key ingredient into research - knowledge - and thus it is possible that an excessively “strong” intellectual property regime may actually inhibit the pace of innovation (p.6). Hence there is an inevitable tradeoff between protection and innovation, but let us reiterate that the protection of ideas is necessary for the development of a country.

BOOSTING THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAC REGION THROUGH KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY DEPLOYMENT The Knowledge Economy (KE) Opportunities The rapid advances and pervasive diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) combined with the growth of the Internet and other global networks have led to deep transformations in economic, social and institutional structures and are at the heart of a sound knowledge economy. ICT applications affect the performance of businesses and the efficiency of markets, foster the empowerment of citizens and communities by enhancing the trust in governments, as well as

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their access to information, its processing and transformation into knowledge, and contribute to strengthening and redefining governance processes at all institutional levels. The growth rate of the global economy has been relatively fast with increasing availability of material goods, services, wealth and knowledge. This has been possible thanks to the increase in capital stocks, knowledge, science and technology, population, innovation, improved productivity and other related economic factors. Some important characteristics of a knowledge economy are the rise of the on-line economy, rising value of knowledge and integrated international markets and globalization (Sheehan and Tegart 1998) Nevertheless, as with all major and wide-ranging technological advances, the ICT revolution is at the same time creating enormous opportunities and posing daunting challenges. On one hand, it has the potential to increase productivity and wealth, generate new activities, products and services, and improve the well being of the population, notably in regard to education and health levels. On the other hand, such opportunities can lead to further alienation of marginalized communities and an exacerbation of existing socioeconomic inequalities. Thereby, a balanced access and effective use of ICT tools and networks in the new global economy, along with an integrated process of technological innovation are critical for reducing poverty, increasing social inclusion and improving living conditions for all. Numerous studies have focused on the direct contribution of ICT to socioeconomic development and, while their findings and conclusions vary according to the context and application, there is an overall agreement that access to information can transform production processes, increase income potential, and improve the living conditions of the poor. ICT is an effective tool that, when supplemented by investments in connectivity and other factors such as innovation, education, health and infrastructure, increases competitiveness and contributes to economic growth, social development and poverty reduction 468

Indeed, ICT is changing the way people live and do business globally, and is creating new social and economic development opportunities for lower-income populations, by enlarging markets and facilitating greater access to information, public services and economic activity. Yet, these opportunities cannot be effectively and fully realized if left to market forces alone, and require the active participation of the public, private and civil society sectors under integrated efforts towards the development of an inclusive knowledge economy.

Knowledge Economy and Social and Development The “digital divide” (a phrase coined in the 1990s) described the perceived growing gap between those who have access to and the skills to use information and communication technologies and those who, for socioeconomic and/or geographical reasons, have limited or no access. In particular, it is used to raise the concern that the emergence of ICT could exacerbate existing inequalities in the access to information and that, thereby, certain groups could face additional disadvantages because of their geographic location, age, gender, culture, and social and economic status, among others. Moreover, the phrase reflects the prevalence of socioeconomic and structural inequalities at the regional, national and local levels, which are characterized by insufficient infrastructure, relatively high access costs, inappropriate or weak policy regimes, inefficiencies in the provision of telecommunication networks and services, lack of local content, and uneven ability to derive economic and social benefits from informationintensive activities. The United Nations Millennium Declaration notes that efforts to make access available to all and harness the power of ICT can contribute toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, thereby creating “digital opportunities” in development. Directly, the deployment of ICT can affect the achievement of MDGs by expanding the reach, scope and impact

The Knowledge Economy

Table 1. World Internet Penetration 2005 (in millions of inhabitants and percentages) World Regions

Population % of World

Internet Users

Internet Penetration

% of World Users

AG 1/ 2000-2005

Middle East

2.9%

18.2

9.6%

1.8%

454.2%

Africa

14.1%

22.7

2.5%

2.2%

403.7%

LAC 2/

8.5%

79.0

15.2%

7.8%

272.8%

Asia

56.4%

364.3

9.9%

35.7%

218.7%

Europe

12.4%

290.1

35.9%

28.5%

176.1%

Oceania/Australia

0.5%

17.7

52.9%

1.8%

132.2%

North America

5.1%

225.8

68.1%

22.2%

108.9%

1. Accumulated Growth. 2. Includes only the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)’s borrowing member countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Source: International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in IADB (2006).

of social development programs, health services, and education and training programs, and providing opportunities for improving gender equality and citizen participation. Indirectly, ICT affects MDGs by creating new economic opportunities and/or extending them to lift individuals, communities and nations out of poverty. Such indicators reveal the need for concerted actions by various stakeholders and sectors of the Region to create the conditions that will allow for the diffusion of KE, while promoting and ensuring the functioning of the market that alone cannot fully overcome the challenge in hand. Concerted actions should address a number of factors such as limitations in institutional capacity to coordinate and promote public policies for the dissemination of ICT, the limited coverage of connectivity and ICT access costs, and the need for widespread digital literacy.

ENHANCING KE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH THE DEPLOYMENT OF ICT ICT solutions can facilitate the participation of lower income populations in the development process of the LAC region by directly tackling relevant aspects, which precisely hinder their

integration to social and economic development. In particular: (a) limited knowledge and literacy which impairs access to skills and jobs (education); (b) poor health and sanitary conditions limiting employability and risk-taking attitudes (health); (c) active involvement in civic life and strengthening of democratic process; and (d) economic opportunities. In this respect, the evolution of modern ICT brings about concrete opportunities for enhanced provision of social services and poverty reduction through, among others, distance education and telemedicine solutions, connectivity, and strengthened and more transparent government operations (i.e. e-government) (See IADB, 2005b). It also provides for the modernization and expansion of the micro-finance sector to effectively reach marginalized and less favored populations through effective technology-based solutions and innovative financial services and, thereby, creating economic opportunities at the local level. Untapped opportunities exist to replicate, multiply and scale up successful pilot projects and approaches in the deployment of ICT as a means to reduce poverty and promote social development. Of particular interest are those opportunities that further the potential of ICT for sharing knowledge, generating synergies and economies of scale, and adapting to local conditions. Indeed,

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scaling up poverty reduction efforts through ICT requires extensive outreach and capabilities for deepening its impact.

ICT in Human Capital Development Inequality in access to education--especially highquality education that prepares young people for employment opportunities in an inclusive information society and to become active citizens in complex, market-driven, democratic societies--are a critical barrier to reducing poverty and increasing economic growth. Near-universal access to the Internet via low-cost networks enables teacher training, enhances student access to traditional teaching materials via Internet distribution, and allows the introduction and use of new and advanced multi-media resources and learning tools. The young generation takes readily to computers and such resources, and there is evidence that classroom access to ICT tools can improve learning and help motivate students to stay in school. Outside the classroom, affordable and nearuniversal access to information--via government or commercial voice-driven systems and the Internet--enables life-long learning and encourages the habit of searching for information to support personal and family decision-making. For many adults, voice-driven information sources and services in local languages that are accessible via telephones are important means for improving their access to information. At the same time, there is evidence that informal learning outside the classroom is strongly enhanced by affordable access to the Internet. This informal learning is driven, in part, by the growing availability of information on the Internet and the increasing organization of such information by search engines, but also by the growing use of interactive systems--from “chat” systems to e-mail and text-messaging to web logs and other interactive web-based systems. Best practices for ICT-enhanced classroom education have been slow to emerge, in part

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because of the high cost of providing computers, appropriate curricula and adequate teacher training. Nevertheless, there are a number of concrete examples that show the effectiveness of widespread, small-scale experimentation and pilot projects which, coupled with careful evaluation, provide best practice ICT applications for formal and informal education.

ICT in Social Services The improvement in the delivery of health care services in geographically remote and rural areas is one of the most promising and clearly demonstrated applications of ICT in social development. Evidence suggests that improved health outcomes have been achieved through various applications of ICT solutions. In particular, ICT is being used in many developing countries and communities to facilitate: (a) remote consultation, diagnosis and treatment through the use of digital cameras to download images onto a computer and transfer them to doctors in nearby towns; (b) collaboration and information exchange among physicians; (c) ICT-based medical research through the use a network of satellites and ground stations to submit data for clinical trials; (d) medical training through ICT-enabled delivery mechanisms; and (e) access to centralized data repositories connected to ICT networks that enable remote healthcare professionals to keep abreast of medical knowledge. Moreover, ICT provides considerable benefits and capabilities when applied to disease prevention and response efforts during epidemics. The Internet is an effective means to disseminate public health messages and disease prevention techniques in developing countries. It also enables better monitoring and response mechanisms. Also, ICT is helping improve the efficiency of public health systems and medical facilities by, for example, streamlining medical procurement or creating and managing patient records.

The Knowledge Economy

ICT in Financial Services ICT tools can drive down transactions costs for financial services such as microfinance and a widening range of banking, insurance, and other services for low-income groups, particularly as their delivery expands beyond nonprofit groups and becomes more widespread. For example, the expanded use of ICT and the Internet can reduce the transaction costs of remittances in a way that brings higher social benefits for all parties involved in these transactions. Nonetheless, there is still much to do. Transaction systems adapted to serve low-income communities via text messaging over mobile phones have been successful in Asia and Africa, and may prove useful in LAC as well. ICT technology offers several approaches to expanding access to electronic transactions and banking services via remote transaction devices for microfinance that work over mobile phone networks; smart cards that can store account balances, transaction histories, and positive IDs such as a fingerprints. The next generation of mobile phones may be capable of conducting transactions automatically via very short-range radio, potentially turning phones into electronic wallets. Among the potential benefits of expanding ICT-based financial services and electronic commerce to low-income communities are: market access, economic value added, improved household security, the ability to grow microenterprises, reduced vulnerability to theft, and greater participation in the formal economy.

Wireless Technologies and Community-Based Communications Services Largely for reasons of cost, most rural communities and many low-income urban communities lack effective and affordable local phone systems. These communities usually rely on a few pay phones or shared mobile phones (which are used sparingly) and most calls are made to numbers outside the

community. Yet historically, where affordable local phone systems exist, typically 60 percent of all phone traffic is within the community. Thereby, a low-cost local phone system can make universal access a reality in many communities of LAC. The technological potential to do so has now emerged, via local Wireless Fidelity Networks (Wi-Fi) and Voice-Over-Internet (VOIP) telephony using peer-to-peer systems. For example, technologies such as Skype are having a global impact on long distance calling. In addition to making a wide range of voice-driven e-government and commercial services accessible and affordable, low-cost wireless networks, VOIP and highcapacity broadband networks, enable access to a great variety of Internet services and information via a computer or other converged device. One of the benefits of voice-driven or voiceaccessible services--especially if also made available in indigenous languages—is helping overcome literacy and computer skill barriers. Other benefits also include ending rural isolation, enhanced family solidarity, increased access to information and services, improved ability to find employment and, at a community level, higher economic capacity and productivity and wider citizen participation in democratic processes. The experience shows that this can be achieved with affordable computers and Internet access, especially if these services are delivered through local entrepreneurs or community access facilities (such as telecenters) that can assist in computer and Internet usage. Nevertheless, only a few countries in LAC have made VOIP legal or removed restrictions to its use. Likewise, few countries have made frequencies available for unrestricted Wi-Fi use, permitted open competition for telecom and Internet services, or allowed community-based systems exemption from legal/natural monopolies. Beyond regulatory restrictions, the business environment in many countries still poses barriers to entrepreneurs and the creation of small businesses. There have been few pilot projects that promote best practices with

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rapidly emerging ICT technologies such as those cited. As a result, the LAC Region still lags behind many Asian, and even some African countries in realizing the potential development benefits from widespread ICT access and emerging wireless and no conventional communication technologies.

Helping the Poor Profitably: A Case for Access to ICT and Wireless Solutions Professor C. K. Prahalad of the Michigan Business School highlights in his book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits, the collective purchasing power potential of the world’s 4 to 5 billion poorest people. He urges efforts to promote an enabling business climate that goes beyond the promotion of social corporate responsibility as means to foster local well-being, while generating a strong revenue and profit potential base in the long term. Moreover, a recent study by the London Business School found that, in a typical developing country, an increase of ten mobile phones per 100 people boosts GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points. The study concludes that wireless solutions are concrete examples of “technologies that help people help themselves.” It becomes clear that the poor can benefit from the effective deployment of ICT and the development of the knowledge economy when such interventions match the local conditions and meet the following four requirements (IADB, 2005a). First, promote a multi-stakeholder partnership framework delineating the effective participation of the public sector and civil society, while creating the incentives for socially responsible private investment. Second, strengthen the provision of ICT-based public social services and promote social inclusion, while maintaining the role of the private sector as the main source of innovation. Third, stimulate macroeconomic growth by facilitating access to knowledge and information through increased connectivity and appropriate

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ICT solutions for marginalized and lower-income populations, thereby tapping a strong market potential. And fourth, design and adopt long-term ICT investment frameworks in human development (i.e. education, health and environment), along with the design and implementation of cost-effective technologies aimed at increasing the market access, efficiency and competitiveness of the poor (connectivity, knowledge centers, etc.). By removing barriers to the entry of new and lower-cost technologies (such as fixed wireless) and of new communication and ICT-based services (such as Voice-Over-Internet phone service), and ensuring open competition, it will be possible to increase entrepreneurial activity and expand private sector investment. Nevertheless, the direct involvement of the public sector continues to be fundamental in sharing and expanding service into remote areas and to serve as a catalyst for the effective delivery of social services. This also reduces risk for private enterprises and helps comply with commitments to serve certain regions, communities and marginalized or disadvantaged groups, while also allowing market forces to trigger actions and operate effectively.

CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A KE IN THE LAC REGION Dissemination of ICT for Development Contributing to development through ICT requires an environment that facilitates its dissemination and use in various institutional, business and social settings and, in particular, the promotion and creation of the necessary conditions to facilitate investment in technological infrastructure and connectivity, promote competition, facilitate access, foster digital education and training, promote the development of local content, and delineate the participation of various stakeholders.

The Knowledge Economy

In particular and, as expressed above, an effective environment conducive to the promotion and use of ICT requires a number of concrete actions under a multi-sector approach. First, the creation or strengthening of the institutional capacity with the participation of the public, private and civil society sectors, in order to promote and foster the dissemination and use of ICT through programs and initiatives that build a participatory information and knowledge society. Second, raising awareness and creating the conditions for the design and implementation of pilot initiatives and the replication of best practices in priority areas including ICT for social development and poverty reduction, ICT for governance, and ICT for economic growth, among others.Third, the undertaking of actions necessary to promote a digital inclusion for all. Fourth, creating the organizational conditions for the identification of concrete and comprehensive national ICT investment plans which effectively delineate the participation of the various sectors and stakeholders. Fifth, implementing and/or strengthening national and regional regulatory frameworks to, among others, promote competition and loosen restrictions on the telecommunications market, allow for the expansion of media convergence, and promote and facilitate research and technological innovation. Such measures should also facilitate the extension of broadband connectivity services, bring rates into line with purchasing power, while placing priority on semi-urban, rural, and remote areas. They should also provide citizens and firms with access to ICT through initiatives that combine training, connectivity and infrastructure at affordable prices.

A Multi-Sector Stakeholder Approach ICT for development requires not only a concrete delineation of the responsibilities that the public sector, private sector and civil society should assume, but also the promotion and establishment of partnerships based on their mandates,

responsibilities, purpose and competitive advantages. Indeed, the consolidation of a knowledge economy triggered by the effective deployment of ICT requires an action-oriented multi-stakeholder approach. Experience shows that these partnerships allow for addressing multiple issues that cannot be resolved without the concerted efforts of diverse constituents, while also allowing for synergies, coordination and sharing of priority investments, and ultimately leading to a more efficient and sustainable process of economic and social development and poverty reduction through the deployment of appropriate and innovative technologies. First, with respect to the public sector, experience shows that ICT-based programs aimed at enhancing the reach and impact of social development and poverty reduction programs not only strengthen the capacity of the public administration--at the national and local levels-to deliver public services, but also contribute to building public trust while enhancing citizen participation. Also, taking into consideration the evidence derived from lessons learned and best practices, and based on the social development needs and opportunities in LAC, ICT is a proven instrument that, when effectively deployed, facilitates the provision of access to formal and informal education, the delivery of government and health services, the creation of new financial services and, overall, the implementation of targeted poverty reduction programs in priority remote and marginalized areas. Second, adequate organizational arrangements must be in place to facilitate the participation of civil society organizations in the promotion and implementation of community-based development programs and, thereby, complement public sector investments in connectivity, ICT solutions in health care facilities, schools, and neighborhoods, the development of local content and the delivery of social and poverty-targeted actions at the local level.

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Third, the active participation of the technology-based private sector in the development of the Region represents a pivotal source of innovation for promoting social development, and creating local jobs, income opportunities and wealth. This can be achieved through the effective integration of market, regulatory and institutional conditions to create the incentives necessary to balance social responsibility with profit motives. It can also be achieved by promoting the participation of the private sector through ICT and connectivity investments and technical assistance in priority social sectors while, at the same time, creating value-added opportunities and the expansion of ICT-based social and financial services to underserved communities; and tapping the profit potential that can be realized from efforts aimed at improving the social and economic conditions of the poor (i.e. under a “blended strategy”). Promoting social corporate responsibility under a “blended strategy” framework, is based on the principle that the enhancement of the productive and economic capacity of the poor (under a long-term profit motive) through the provision and deployment of adequate technologies, has a direct impact on their access to information and sources of financing, their ability to enter formal labor markets, their purchasing power and, thereby, the economic growth of the Region.

A CASE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A KE BETWEEN THE LAC REGION AND THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

come to play a predominant part in the creation of wealth (Dahlman 200 p.1). Under the knowledge economy, knowledge is seen as a competitive factor; the value of new ideas, services and networks are utilized as a development tool. The valuation and utilization of existing knowledge –on which developing countries tend to be rich; the generation of new knowledge —which requires additional effort and investment; and the adaptation of knowledge originally developed elsewhere, are all valid instruments to increase the participation of knowledge in the economy. Given the present scarcity of financial and natural resources among developing countries, an economy based on such a global public good as knowledge bears great promise for them. Knowledge has always been an important factor for economic growth, but a renewed interest in knowledge has emerged because innovation is becoming ever more important to competitiveness and growth in international markets. In the case of LAC, conventional economic models would have the region concentrating in those areas that have constituted its comparative advantage in the past –agricultural produce, fuel and minerals. These sectors, however, have low demand elasticity and are subject to huge, often unpredictable swings in the international markets. If, instead, the LAC region were to invest in participating as a player in the global knowledge economy, it could encounter greater growth opportunities through products and services with higher demand elasticity and more innovation potential (Dahlman, 2007). The KE could represent a new paradigm of development for LAC.

LAC Progress in the Knowledge Economy (KE)

China’s Performance as a Knowledge-Based Economy

As mentioned before, the term Knowledge Economy has taken many definitions in the vast amount of literature that has been recently published. We have defined it as an economy where the generation and utilization of knowledge has

China is emerging from an agricultural economy and is rising as a global leader with a booming economy and thriving industrial and financial sector. China’s success in the last three decades is due, partially, to its ability to assimilate global

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advanced technology and large flows of foreign investment; make use of its great pool of indigenous knowledge and talent; and put in place a policy framework that provides strong incentives for innovation. In taking this path, China faced and still faces problems that are similar to the ones faced by other developing regions such as LAC; for example: the prevalence of low-skilled labor force and industries; inequalities in the access to education and wealth; and regional disparities that limit its innovation performance (Huang & Soete, 2007). To overcome these obstacles, China is investing in improving education and learning; information infrastructure; dissemination of new technology; and research and development systems. Thanks to this investment, China is building the foundations to become a knowledge-based economy, heavily favoring the service sector –marketing, logistics, consulting and management— and pursuing greater diversification in goods and services to keep a steady rate of employment and foreign investment. China’s indigenous innovation strategy for 2006-2020, for example, emphasizes the importance of technological progress for economic development and R&D activities, both essential to achieve growth in human capital. Other obstacles need still to be tackled, in particular, enforcement of intellectual property rights --a factor essential to protect indigenous knowledge application and development—as well as weak competitiveness in its financial systems. China, like Europe and other regions gearing towards the KE, still needs to increase international trade of services, internationalization of research networking and access to brains and talent (Huang & Soete, 2007). China’s investment in its Knowledge sector utilizes lessons learned in previous experiences, particularly Europe’s commitment --Lisbon agenda-- to invest in innovation, science and technology, and knowledge-based resources. Europe’s experience so far illuminates the need for outward-looking, global strategies, to maximize

the benefits of such investment. No region by itself will achieve much, for knowledge gives its richest fruits when fed by diversity and diversity flourishes in open global markets. A recent substantial Chinese contribution to the Inter American Development Bank (IADB) would highlight China’s intention to support the Bank’s transition towards more innovative investment fields, away from the traditional natural-resource based model that has characterized investment in the LAC region so far. Innovation bears great potential in the search for shared solutions to solve some of the most pressing global problems –climate change, health and sanitation services coverage, poverty—all problems that loom large in LAC’s and China’s future. China’s participation could be complemented by the participation of European nations, intimately familiar with the task at hand. China’s support would facilitate LAC’s entrance into the global knowledge economy market, but at the same time would create an opportunity for exchange and cross-fertilization between China’s millenary and new knowledge wealth and LAC’s significant untapped resources in this area. More importantly, China’s contribution would acquire global significance to the extent that it would contribute to an enlargement of the international pool of knowledge resources, a pool from which every region --developing and developed-- can partake and in doing so, benefit. This is the time when a gap between the Asian and LAC regions could be filled in and a potential chronic lag of the LAC Region versus the Asian one could be converted into a win-win situation, by having the two regions teaming-up in the creation of a trans-continental Knowledge Economy

CONCLUSION Beneficiary countries, donors and international organizations are currently devoting much attention to the issue of development effectiveness.

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However these discussions seem not to adequately reflect the strategic role of knowledge economy expansion as a new paradigm of development. In the LAC Region, the economic, social and political reforms of recent decades increased the demand for information, knowledge and the deployment of the knowledge economy. The “second generation” reforms will require the effective integration of a comprehensive approach to knowledge economy expansion into developing planning. This is a two way process-reform: it provides incentive for knowledge economy expansion while knowledge economy expansion ensures that all participate and benefit from the reforms. Consequently it will be necessary for all stakeholders in the ICT-for-development field to learn to speak the economic and financial language of finance ministers, policy makers, development planners and decision makers. More specifically, it is essential to produce more economic statistics that link ICT and knowledge economy expansion to overarching development objectives (Piaggesi & Vitro, 2002) The effectiveness of such linkage depends, in large measure, on bringing stakeholders together to strengthen the institutional capacity to integrate a deeper understanding of the historical role of ICT, information and knowledge, into development planning; and carrying out a democratic process of efficient, equitable and sustainable development as a collective effort to deploy a knowledge economy based society.

Dahlman, C. J., Routti, J., & Ylä-Anttila, P. (2005). Finland as a Knowledge Economy: Elements of Success and Lessons Learned. Washington, D.C.: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

REFERENCES

Sheehan, P., & Tegart, G. (1998). Working for the Future: Technology and Employment in the Global Knowledge Economy. Melbourne: Victoria University Press.

Dahlman, C. (2007). The Challenge of the Knowledge Economy for Latin America. Georgetown University. Universia, 1(1), 18–46.

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Huang, C., & Soete, L. (2007). The Global Challenges of the Knowledge Economy: China and the EU. Maastricht, Netherlands: United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology. IADB. (2005a). The knowledge economy in development: perspectives for effective partnerships (Vitro, R. A., Ed.). IADB. (2005b). The role of information and communication technology in building trust in governance: toward effectiveness and results. Chrisanti Avgerou. [et al.] IADB (2006). Education, Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Statistical Compendium of Indicators. Piaggesi, D., & Vitro, R. (2002). Managing Change in the Knowledge Economy: Harmonizing Stakeholder Interests in a Democratic Process of Efficient, Equitable and Sustainable Development. Washington, D.C: Inter-American Development Bank. Prahalad, C. K. (2005). The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.

Smith, K. (2002). What is the ‘Knowledge Economy’? Knowledge Intensity and Distributed Knowledge Bases. Maastricht, Netherlands: United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies.

The Knowledge Economy

Stiglitz, J. (1999, January). Public Policy for a Knowledge Economy. Remarks at the Department for Trade and Industry and Center for Economic Policy Research London, UK.

KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Information and Communication Technologies (ICT): Information and communications technology --or technologies-- includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICT is mentioned in the text, together with education, innovation, social inclusion and enabling policies, as one of the five pillars of the KE. Innovation: The capacity to do the same thing in a different way and the act or process of inventing or introducing something new. In the text, innovation refers to the introduction of new ideas, products or processes for the purpose of enhancing development opportunities for a country, a sector, or an enterprise. Intellectual Property Rights: A number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which

property rights are recognized by law. In the text, intellectual property rights refer to the protection of human ingenuity and creativity which can become factors in development. Knowledge Economy (KE): The added, nonmonetary value that society accrues from increased access to data, information, and knowledge, as a spin-off of the new global communication and data processing technologies. Knowledge for Development: The use of knowledge (indigenous knowledge or knowledge developed elsewhere but adapted to local circumstances) as an asset for a country’s development. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC): Geographic term that includes the 21 countries that make the Caribbean, 7 countries that make Central America, 13 countries that constitute South America, and 1 country in North America. In the text, LAC is referred to as a region most receptive to the deployment of ICT and posed to leapfrog into a KE. Millennium Development Goals: Eight international development goals that all 192 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. They include reducing extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and developing a global partnership for development.

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In broad terms, e-governance can be defined as the use of ICT to improve governance and government service delivery (UN, 2008). General as it is, this definition could be somewhat misleading. In order to avoid the risk of reducing e-governance simply to the adoption and widespread use of ICT in government, it should be stressed that e-governance very often aims to accompany or even initiate the transformation of government, and even of society. Governance concerns the processes that lead a social system to best achieve its goals and interests and in this sense, e-governance should be thought of as the process of making governance adequate to the Knowledge Society that is emerging worldwide. eGovernance also concerns the definition and the implementation of actions that can help a social system to evolve toward a knowledge-based economy and society. In concluding this book we want to elaborate a bit more on this transforming potential of e-governance, that is an element shared by all the chapters in the book. None of the chapters in this book is exclusively focused on technologies. Rather, they all point to the need for technological innovation in government to be integrated within a more general process of transformation of government and society. Interestingly enough, the chapters in the book describe experiences that, however limited and partial they could be, cover a wide variety of geo-political areas. This means that the dominant technological orientation of the past toward e-government and e-governance is weakening worldwide. In essence, much of the debate has shifted from the simple application of e-government solutions to the somewhat wider concerns of e-governance. From the examples in this book, it becomes apparant that differences do exist between the more technologically mature countries, that are evolving quite rapidly toward the Knowledge Society, and those countries that still suffer from a lesser developed ICT sector. On the one hand, the chapters that describe examples concerning more developed countries are primarily focused on the definition of new forms of governance adequate for their technology-based social systems. So, for instance, in the case of government the problem is no more how ICTs can be used by government to improve its functions; rather, the problem is how government (and governance) has to change to make effective use of the results of the e-government projects implemented in the past. On the other hand, the chapters describing experiences from lesser developed countries (or less developed areas in a country) are more focused on how to help the social system to evolve in order to attain the conditions that would make effective the potential of the widespread use of ICTs. In this sense, and quite paradoxically, it seems that lesser developed countries are in a better position to pursue e-governance than more developed countries are. Generally speaking, more developed countries are faced with the problem of re-aligning government and governance, on the one hand, and the socio-economic system on the other hand, that has evolved much more rapidly than government. Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

A Possible Future Manifesto

Governments in these countries are catching up. In the case of less developed countries, on the contrary, the problem appears to be how to define and implement a balanced process of socio-economic system transformation and enable ICTs diffusion and adoption (in two ways: (i) how the socio-economic system should be transformed to accelerate ICTs penetration and (ii) how the diffusion of ICTs can foster the transformation of the socio-economic system). In defining this process, developing countries can benefit from the experiences of the more developed countries, especially in avoiding the mistakes that they have made in the past. By following this line, in the next paragraphs we will try to outline a possible manifesto we think should be pursued to achieve e-governance. Our manifesto is based on a critical appraisal of what has been done in the past years in the more developed countries and elaborate on the trends that emerge from the examples described in the book Contributing to the creation of a Knowledge Society through the deployment of ICT requires an environment that facilitates its dissemination and use in various institutional, business and social settings. In particular, the promotion and creation of the necessary conditions are needed to facilitate investment in technological infrastructure and connectivity, promote competition, facilitate access, foster digital education and training, promote the development of local content, and delineate the participation of various stakeholders. As expressed throughout this book, an effective environment conducive to the promotion and use of ICTs requires a number of concrete actions under a multi-sector approach. Five of these actions are highlighted below: 1. Strengthening of the institutional capacity with the participation of the public, private and civil society sectors, in order to promote and foster the dissemination and use of ICT through programs and initiatives that build a participatory information and knowledge society. 2. Raising awareness and creating the conditions for the design and implementation of pilot initiatives and the replication of best practices in priority areas including ICT for social development, ICT for governance, and ICT for economic growth, among others. 3. Undertaking the actions necessary to promote a digital inclusion for all. 4. Creating the organizational conditions for the identification of concrete and comprehensive national ICT investment plans which effectively delineate the participation of the various sectors and stakeholders. 5. Implementing and/or strengthening national and regional regulatory frameworks to, among others, promote competition and loosen restrictions on the telecommunications market, allow for the expansion of media convergence, and promote and facilitate research and technological innovation. Such actions should also facilitate the extension of broadband connectivity services; bring rates into line with purchasing power, while placing priority on semi-urban, rural, and remote areas. They should also provide citizens and firms with access to ICT through initiatives that combine training, connectivity and infrastructure at affordable prices. All the above actions require not only a concrete delineation of the responsibilities that the public sector, private sector and civil society should assume, but also the promotion and establishment of partnerships based on their mandates, responsibilities, purpose and competitive advantages. Indeed, the effective deployment of ICT leading to the consolidation of an information and knowledge society requires an action-oriented multi-stakeholders approach.

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Experience shows that these partnerships allow for addressing multiple issues that cannot be resolved without the concerted efforts of diverse constituents, while also allowing for synergies, coordination and sharing of priority investments, and ultimately leading to a more efficient and sustainable process of economic and social development and inclusion through the deployment of appropriate and innovative technologies: 1. With respect to the public sector, experience shows that ICT-based programs aimed at enhancing the reach and impact of social development and inclusion programs not only strengthen the capacity of the public administration--at the local, national and regional levels--to deliver public services, but also contribute to building public trust while enhancing citizen participation. Also, taking into consideration the evidence derived from the lessons learned and best practices presented in this book, ICT is a proven instrument that, when effectively deployed, facilitates the provision of access to formal and informal education, the delivery of health services, the creation of new financial services and, overall, the implementation of targeted social inclusion programs in priority remote and marginalized areas. 2. Adequate organizational arrangements must be in place to facilitate the participation of civil society organizations in the promotion and implementation of community-based development programs and, thereby, complement public sector investments in connectivity, ICT solutions in health care facilities, schools, and neighborhoods, the development of local content and, overall, the delivery of social targeted actions at the local level. 3. Active participation of the technology-based private sector represents a pivotal source of innovation for promoting social development, and creating local jobs, income opportunities and wealth. This can be achieved: ◦◦ Through the effective implementation of market, regulatory and institutional conditions to create the incentives necessary to balance social responsibility with profit motives; ◦◦ By promoting the participation of the private sector through ICT and connectivity investments and technical assistance in priority social sectors while, at the same time, creating value-added opportunities and the expansion of ICT-based social and financial services to underserved communities; ◦◦ Tapping the profit potential that can be realized from efforts aimed at improving the social and economic conditions of the socially excluded (i.e. under a “blended strategy national governments should pursue actions that facilitate financial and technical assistance instruments to effectively adapt to the demand of its citizens, and support activities to provide and facilitate access to efficient ICT tools for the exchange of information, ideas and knowledge, and the deployment of ICT. This book seeks to contribute to the articulation of a sort of best-practices manifesto that regional, national and local governments may want to pursue in their quest to participate in today’s Knowledge Society. One common recommendation, found in a number of chapters in this book, is the more frequent use of public-private partnerships with various sectors and stakeholders, which will allow to share concrete experiences, lessons learned, best practices and, in general, innovation. In particular, national governments could establish collaboration agreements with the technology-based private sector by taking into consideration:

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1. The need to stay on top of recent technological developments, rather than lag behind; 2. The need for solutions that can be replicated; 3. The need for solutions that are compatible with those adopted by other governments, regions and localities (inter-operability); 4. The goal to make the private sector an active stakeholder in the development process of regions through ICT; 5. The aim to provide opportunities for the private sector to participate in the efforts of the countries towards social development, while creating value added opportunities and the expansion of ICTbased services (a form of corporate social responsibility). In education, in lesser developed countries in particular, national governments need to support and facilitate the extension of broadband connectivity, for instance to schools, especially in rural areas, in addition to promoting curricula development and extensive teacher training to make effective use of expanding on-line knowledge resources. This requires the implementation of extensive computer literacy programs, including the support to pilot projects demonstrating the use of hardware, software and other ICT applications, devices and technology options for educational use. National governments could strengthen their support to the establishment of telecenters as access points for enabled connectivity, while also supporting policy reforms enabling school-based community “hot-spot” networks, and supporting pilot undertakings to demonstrate their utility in facilitating local economic and social development. In health, national governments can support network extension to connect healthcare facilities and mobile access for all health workers, support software development and applications to enable real-time reporting, and extend telemedicine networks to rural and geographically marginal locations. This in addition to contributing to the modernization of the sector through pilot projects for the deployment of electronic billing models, emergency system use of mobile personal health records and other technologies, and the dissemination of public health information via electronic platforms widely utilized in access points including community centers and clinics. In financial services, national governments could continue to consolidate their support to the modernization of the financial sector, in addition to allocating the efforts necessary to extend the reach of financial services to rural and marginal areas through the deployment of various connectivity and wireless network solutions, and allowing to capitalize on the potential of ICT as enabler of local economic development and growth. Concrete models of smart ATMs, electronic transactions and Internet-based applications adapted to local conditions could be tested and implemented as overall part of technical assistance actions, and in direct collaboration with telecom carriers, bank regulatory agencies, private sector, and other. Moreover, national governments could continue assisting their citizens in allowing ICT to enable lower transactions costs of electronic remittances, and the effective mobilization of such financial resources to the micro credit sector and, ultimately, to local entrepreneurs, microenterprises and individuals. In research infrastructure development governments should continue strengthening their efforts for the establishment of public private partnerships in technology and advanced research for development. In all cases, pilot and demonstrative undertakings should contribute to setting the stage for technical cooperation operations on a wider scale, and as part of the overall modernization and reform of the education, health and financial sectors, among others. Moreover, such ICT-based interventions in priority sectors are fully consistent and can contribute to instrumenting new financing framework.

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To conclude, national governments should remain committed to continue supporting their citizens in the implementation of action plans to provide access to ICT infrastructure and solutions and services with a high social impact. To this end, national governments should work in delineating the road for investments by a socially responsible private sector, while modernizing and strengthening the capacity of local, national and regional public administrations to use and allocate their financial and technical resources in an effective and efficient manner. All the above actions must be necessarily accompanied by concrete government support to the process of modernization of the state where ICT plays a fundamental role in the re-engineering and integration of governmental processes, particularly those that cultivate innovation, change and performance evaluation, to enable efficient and modern customer-oriented e-government services. Moreover, governments should continue to support policy design and reform to guarantee the full deployment of ICT in the public administration and addressing emerging issues such as media convergence, in addition to enhancing the role of the state in support of the implementation of electronic payment and clearing systems (public and private), and the creation of the normative framework for e-commerce, e-government and connectivity development, among others. We conclude with the hope that the reader of this book has found some ideas and experiences that might catalyze the renewal of collaborative efforts on concrete actions to expand the symbiotic relationship between knowledge economy expansion and strengthening democracy through transparent e-government and participatory e-governance. Danilo Piaggesi Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) & International Knowledge Economy Program (IKEP), USA Kristian J. Sund Middlesex University, UK Walter Castelnovo University of Insubria, Italy

REFERENCE United Nations. (2008). UN E-Government Survey 2008: From E-Government to Connected Governance. New York: United Nations.

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APPENDIX: SOME OTHER INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES IN E-GOVERNANCE A. ICT in Education and Connectivity 1. Technology Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER):http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/description. html 2. Simputer:http://www.simputer.org/ 3. Jhai PC and Communication System:http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.htm 4. AMD Personal Internet Communicator:http://www.amdboard.com/pic.html 5. Multimedia Projector for Enhanced Education and Training:http://www.designthatmatters. org/k2/docs/Design%20Challenge%20Summary%20-%20Multimedia%20Projector.pdf 6. Low Cost-Lamps Brighten the Future of Rural India:http://www.nextbillion.net/ newsroom/2006/01/03/low-cost-lamps-brighten-the-future-of-rural-india 7. Dominican Republic WiFi:http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/POWERING_ICT/pub/Dominican_ Republic_-_WiFi.htm 8. WiFi in Macedonia:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4427960.stm

B. ICT in Health and Connectivity 1. Partners in Telemedicine – Connecting Health Care Providers and Patients:http://telemedicine. partners.org/telemedicine/ 2. “In the Very Near Future” – Near Field Communication:http://www.economist.com/science/ tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5244081&tranMode=none 3. Smart Communications – Providing Telecommunications Services to Low-Income Markets in the Philippines:http://www.nextbillion.net/files/Smart_0.pdf 4. Ca:sh:http://www.dimagi.com/case-studies-cash.php

C. ICT in Financial Services and Remittances 1. “In the Very Near Future” - Near Field Communication:http://www.economist.com/science/ tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5244081&tranMode=none 2. Smart Communications – Providing Telecommunications Services to Low-Income Markets in the Philippines:http://www.nextbillion.net/files/Smart_0.pdf 3. WIZZIT – Bringing Cellphone Banking to the Unbanked:http://www.nextbillion.net/ activitycapsule/wizzit 4. C-Sam Inc:http://www.nextbillion.net/activitycapsule/1125 5. G-Cash: Remittances Find a New Vehicle in Mobile Phones: http://www.nextbillion.net/ remittances-mobile-globe-cash 6. Porta Credit: Banco Solidario’s Mobile Microcredit in Ecuador: http://www.nextbillion.net/ activitycapsule/1229

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D. ICT in Government 1. Bhoomi – Computerization of Land Records:http://www.bhoomi.kar.nic.in/ 2. E-Government Overview and Lessons:http://www.digitaldividend.org/pubs/pubs_06_overview_egovernment.htm; http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/PREMNotes/premnote91.pdf 3. E-Government Toolkit for Developing Countries:http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ ID=19432&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT: DEVELOPMENT IN A KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY First of all, I am thankful for the opportunity of contributing to this title, an exceptionally interesting one, from the perspective of strategic planning and social and economic development. As I begin my third term as Governor of Sao Paulo, where circa 40 million people leave, i.e., approximately 22% of Brazilian population, I realize that it is fundamental to know and consider the best practices presented by researchers and development projects managers, who have used the concept of electronic government, as well as technology and innovation, as development tools. The State of Sao Paulo has passed through a long period of political stability which is translated into positive economic outcomes, such as: balanced public finances and the resulting recovery of the capacity to attract investments --including infrastructure works; the allocation of 70% of its resources into the social area --developing public policies toward education, healthcare, justice, social assistance, housing and people with disabilities; the establishment of partnerships with universities, municipalities and the private sector, enabling the access to state-of-the-art technologies and innovation, as a basis to the construction of significant qualitative and quantitative growth. In this context, the concept of a Knowledge Economy (KE), which is mentioned several times in this title, is particularly interesting to the State of Sao Paulo, as it converts the intangible nature of knowledge into a resource with market value for society. The five KE pillars – (i) an economic and institutional policy that encourages the development, dissemination and use of knowledge; (ii) research capacity; (iii) population with a good level of education and qualified for the job market; (iv) dynamic infrastructure of information and communication; and, (v) social inclusion – are a useful palette to guide the coordination of State activities. Economic development requires the joint action of State and municipal administrations, as well as of private enterprises, working together towards the shared improvement of quality of life, by using stimuli to the business environment, increasing job creation, improving family income and fostering social inclusion. The adoption of knowledge as a development factor, implies investing in education, technology and innovation, products and processes engineering, design, modern management methods, including knowledge management, and logistics. Public and private sectors investments in such fields generate favorable changes to the aggregation of value, to the production of agricultural goods, to industrial development and to the services sector. Such arrangement means improvement, efficiency and growth and it promotes balance and equality for the entire society.

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Afterword

By its characteristics, the economy of the State of Sao Paulo is propitious to the application of the five KE pillars. In this new development paradigm local variations, responsible for diversity, must be understood as prosperity generators; new sources of employment must be created, based on a model of technological innovation, in which the private sector engenders innovative solutions, to face foreign competition, and local governments find new receipts, besides modernizing options for providing its services. Furthermore, economic development necessarily entails overcoming iniquity, as well as urban and regional inequalities, including the realization of cities’ potentials and their productive arrangements. Also on this field the proposals drawn up by the authors of this book provide useful lessons to confront the inequalities still persisting in our State. I am convinced that the content of this book is of immediate and direct relevance for redirecting development policies toward global economies based on technological innovation. The authors and editors of this book must be congratulated for their capacity of sketching a new overview of governance, an electronic one, which is already being adopted by the State of Sao Paulo and that will become even stronger in the years to come. Among the several programs implemented with a great success by the State Government in this area, two of them deserve a special attention: the Acessa São Paulo and Poupatempo. They can serve not only as models but also as objects of these development policies. The former is a digital inclusion program which provides workstations with free public access to the Internet as well as enables local citizens to access a broad range of public services available on the web. The latter provides and encourages access by providing equipped rooms where they can access and obtain more than two thousand kinds of public services at federal, state, and municipal levels available on the Internet. Although its users can count on the assistance of specialized personnel, one of the main objectives of those rooms is to encourage citizens’ autonomy as s/he accesses and obtains electronic public services. A very significant step, within the Knowledge Society, will be taken by the establishment of the Center of Excellency in Technology and Innovation for the Benefit of the Person with Disability (CETI-D, in its Portuguese acronym), whose implementation is being started by the State Government. One of its main objectives will be to identify technological and organizational solutions, aiming at the rehabilitation and social inclusion of persons with disabilities, so that those solutions could be applied to the greatest number of people, for the littlest cost. The first Center of this kind in Brazil and in South America, CETI-D will be the leading actor in the process of incursion of our continent in the international context of those countries which take active participation in the benefits of a globalized economy based on the resources of knowledge, innovation and technological progress. I believe in the technology that overcomes differences, tears down the barrier of prejudice and brings citizens closer to each other. And I also believe that the CETI-D will be a noteworthy tool for all of that. Geraldo Alckmin Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

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About the Contributors

Danilo Piaggesi was Knowledge Economy Coordinator in the Vice Presidency of the Inter American Development Bank (IADB), in Washington D.C, from 2007 to 2009 and Chief of the Information and Communication Technology for Development Division (ICT4DEV) at the IADB, from 1999 to 2007. The ICT4DEV Division was in charge of structuring and implementing the Bank’s policy to introduce ICT in the Bank’s project portfolio, providing technical assistance to IADB’s borrowing member countries, and better informing government decisions regarding ICT and its applications. Prior to the IABD assignment, from 1981 to 1991, Mr. Piaggesi worked for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at different duty stations in Africa and Latin America in the field of technology transfer for development. From 1992 to 1998 he was part of the technical staff of Telespazio, Telecom-Italia Group in Rome, where he was in charge of the Strategic Alliances and International Activities Division. .Mr. Piaggesi also consulted for the European Union in Brussels, evaluating project proposals for funding in the field of telecommunications and environment. While at IADB, he was the alternate of the Bank’s President in the Steering Committee of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID); after leaving the Bank, he has remained a member of its Strategic Council. At present he is Managing Director of the Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) and a member of Fondazione Rosselli’s Board. FRA focuses on Knowledge Society, ICT and innovation for development. One of the major programs of FRA is the IKEP (International Knowledge Economy Program) working with multi and bi-lateral cooperation to support development projects where ICT, innovation and the principles of the Knowledge Economy can be instrumental for achieving socio-economic growth. Mr. Piaggesi holds a PhD degree in Physics with a diploma in geophysics, cum laude, from the University of Rome (1980), and an Executive International Business Certificate from Georgetown University/John Cabot University, in Washington D.C and in Rome, (1996). His professional training is in remote sensing (1981); digital image processing and analysis (1986); technical cooperation project formulation and appraisal (1989); telecommunications (1995-1996) and ICT, innovation and Knowledge Society for development. He lives and works in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, with his wife Helena. Kristian J. Sund is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Middlesex University Business School, in London. He teaches strategic management at both undergraduate and MBA levels and leads the online distance-learning MBA in Shipping & Logistics. From 2007 to 2009 he was Managing Director of the Executive Master in e-Governance at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. His research currently focuses on strategic types, organizational cognition and learning and perceived environmental uncertainty, as well as more generally organizations and strategic management. His research has been applied to the hospitality industry, the postal industry, leisure (service) industry

About the Contributors

and others and has appeared in a variety of journals. Both as a consultant and regular employee, Kristian has worked with a diverse range of service industries, including banking, telecom, tourism, leisure and the postal sector. Kristian holds a Ph.D. in Management and M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Lausanne and a M.A. in Society, Science and Technology from the EPFL, where he also completed his post-doc. Walter Castelnovo is Assistant Professor of Information Systems and Organization at the University of Insubria (Italy). His research interests concern technological and organizational innovation in Public Administration and Interorganizational Information Systems. He is one of the founders of the Research Center for “Knowledge and Service Management for Business Applications” of the University of Insubria and he is member of the Scientific Committee of the “Interdepartmental Center for Organizational Innovation in Public Administration” of the University of Milan. He served as member of the committee for many international conferences on E-Government and ICT evaluation and he is the General Chair of The 5th European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation, that will be held in 2011 at the University of Insubria. He is also member of the Department of Institutional Reforms, E-Government and Institutional Federalism of the Association of the Municipalities of Lombardia (Italy). *** Abdul Razak Mohamed is working as a Professor, Town Planning (since Dec.2003) with the Department of Planning, School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai. Previously he worked as an Assistant Professor (1990-2003) with the Dept. of Urban Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Initially he worked as a Program Associate – Urban (1985-1990) with the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad, India. His educational qualification consists of Executive Masters in e-Governance Ecole Polytechnique, Lausanne, Switzerland (Swiss International Development Agency Award for 2007-2008). He obtained his Ph.D in Urban and Regional Planning from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia (AusAID Award for 1997-2000). Dr. Razak holds M.A. and M. Phil Degree in Sociology, and also a Masters degree in Town and Country Planning. A PG Diploma in Human Resource Management adds credit to his education. He published about 30 research articles in the national and international journals and about 10 international conference and 25 national conferences attended. Contributed chapters in about 10 books related to Sociology, Urban Governance, Town Planning and Environment Education. Ajay Kumar Reddy Adala is an Engineering Graduate from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Kharagpur, India and a Management Graduate from Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM) – Gwalior, India. He also has an Executive Masters Degree in e-Governance from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Switzerland. He has to his credit 15 years of work experience in manufacturing sector, IT sector and government sector. He served Government of Chhattigarh, India as Joint CEO (Projects) implementing e-Governance projects and currently in the position of Technical Director, e-Procurement in Centre for e-Governance, Government of Karnataka, India rolling-out e-Procurement project in the State of Karnataka.

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About the Contributors

Anupama Saxena is currently working as an Associate Profesor in the Department of Political Science in Guru Ghasidas University Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India. Dr. Anupama Saxena works mainly on Public Policy Analysis. She is presently engaged in researching Information Communication Technologies and Water Policies in the context of Developing Countries. She is also engaged in developing gender evaluation methodologies for Policy. İbrahim Arpacı graduated from the department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology at Anadolu University with the first rank. He carried out many e-learning projects in the Open Education Faculty at Anadolu University. He received MSc in Information Systems at Middle East Technical University (METU). Currently he works as a research assistant at METU, Informatics Institute in Ankara, Turkey and continues his PHD in Information Systems. He performs academic studies in information systems, e-learning, e-government, human computer interaction, and innovation management. Johanna Ekua Awotwi a BA Political Science and Law holder, is currently a Fellow at the UNUIIST in Macau SAR, China with her research area devoted to Strategies, Standards and Architectures in e-Governance. Her regular position is being a Director of Research and ICT Operations of a Ghanaian private NGO called the Centre for e-Governance in Accra. She has made presentations at all the ICEGOV conferences from 2007-2009. Johanna’s paper on Community Information Centres and Mobile telephony, won her a Best Paper award at the ICEGOV2009 conference in Bogota, Columbia. Her research interest has been on rural connectivity – the need for people in unserved and underserved areas to be active participants of the governance process. Johanna has led a number of research teams to various parts of Ghana to collect much primary data on rural access. Asim Balci holds the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration, Selçuk University, Turkey. Prof. Balci assumed advisory and managerial roles in Turkish Ministries of Health and Transportation (Turksat) between 2003 and 2010. Having received his Doctorate degree from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Professor Balci has published numerous books and contributed to various journal publications and conference proceedings in the fields of public administration, as well as TQM and e-Government. He has also recently been involved in EU projects on e-government maturity model development based on citizen evaluation, and development of ubiquitous platform for citizens’ involvement in local policy-making. Frank Bannister is a senior lecturer in Information Systems and Head of the Information Systems Department in Trinity College, Dublin. In 2001, he completed his PhD the historical development of ICT usage in the Irish civil service. His current research interests include the impact of ICT on public administration and governance and in particular the relationship between technology, power, privacy and trust in the public sphere. He has published extensively in the fields of e-government and ICT evaluation. He is a founding member of the European Conference on e-Government and a co-director of the permanent study group on e-government in the European Group for Public Administration. He is the editor of the Electronic Journal of e-Government and is a member of editorial board of a number of other publications. He is a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, a fellow of the Irish Computer Society and a Chartered Engineer.

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About the Contributors

Ana Sofía Cardenal is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Law and Politics of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Autonoumous University of Barcelona. She has taught at several universities in Catalonia and Central America. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University (1993-95) and a Fulbright Fellow at the Department of Politics at New York University (2004). She has several publications on different subjects that include transitions to democracy in Central America, the political economy of institutional reform in Latina America, and the political effects of ICTs. She is currently working on the project on political parties and Internet as a research resident at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Julián Casasbuenas G., Chemical Engineer, University of America 1984 - Bogotá Colombia, with more than twenty years of experience in environmental and information and communication technologies - ICTs. Director of Colnodo www.colnodo.apc.org, a non-profit organization established in 1993 with the main goal of facilitating the communications, the exchange of information and experiences among Colombian organizations at local, national and international level. Colnodo’s strategic programs includes: e-government and e-democracy; Citizenship promotion and participation in the use and appropriation of ICTs; ICTs policies; Research, management and development of ICT knowledge. Colnodo works with three transversal axes: Free and Open Source Software, Gender and Sustainable development. ICTs Andinean Network for Development, Chair of the Executive Board of the Network.Council member of the Association for Progressive Communications - Apc and Former Chair of the Executive Board.Council member of the Development Gateway Foundation. Member of the Internet Society and Internet Governance Forum Ambassador for the 2007 and 2009 Forum. Rodolfo Castillo López Architectural Engineer and MBA from the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. Presently he is the Bolivian Representative of Fitch Ratings, the most important rating agency in Bolivia (11 years). He has a 24 year experience in consulting and management of industrial, financial, commercial and IT companies as President of AESA (Asesoramiento Empresarial S.A.). He was the first Executive Director of the Agency for the Development of the Information Society of Bolivia (ADSIB) and the Bolivian Representative at the World Summit of the Information Society held in Geneva, Switzerland. He was also the Principal Executive of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) in Bolivia. He was Marketing Manager for Eli Lilly International in USA, México, Peru and Argentina. President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Bolivia (twice), Director of the Private Sector Confederation and the following development institutions: Instituto Prisma, Nueva Empresa and Fundación Nuevo Norte. Luca Cernuzzi obtained the Laurea degree in Computer Science from University of Milan, Italy, 1990 and the PhD in Engineering from University of Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 2007. Since 1991 he is Professor in the department of Electronics and Computer Science Engineering (DEI) of the Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (UC), Paraguay. He is also a full professor in Software Engineering. From July 1996 up to July 2009, Luca Cernuzzi was the Director of the DEI and served as a Dean of the School of Sciences and Technology at UC. He has been a visiting professor in several European and Latin American universities.Luca Cernuzzi has participated in several international projects and his current research interests include: software engineering, multi-agent systems,

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About the Contributors

web engineering, ICT for good, and educational computer science. He has published over 70 papers in journals, book, and international conferences and workshops. María J. Chea, Recent graduate of American University with a degree in Economics and International Relations. Graduated cum laude with a concentration in International Economics and a focus on Asian studies. Worked with a number of organizations including the Inter-American Development Bank, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and Management Systems International doing research and writing on development. Published a report for the Vice-presidency of Guatemala on microfinance and small business development in the Central American region. Fluent in both English and Spanish with conversational skills in French and Hebrew, and knowledge of basic Mandarin. Guatemalan citizen, currently resides in Washington D.C. and Guatemala City, Guatemala. Mark Deakin is a Professor in the School of Engineering and Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University. Much of Mark’s recent research has been inter-disciplinary, cutting across academic, scientific and technical boundaries within the built environment. This has allowed him to work thematically on issues surrounding the role of ICTs in information society and their relationship to the knowledge economy of scientific and technical development. Much of the research undertaken to develop an understanding of the relationship between ICTs, information society and the knowledge economy has been project-based, focussing on the application of recent scientific and technical developments. These include project-based applications relating to the networked communities, social informatics and economic instruments of two such scientific and technical developments: those know as IntelCities and SmartCities. Mark is currently Director of the SCRAN (SmartCities (inter) Regional Academic Network) and works with counterparts in the Universities of Amsterdam and Turin to exploit the knowledge-transfer potential of the scientific and technical applications developed by this organisation. Magali González obtained the Engineering degree in Computer Science from the Catholic University of Asuncion, Paraguay, in 2000. Since 2002 she is an associate Professor in the department of Electronics and Computer Science Engineering at the Universidad Católica “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción” (UC), Asunción, Paraguay. She is teaching model driven development and introduction to Computer Science. Currently, she is in the last year of her PhD study at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. Her research interests include: software engineering, model driven development, e-governance, web engineering, web semantics, adaptive systems, etc. In these areas, she has published about 20 papers in electronic journals, book chapters, international conferences and workshops. Yuri E. Hohlov is Chairman of the Board of Directors, Head of the Institute of Information Society Directorate of Regional Programs (Russia). From 1982 to 1996 Dr. Hohlov has rich experience in information systems implementation modeling the exploration processes of large gas reserves in Western Siberia, implementing e-library for Russian State Library, creating Scientific Network of Computer Telecommunications for Science and Higher Education” (Ministry of Science, Ministry of Education, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research.) In 1997 he served as Advisory Board member of the infoDev Program of the World Bank “Developing the National Dialogue on Russian Telecommunications Policy”. Along with a number of leading specialists in the fields of telecommunications, informatics, information policy, library science, high-tech computing and educa-

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About the Contributors

tion, Dr. Hohlov created the Institute of the Information Society in 1998. In 2000 Dr. Hohlov headed the development of the methodological framework of integrating Moscow’s information systems. In 2000 Dr. Hohlov became a Corresponding Member of the Russian Engineering Academy, and in 2004 he was elected an Academician in the “Information Systems, Computing and Electronics, and Telecommunications” section. Gianpaolo Iazzolino received the degree in Management Engineering from the University of Calabria, Italy. Since graduating he has continued his research at the Department of Business Administration and he has taught in the Engineering Faculty, giving both lectures and seminars and has taken part on examination boards. In 2000 he took the Ph.D. in Computer Science and Systems from the University of Calabria. From 2004 he is Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Administration and he is member of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Calabria, Italy. His research interests are in the areas of business performance, evaluation of innovation, intangibles, knowledge management. He teaches business administration and management in the management engineering curriculum. He has participated in several research projects and he has carried out management consulting activities in partnership with some business innovation centers. Tomasz Janowski is a Senior Research Fellow at United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology in Macao where he founded and heads the Center for Electronic Governance. His expertise is in foundations and frameworks for e-Governance, tools and applications of formal techniques, and rigorous development of enterprise systems, particularly systems for the public sector. He coordinates a series of International Conferences on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, and serves as Editorial Board member and Programme Committee chair at various journals and conferences. As part of his contribution to international development, he assists governments including Afghanistan, Argentina, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Jordan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Macao SAR, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria and Palestine on design and implementation of e-Governance programmes. His projects have been funded by Macao Foundation, World Bank, Microsoft, UNDP and EU. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Warwick, UK. J.-Christof Kuechemann studied mathematics and sociology at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, holding a degree in mathematics with a thesis on the definitions of social power according to the game theory. He then carried out his doctoral studies in sociology on “Crisis, Conflict, Public Policy and Development in Peru” also at the University of Bielefeld. With experience as a lecturer for development planning and policy at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru, he began a long career with the German Technical Cooperation as Regional Coordinator for Latin America South and also as Head of the Division for Latin America North and the Caribbean in Eschborn (Germany). Also, he has leaded the Office for Project Management, as well as Director of the GTZ Agency, both in Brasilia. His experience took him also to work for the IDB as Deputy Manager for Social Development and Governance at the IDB- Head Office in Washington DC (USA) and later in 2004 as IDB-Representative in Peru. In late 2007 he became Senior Policy Advisor for Global Partnerships at the GTZ Head office in Eschborn (Germany). Currently, he is the Director of the German Technical Cooperation Office in El Salvador and has authored several publications on development-policy issues.

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About the Contributors

Chang Boon Patrick Lee is an Associate Professor of Business Information Systems in the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau. He was a personnel practitioner before joining academia. Patrick received his PhD in Commerce and Management from the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests include the diffusion of information technology innovations and the management of information technology professionals. His research has been published in international journals and conference proceedings. His recent journal publications can be found in Information & Management, International Journal of Electronic Business, Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, and Database for Advances in Information Systems. U Ian Edith Lei is currently a Senior Project Manager in the information Technology Department of the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel (VMRH). Edith has been leading projects and providing business IT solutions analysis for the casino, hotel, marketing and back office business segments for the VMRH. Edith had also worked in the Information Services Department of the Macao Water Supply Co. Ltd., and one of her major endeavors was to implement an online platform for the utility services in Macao. Edith finished her bachelor degree from the University of Macau in 2002, majoring in Business Information Systems. She finished the MBA program in the same university in 2007 with concentration in e-commerce. Russell Lidman is Professor and Director of the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. Prior to joining the faculty of Seattle University, Lidman was policy adviser on the human services in the Office of the Governor of the state of Washington and he held the position of Assistant Commissioner of that state’s Employment Security Department. He earlier served as Academic Vice President and Provost of The Evergreen State College. He holds the PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin and the MPA from Princeton University. He was a Fulbright Professor in Peru and in Ecuador. He served as a Fulbright Specialist in Honduras and in Nicaragua. He writes on public policy. His most recent articles have dealt with religion and the state and with public art. Tunc D. Medeni is a full-time researcher in Turksat and also affiliated to various academic institutions as a part-time staff. He was awarded a PhD degree from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan; his MS degree from Lancaster University in the UK; and his BS degree from Bilkent University, Turkey. He has contributed to various conference presentations, book chapters, and journal articles in his interest areas such as knowledge management, cross-cultural learning, and e-government. He has been awarded funding and scholarships from Nakayama Hayao Foundation, JAIST, Japanese State in Japan, Lancaster University in UK, and Turkish State and Bilkent University in Turkey, and European Union for his education and research activities as distinguished individual, group and institutional works. Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen: Consultant and policy analyst at the Danish Technological Institute (Policy and Business Analysis). Experience in project management including strategy and business development of citizen portals, performance management, reuse of public sector information (Gov 2.0), social computing (Web 2.0 and social media). Expertise includes ICT Awards and good practice exchange, evaluation of ICT projects and online services, analysis and comparative eGovernment, interoperability, eParticipation as well as ICT in a European, regional and development context. Other areas of expertise include development and implementation of tender proposals, seminar and conference

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About the Contributors

organisation. But also technical assistance and knowledge transfer to SME’s in developing countries, democratisation, international trade and foreign direct investments issues. Morten is the author and coauthor of various publications, plus presenter/guest lecturer on various related topics. Previous employers includes, European Institute of Public Administration (www.eipa.eu), Centre for the Development of Enterprise (www.cde.int), European Commission, DG DEVL (www.europa.eu/pol/dev/index_en.htm) and University of KwaZulu-Natal (www.ukzn.ac.za). NB: From 1 May 2010 Morten has been with the National IT and Telecom Agency (www.itst.dk) in Denmark working in the policy and strategy team for the national citizen portal www.borger.dk. Gianluca Misuraca is currently a Research Associate at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a Scientific Officer at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, based in Seville, Spain. Gianluca has been active in the area of e-Governance in the last 15 years working in both the private and the public sector as policy analyst and strategic advisor. Among other assignments, he has been the Managing Director and Scientific Coordinator of the Global Executive Master in e-Governance organised by EPFL, and the designer and Project Manager of the e-Africa initiative for good governance, being an Associate Expert at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Gianluca has written several publications in the domain of e-Governance and Knowledge Society and his research interests range from ICT for development to ICT for governance with focus on foresight intelligence and policy modelling. Monis Aziz holds a Masters degree in eGovernance from EPFL, Switzerland and ITSM Certification. Monis has extensive experience in functional areas of Service Delivery Management, Project Management, Customer Support, Business Development and eGovernance. Monis possesses international experience in post conflict environments and varied professional consultancy work with The World Bank Afghanistan in the field of Information Technology Consultancy and Project Implementation. Monis has also worked as Venue Technology Manager at the 15th Doha Asian Games in 2006. He is presently working with IBM India and is based in Bangalore, India. Ahmet Nohutçu graduated from Ankara University Department of Public Administration in 1993. He completed his master’s degree in Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and took Ph.D. from Middle East Technical University in the area of Political Science and Public Administration. He worked as an academician at Muğla University between 1994-2004. He has been working at Kocaeli University Department of Political Science and Public Administration since2004. His academic research area is strategic planning, public policymaking process in Turkey, governance, the EU administrative structure and administrative law. Adegboyega Ojo is a Research Fellow at the United Nations University - International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST) located in Macao. At UNU-IIST, he belongs to the Center for Electronic Governance. Before joining UNU-IIST in May 2004, he was Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Lagos in Nigeria. His expertise is primarily in the domains of Electronic Governance, Technology Strategy and Architectures, and Software Technology. His academic and professional career spans about two decades of teaching, research and capacity building in computing, e-governance and related subjects. He has published several peer-reviewed papers as journal

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About the Contributors

articles, book chapters, and contributions to conference proceedings. He currently serves as PC member and chair of several international conferences in the area of E-Governance. Adegboyega Ojo holds a PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Lagos in Nigeria. Rinaldo Pietrantonio is as a consultant of the Department of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Europe and Central Asia Unit at the World Bank. He was visiting scholar at the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, George Mason University in 2004 and 2005; researcher at the Center for Social and Economic Engineering, University of Calabria in 2003 and 2004; consultant at the Presidency of the Council of Ministries, Italian Government in 2002 and researcher at Calpark Scientific and Technological Park of Calabria, Rende, Italy in 2000. In 1999, he worked at the Communication Department of Mazars & Guerard, Mazars Group, Paris. He teaches “Money and Banking” to undergraduates at George Mason University since 2009 and taught “Economics for Engineering” at University of Calabria in 2002 and 2003. He holds a Laurea in managerial engineering from University of Calabria, a Ph.D. in managerial engineering from the Federico II University of Naples, and a M.A. in economics from George Mason University. He expects to earn a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 2010. Leonardo Pineda, Economist, (Ph.D) Cum Laudae, University of Goettingen, Federal Republic of Germany. Industrial Engineer Honoris Causa awarded by the National School of Engineers of Metz, ENIM, France. Prof. Pineda is responsible for the Technical Secretariat of the Cartagena Network of Engineering, France (www.cartagena-engineering-network.org). He was a former staff member of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNIDO in Vienna, Austria, as well as VicePresident for Cooperation and Development of the Colombian Federation of Chambers of Commerce. He is a recognized international Consultant on Strategic Management of Technology, Innovation and Knowledge and MBA guest professor at several national and international universities. He is keynote speaker to various international forums on issues related to technology clusters, innovation poles, and knowledge enterprises. He has extensive international experience in technical cooperation projects for international organizations. At present he is holding a chair at the Business School of the University El Rosario in Bogotá, in the research area on the impact of technological change and strategic innovation in enduring organizations. Mohammad Rehan is an associate professor of Computer Engineering at Atilim University, Ankara Turkey. His areas of interest are MIS, SCM, eSCM, eCommerce, eGovernment, eProcurement, Public eProcurement and Cloud Computing. He has extensive experience in curriculum development, distance education related to computers and management courses. He is the author of “eProcurement: Supply Chain Management” book. He is also involved in book-reviews. His publications are in referred journals and conferences including International Journal of Production Research. Gilmar Ribeiro de Mello is Doctor and Master of Science in Accounting from the School of Economics, Business and Accountancy at the University of São Paulo (USP). Graduate in Accounting by the Federal Center for Technological Education of Paraná. He is currently Professor PhD at the State University of West of Paraná (Unioeste), Francisco Beltrão, Paraná, Brazil. Has experience in Accounting and Business Administration with emphasis in Management Accounting and Public Management. Researcher

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About the Contributors

of the Multidisciplinary Group of Organizational Studies - Unioeste, Researcher at the Laboratory for Controllership and Accounting Public - USP and researcher of the SIMULAB - Laboratory of Management - USP. Co-author of the book Corporate Governance and Governance in Public Management. Edson Luiz Riccio is Professor of International Management and Information Systems at USP – University of São Paulo (USP) - Brazil, where he also serves as Director of TECSI - Laboratory of Technology and Information System (USP). He received a Ph.D. in Business and a Master of Science from University of São Paulo and SEP from Stanford University. He is President of the International Office for FEAUSP where he is responsible for more than 100 partnership agreements around the world. He is also the Chair of CONTECSI – International Conference of Information Systems and Technology Management. He has published in International Journals papers about International Management, Cross-Cultural, Global Education and International Joint-Ventures. He is member of the Scientific Committee of Eduniversal and visiting professor at Umea University (Sweden), University of Pau and Pays D´Adour, and Euromed Marseille (France). He is also Editor of JISTEM – Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management. Marco Ronchetti is an associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Trento, Italy. He received a PhD degree in Physics in 1979. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the IBM Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA, in 1980. In 1983 he became a researcher in Theoretical Physics at the University of Trento and then a professor of Computer Science at the same university, in 1995.
In the past, Marco Ronchetti has also been Rector’s Delegate for the Web and online Services, and department’s delegate for e-learning at the university of Trento. He has been member of the Physics department (1983-1995), the Information and Management Studies Department (1995-2001), and to the ICT department thereafter. Currently, his interests are mostly related to e-learning. He has published more than 100 publications (both in Physics and Computer Science) in journals and conferences. Valmor Slomski a degree in Accounting from the Education Development Foundation of West (1984), Master of Science in Accounting from the University of São Paulo (1996) and Doctor of Science in Accounting from the University of São Paulo (1999). He is currently Professor PhD, Department of Accounting and Actuarial Science, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Accounting from the University of São Paulo. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Revista Base (UNISINOS), Journal of Business, Journal of Contemporary Accounting (Florianópolis), Journal of Operational Management and RIC-UFPE Journal of Accounting Information, Academy - Review and Dissemination of Legal Sciences Accounting and is the author of Manual of Public Accounting, Accounting and Governance in Public Management and Corporate Governance and Governance in Public Management edited by Editora Atlas. Evgeny Styrin is a senior lecturer at the School of Public Administration of Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia, where he specializes in research on e-government. He also continues postdoctoral work in e-government at the same University. Dr. Styrin is actively involved in teaching process in the area of information and communication technologies usage in public administration. His main research topics are: e-government strategic planning and implementation, e-government program and project management, cross agency information sharing. Dr. Styrin also takes part in Russian federal and regional e-government development projects as a consultant. In 2009-2010 as a Fulbright Visiting

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About the Contributors

Scholar in Center for Technology in Government, SUNY Albany (USA), Dr. Styrin shared his knowledge of public administration and electronic government in a number of research projects for federal and state agencies in USA. Pablo Valenti, Modernization of State and Innovation Specialist with 15-years of experience in multilateral, Government, academic and private sectors. Engineer with a Ph.D. in Management of Technology. Developed a broad experience in the design and management of modernization of public administration projects, innovation policies and national strategies in e-Government in Latin America and the Caribbean. Presently concentrates in the identification, preparation and supervision of operations of the InterAmerican Development Bank, in connection with programs for the modernization of tax and financial administration, interoperability platform, results-based management, e-government solutions, e-procurement systems, Congress modernization, health administration (e-health) and national digital strategy. Served as advisor to the Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay. Chris Vein, called San Francisco’s “tech zeitgeist” by Computerworld Magazine, is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City and County of San Francisco (City). In this role, he is responsible for setting the City’s technology vision and direction, ensuring the development and implementation of Citywide standards, policies, and procedures, and running the technology “utility” department providing enterprise services to the City with its 28,000 employees, 52 departments, and $6.5 billion annual budget. In his tenure as CIO, Chris has led the City in becoming a national force in the application of new media platforms, use of open source applications, creation of new models for expanding digital inclusion, emphasizing “green” technology, and transforming government. In 2010, Chris was named to Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25: Dreamers, Doers, and Drivers. Last year, Chris was named to the top 50 public sector CIOs by InformationWeek Magazine and was honored as the Community Broadband Visionary of the Year by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). Chris is a sought-after commentator and speaker, quoted in a wide range of news sources from the Economist to Inc. Magazine. In past work lives, Chris has worked in the public sector at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), for the American Psychological Association, and in a nonpolitical role, at the White House supporting three Presidents of the United States. In his spare time, Chris is a voracious reader, pretty darn good cook, and sometimes mentor. Adolfo Villafiorita is a senior researcher at Fondazione Bruno Kessler, where he leads the ICT4G group. He received his laurea degree cum laude in Electronic Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 1993 and his PhD degree in Artificial Intelligent System from the University of Ancona in 1997. Visiting scholar at the AI Department of the University of Edinburgh and of the Formal Reasoning Group at Stanford, since 1997 he has been a researcher at IRST in the system engineering, safety-critical, and eGovernment areas. He was part of the consulting team for the eGIF (eGovernment Interoperability Framework) initiative for the government of Mozambique. Adolfo Villafiorita is the author of “Design and Safety Assessment of Critical Systems” a book by Auerbach and of various publications in international journals and conferences. He is promoting the AFRICOMM conference and the SIB4Good initiative. Adolfo Villafiorita is a member of IEEE and ACM.

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About the Contributors

Gianluigi Viscusi obtained a Master’s degree (Laurea Vecchio Ordinamento) in Philosophy (2001) from the University of Milano and a Ph.D. degree (2007) in Information and communication technology applied to knowledge society and to learning processes from the University of Milan Bicocca. He is currently post-doc research fellow at the Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication (DISCo) of the University of Milan Bicocca: the research title is “Strategic planning and IT alignment of eGovernment systems and services.” Research interests concern methodologies for information systems planning, eGovernment, IT business value, business modelling and IS strategy alignment, design and management of repositories, data reverse engineering. He has published more than 30 referred papers in books, conference proceedings, and journals as Data & Knowledge Engineering and Government Information Quarterly. Komminist Weldemariam is a researcher (post-doctorate) with the ICT4G group at the Fondazinoe Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy. He received a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from Addis Abeba University, Ethiopia, in 2003, Masters of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, in 2006, and PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Trento, Italy, in 2010. Visiting scholar at the Computer Security Group of the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. His research interests include software engineering, electronic voting systems, web security, verification of (software) security properties, and ICT for Good. He is a member of IEEE and ACM. Meltem Yildirim Imamoglu is a Ph.D. candidate at Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey. Her areas of interest are e-Government, eProcurement, Public eProcurement, Cloud Computing in Public Sector and MIS. She has been working in the Ministry of Finance to be an ICTs expert and has been involved in some public reengineering projects as a manager since 1998. She has attended many international conferences about eGovernment as an author. She is also working on a book and some conference paper reviews. She is married and has one child. Néstor Zapata studied education and public administration in Chile, and obtained a Master’s Degree in regional and local development at the University of the Americas in Ecuador, with the thesis “Land planning in the service of regional development.” It was official in municipal and national government agencies in Chile between 1991 and 1998. Since then he has worked as consultant on local development and land management issues. He has worked for GTZ in Chile and is currently manager of the GTZ land management project in El Salvador, under contract by the consortium of IP-AMBERO consulting firms in Germany.

529

530

Index

Symbols

B

1993 Public Expenditure Review 216

Below Poverty Line (BPL) 70 bidirectional communication 358 Bolivia 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 bordecostero.cl portal 400 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) 174, 184 Brazilian States and Federal District 157 Brazilian States Electronic Governance Index (BEGI) 165, 166, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 184

A abnormally low tenders (ALTs) 153 Above Poverty Line (APL) 70, 71 Accessibility at data level 313 Accessibility at infrastructural level 314 Accessibility at organizational level 313, 314, 316 Accountability at organizational level 313, 316 Action Plan 38, 39, 40, 41, 54 Administrative Fragmentation 98, 100 administrative regulations (AR) 289, 297 Afghan Computer Science Association (ACSA) 202 Afghan Funds Transfer System (AFTS) 199 Afghanistan 185, 186, 187, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208 Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) 202 Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA) 197, 198, 199, 204 Afghan National Police (ANP) 194 Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC) 197, 198 Anchor Domain 110, 111, 112, 113, 114 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) 202 Authority for Information Technology in the Public Administration (AIPA) 39 Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) 218

C capacity building 406 Capacity Conditions 106 Catalan parties 356, 361, 370, 374 Catalonia 355, 356, 361 Catalonia cluster 444, 459 Central Census Management System Project (MERNİS) 274 Central-local government relations 191 Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) 11 Chile 383, 385, 386, 387, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 397, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 406 City Corporations 7 City of Bits 124, 125, 130, 138, 139, 140 Civil Service Reform 105, 116 civil-society organizations (CSOs) 189 Civil Society Participation 335 clustering 445 coastal border 400, 401, 402, 406 Coastal Zone Project 400, 401 cold war 190

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Index

co-location 443, 450 Colombia 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337 Commission Against Corruption 59 Committee for Digital Administration 234 Committee to Protect Journalists 351, 352 Commonwealth Centre for e-Governance (CGeG) 308 “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” 445, 462 competitiveness 380, 381, 393, 394 Competitive Potential 110, 111 Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) 204, 206 conceptual re-engineering frameworks 313 convergence 426 corruption 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 354 corruption, control of 258, 341, 354 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 341, 345, 346, 347, 348, 354 Council of Transformation Leaders 265, 270 Creating Leadership 107 critical success factors (CSFs) 152 Custom Administration Modernization Project (GIMOP) 275 customer relationship management (CRM) 148 customisation 427 Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) 211, 216, 217, 220, 221, 225, 226

D Data Provision and Information System Development 107 data quality evaluation 313 decentralization 406 Democracy Phase 326 Denmark 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238, 239, 240, 243, 244, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253 Development 186, 187, 191, 195, 201, 203, 207, 208 Development Finance Holdings (DFH) 220 Development of governance 191 diffusion of innovation 60

digital access index (DAI) 7 Digital Denmark 234, 236 digital divide 408, 422, 442 Digital Taskforce 234, 235, 241, 242, 244, 247, 249 District Communication Network (DCN) 196, 197, 204

E E-Administration 84 Ecobank (Ghana) Limited (EBG) 220 e-commerce 60, 61, 65, 144, 149, 151, 195, 203 e-commerce, business to business (B2B) 410 e-commerce, business to consumer (B2C) 410 economic and social development 157, 158, 159, 173, 174, 175, 176 Economic Development 55 e-democracy 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 45, 49, 50, 53, 55, 84, 164, 209, 335 e-democracy portal 36, 43 Education & Training 195 e-Factory 36, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49, 50, 52, 53 eG4M 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 323 eG4M methodology 310, 311, 312, 313, 323 e-governance 1-22, 26, 32, 67, 68, 71, 75-84, 93, 100, 157, 158, 160-178, 182, 185, 187, 188, 207, 209, 216, 219, 221, 223, 227, 228, 229, 257, 264, 265, 304, 305, 307-323, 407-423, 442 e-governance development 157, 165, 177 e-governance policies 399 e-governance practices 157, 158, 164, 165, 170, 173, 176, 177, 178 e-government 2-8, 18-27, 32-44, 49, 50, 53-66, 102-108, 111-123, 145, 195, 199, 203, 205, 206, 209, 211, 212, 226, 231-278, 286-326, 335, 351, 393, 408, 409, 410, 416, 421, 422, 443-463 e-government clusters 443, 444 e-government development team 59 e-government-driven PAR 112, 115 e-government, external strategy 111, 112, 115, 117 e-government, government-to-business (G2B) 117, 189, 203, 410

531

Index

e-government, government-to-citizen (G2C) 8, 18, 117, 189, 203, 410 e-government, government-to-employees (G2E) 117, 410 e-government, government-to-government (G2G) 117, 189, 203, 410 e-government, internal strategy 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117 e-government portals 398 e-government potentials 112 e-government support 112, 115, 117 E-Gram Suraj 67, 68, 69 e-healthcare 199, 205 e-invoice 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396 electronic data interchange (EDI) platform 210, 214, 217, 229, 385, 395 Electronic Monitoring and Municipal Investment Information System (SIM) 29 electronic public procurement (E-PP) 146, 147, 148, 149, 152, 153, 154 electronic public services (EPS) 108 Electronic Sale Project (e-Sale) 275 El Salvador 397, 398, 399, 402, 403, 404, 406 entrepreneurial clusters 426 e-participation 314, 318, 335 e-procurement 145, 146, 149, 154 e-readiness 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 273, 277, 278, 313, 314, 317 e-readiness assessment 107 E-Russia 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 297, 298, 299, 300, 302 E-Services 84 e-topia 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 135, 136, 137, 138 e-transformation 255, 257, 265, 270 e-Transformation Turkey Advisory Council 265, 270 e-Transformation Turkey Executive Committee 256, 264, 265, 270 e-Transformation Turkey Project 259, 265, 270 e-Turkey 272 European Clusters for Innovations (ECI) 444, 455

532

European Information Society 259 European Union (EU) 234, 239, 273, 282, 284, 285 e-vivienda initiative 400, 402, 403 e-voting 409, 411, 412, 413, 423 external support and internal support (ESIS) 16 External Support (ES) 16

F Federal Guard Service (FGS) 297, 298 Federal Information Technologies Agency (FITA) 297, 298 Fondazione Rosselli Americas (FRA) 465 foreign direct investment (FDI) 195 Free and Open Source software (FOSS) 327, 334, 335

G GAUDI cluster project 444, 454, 455, 457, 458, 459, 463 GELT strategy 324 gender based digital divide 67 Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) 68, 81 gender gaps 67, 70 General Radio Packet System (GRPS) 198 GENESIS System 28 geographic clusters 444, 445, 447, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463 Geographic Information System (GIS) 274 GePeGi e-government framework 449 GePeGi e-government framework, demand factors 449 GePeGi e-government framework, policy factors 449 GePeGi e-government framework, supply factors 449 German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 404, 405, 406 Ghana 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229 Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) 220 Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet) 209, 211, 217, 219, 220, 221, 226, 228, 229

Index

Ghana Shippers Council (GSC) 220 Gini Index 157, 159, 166, 174, 175, 177, 184, 345, 346, 347, 354 Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) phones 195 global strategy 124, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136 good governance 16, 406 good governance theories 288 governance 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 193, 204, 207, 208, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 338, 339, 341, 345, 346, 348, 350, 351 governance processes 317 Government Affairs 148, 149 Governmental policy 144, 145 Government Communication Network (GCN) 196, 204 Government Effectiveness 258 Government Machinery 105 Government of Afghanistan (GOA) 195, 200, 204, 205 Government of the Municipality of La Paz (GMLP) 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 Government Services 195 Government Supply Office (GSO) 275 Government Support System (GSS) 16 Grand corruption 340 Grillo, Beppe 349, 352 gross domestic product (GDP) 146, 157, 159, 166, 174, 175, 176, 177, 272, 273, 287, 303, 345, 348

H Habitat Agenda 2 Harper’s Illustrated 351 High Technology in Low income Communities 127 Horizontal Communication 372 Horizontal Mobilization 363, 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 372 Human Capacity Development 107 Human Development Index (HDI) 157, 159, 166, 174, 175, 177, 184

human resources 426

I ICT4AD Policy 223 ICT-enabled Governance 304 ICT for Good (ICT4G) 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 414, 419, 421, 423 ICT National Plan 325 ICT penetration 407, 408, 423 ICT policy process 255, 257, 266 IFC 27, 32 Impacted Domain 110, 111, 112, 113, 114 Improvement of Transparency 324, 335 income 387, 394 India 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23 Industrial Automated Management Systems (IAMS) 287 industrial clusters 443, 444, 445, 451, 455, 456 information & communication technologies (ICT) 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 260, 263, 264, 266, 267, 269, 271 Information Phase 325 Information Policy Conception 290, 301 Information Publishing 4 Information Society Development Strategy (ISDS) 296 Information Society Strategy 259, 260, 262, 263, 264, 265, 269, 270, 271 Information Society Strategy Progress Report 260, 269 information technology (IT) 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 18, 22, 125 informatisation and public administration 309, 320 infrastructure 464, 465, 466, 468, 472, 473, 475 Infrastructure & Convergence 195 Infrastructure Development 107 infrastructures of information policy 309 innovation 424, 425, 431, 432, 433, 439, 440, 441, 442, 466, 467, 475, 476, 477 Institute of Applied Economic Research 174, 184

533

Index

Integrated Management and Modern Administration System (SIGMA) 28 Integrated System of Local Government (ISLG) 86, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 Integration 5 intellectual property rights (IPR) 467, 477 Interaction Phase 325 interactivity 358, 362, 373, 426 Intermunicipal Cooperation 100 internally displaced persons (IDPs) 186 Internal Revenue Service 216 Internal Support (IS) 16 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 7 Internet 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 369, 370, 371, 372 Internet service provider (ISP) 3, 29, 32, 198, 202 Internet Tax Office Project (VEDOP) 274 Interoperabilità e Cooperazione Applicativa tra le Regioni e le Province Autonome (ICAR) 40, 41 interoperability 422, 423 Investment 195 invoices 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396 IPEA DATA 174, 184 Italy 343, 348, 349, 352 IT architecture 109 IT organization 109, 111, 120 IT strategy 108, 109, 110, 111 IT structure 109

K key performance indicators (KPIs) 152 knowledge assessment methodology (KAM) 428, 430, 431, 432, 433, 441, 442 knowledge cities 427, 428, 434 knowledge development 465 knowledge economies (KE) 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 432, 433, 442, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477 knowledge economy five pillars 465, 466, 477

534

knowledge economy five pillars, education 466, 476 knowledge economy five pillars, equal opportunity 467 knowledge economy five pillars, ICT development 466 knowledge economy five pillars, innovation 466, 467, 475, 476, 477 knowledge economy five pillars, social inclusion 465, 467, 468, 472, 477 knowledge economy index (KEI) 430, 431, 433 knowledge, encoded 426 knowledge for development 477 knowledge, new economics of 425 knowledge societies 425 knowledge society 424, 442 Kouvala cluster 444

L Land Registry and Cadastral Information System Project (TAKBİS) 274 Latin America 380, 381, 397, 398, 399 Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region 464, 465, 466, 467, 469, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477 living-labs 423 local governance 191 Local Government 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101 Local Government Denmark (LGDK) 236, 251 Lombardy cluster 444

M Macao 66, 66, iv, x, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 Macao Economic Services Bureau 59 Macao Law 59 Macao SAR Government (MSARG) 115, 116, 122 many-to-many communication 358 Mediateca 2000 37, 44 methodological perspective 310 m-government 278 Millennium Development Goal Monitor 215 Millennium Development Goals 468, 477

Index

Ministerial Level 271 Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) 196, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 205, 206 Ministry of Economic Development (MED) 297, 298 Mitchell, William 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138 Mobile Governments (M-Governments) 24, 25, 32, 33 Mobile Services 25 Mobile Short Message System (SMS) 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 model of governance 127 Mozambique 409, 414, 415, 416, 422 multifunctional centers (MC) 289 Multimedia Center 35, 43, 44 Municipal Development Plan of 2007-2011 27 Municipality of La Paz (MLP) 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31

N National Chief Information Officer (CIO) 202, 203, 205 National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) 9 National Data Centre (NDC) 199 National Family Health Survey 75, 80 National Health Service (NHS) 150 National ICT Association of Afghanistan (NICTAA) 202 National ICT Council of Afghanistan (NICTCA) 195, 202 National Informatics Centre 3 National Informatization Quotient (NIQ) 7, 20 National ISP Association of Afghanistan (NISPAA) 202 National Judicial Network Project (UYAP) 274 National Police Network Project (POLNET) 274, 275 national productivity 380, 381, 384, 393 National Russian Information Center (NRIC) 295 National State Automation System (NSAS) 287

new media 355, 356, 357, 362, 369, 370 New Public Management (NPM) 104, 105, 288 new supply management 145 New Urbanism 127, 138, 139 New York Times 350, 351, 352, 353, 354 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 233, 256, 263, 265, 270, 276, 277, 289

O Offenlig Information Online (OIO) 238, 239, 242, 250, 252 Office of Government Commerce (OGC) 150 one-to-one communication 358 operational planning 311, 317 Operation Enduring Freedom 193 ordered index of communication 364 ordered index of participation 362, 364 Organizational Change 107 Organizational Development and Information and Communications Technologies Direction (DDOTI) 24, 25, 30, 31, 32 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 344, 350, 353 Organization of American States 342, 344, 353 Other Backward Class (OBC) 69, 70, 82

P Panchayati Raj 68, 69, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 Panchayati Raj System 68, 69, 75, 76 paradigmatic Latino-sclerosis 442 Paraguay 407, 409, 416, 418, 419, 423 PAR External Strategy (PES) 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117 PAR Internal Strategy (PIS) 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117 PAR Strategy Execution 112, 113, 115 Partnership Development 107 Partners in Technology International (PACTEC) 199 Pearson’s correlation 157, 165, 174, 175 per capita GDP 166, 174, 175 Peru 341, 342, 352, 353 Peru’s internal security agency (SIN) 341, 342 Physical Planning 16, 23 Pivot Domain 110, 111, 112, 113, 114 Placing Words 130, 131, 138

535

Index

Planning Support Services (PSS) 16 Policy impact 318 Political context 191 Political Mobilization 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 373 Political Participation 373 Political Stability 258 Portal and Electronic Public Service Development 107 Porter, Michael 444, 445, 446, 447, 451, 455, 460, 461, 462 post-AD 2000 126 Pradhan Patis 76 PRELUDE project 444, 455 principal-agent theory (PAT) 306 Private Corruption 354 private-public sector partnership (PPP) 220, 224 PROA project 397, 402, 403, 404 ProVotE e-voting system 409, 411, 412, 413 Public Administration Reform (PAR) 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 304, 305, 310, 315, 316, 317, 318, 323 public call office (PCO) 198 Public Corruption 354 Public Financial Management Reform Programme 216 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) 243 public participation 406 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) 83, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 224 Public procurement 146, 156 Public Procurement Authority (PPA) 151, 156 Public Procurement Contract Law no. 4735 (PPCL) 151 Public Procurement Law no. 4734 (PPL) 151, 153 public procurement projects (PPP) 150, 151 Public-Public Partnership (PUP) 86, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96 Public/Public-Private Partnership (PUP-PP) 95, 96 public relationships mediated by new media 309

536

Q Queen, James Brian 426

R regional development 463 Regulatory Framework 107 Regulatory Quality 258 Remote Access Server (RAS) 44 Republican Automated Management Systems (RAMS) 287 research and development (R&D) 465, 466, 475 Rule of Law 258 rural e-governance 67, 68, 79, 80 rural governance 67, 68, 69, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80 Russia 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302 Russian Ministry of Telecommunications and Media (MTM) 293, 297, 298

S Santiago Chamber of Commerce (SCC) 383, 384 Sarpanchas 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80 Scheduled Cast (SC) 69, 70, 77, 82 Scheduled Tribe (ST) 69, 70, 77, 81, 82 Service delivery quality 317 Service Level 110, 111 service level agreements (SLAs) 41 service-oriented architecture (SOA) 415, 423 short message service (SMS) 198, 199 Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) Governance 4 Simputers 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81 sine qua non 186 Single Sign-On (SSO) 243 SISRCR 40 SITR@M (Municipal Processes System) 28 SIT (Territorial Information System) 28, 35 six dimensions of governance 258 Small Local Government Organizations (SLGOs) 83, 84, 85, 86, 90, 92, 96, 97, 98

Index

social contract 192 Social Development 55 social media 338, 339, 348, 350, 351, 354 Societe General de Surveillance (SGS) 220 Southern Italy 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54 Soveria Informatica 45, 50, 51 Soveria.it 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 Soveria.it project 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 45, 52, 53 Soveria Mannelli 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56 Spain 355, 356 Spanish parties 356, 361, 372, 374 SPC model 41 Special Administrative Region (SAR) 58, 59, 64 Splintering Urbanism 125, 128, 138 State Planning Organization (SPO) 259, 260, 264, 265, 267, 271 State Wide Area Network (SWAN) 3 Stiglitz, Joseph 465, 467, 477 Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) 102, 103, 104, 109, 110, 111, 118, 120 strategic innovation 424, 426, 427, 438, 440 strategic perspective 310 strategic planning 311, 312, 313, 316, 317 Strategy Execution 110, 112, 113, 114, 115 Structural Conditions 105 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card 198, 199 Supply Chain Management (SCM) 148 sustainability 408 SWOT analysis 144, 146, 152

T Tambaram Municipality 2, 9, 14, 17, 19 Tamil Nadu 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 22 Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP III) 11, 13 tax documents 382, 384, 385, 387, 388, 390, 391, 396 taxes 380, 382, 388, 389, 390, 392, 394 taxpayer, issuing 380, 390, 393

taxpayer, recipient 380, 393 tax policy 394 tax regulations 381 technological content 425, 427 technological development 425 Technological Infrastructure 43 Technology Potential 110 Territorial e-government Strategy (GELT) 324, 327, 330, 331, 333 territorial information system 404, 405, 406 territorial planning 405, 406 Top-Down Communication 373 Total Index of Mobilization 373 Total Weighted Index of Mobilization 373 TradeNet 214, 215, 217, 218, 219, 227, 229 Transaction 5, 14 Transaction Phase 326 Transformation Phase 326 Transparency International (TI) 340, 341, 345, 346 Turkey 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276, 277, 278, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285 Turkish e-Government infrastructure 144 Turkish Information Society Strategy Studies 276 Tweed, William 351, 352 Two-way Communication 4

U Ubiquitous IT (u-IT) cluster initiative 444, 454, 456, 458, 459, 461, 463 UN e-Government Survey 2008 257 unified automated information system (UAIS) 216, 221 uninterrupted democracy 345 Unique Registry of the Municipal Tributary Administration (RUAT) 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 United Automated Network of Communication (UANC) 287 United Nations 58 United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) 212

537

Index

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 104, 105, 108, 122, 161, 174, 183, 184 United Network of Computation Centers (UNCC) 287 United States Dollars (USD) 287 UN Millennium Development Goals 187 Urban Development 2, 11, 13, 23 urban governance 2 Urban Municipal Governments (UMG) 8 Urban Municipalities 7 user-centric approach 423

V value-added taxes (VAT) 216, 383, 384, 388, 394, 396 value for money (VFM) 87, 88, 90 versatility 426 Vertical Mobilization 363, 364, 366, 368, 369, 373

538

vestiges of utopia 128 video teleconferencing (VTC) 196 Village Communications Network (VCN) 197 Village Good Governance 68 Village Level Local Self Governance 68 virtual networks 426 Vladivideos 342 Voice and Accountability 258

W Web 2.0 233, 254 Web Geographical Services 24, 25, 26, 29 weighted index of mobilization 364, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369 Wide Area Network (WAN) 13 World Bank 3, 6, 13, 21, 22, 105, 108, 122, 211, 212, 213, 224, 228, 229, 341, 344, 346, 352, 353, 354 World Bank Background Note 25 World War II 190