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Since the 1990’s, a transnational e-government agenda has emerged resulting from strategic initiatives taken by a number of leading countries, multinational corporations, the European Union and international organisations. This transnational agenda and its commonly accepted principles convey a new vision for the entire public sector – partly based on the Anglo-Saxon liberal model – and has the potential to transform the relationship between state, citizens and businesses.
E-government policies are both a sub-set and a driver of government and public sector reform, and their implementation raises or amplifies a number of political issues in a wide number of areas. Particularly, the implementation of the transnational e-government agenda raises important high-level political and policy issues in areas such as government and governance (further privatisation of the public sphere and the changing role of government) and public administration reform (organizational change, impact on services, and e-service delivery and take-up).
This paper argues that given the policy dilemmas raised by the e-government drive, more public debate on the desired outcomes of e-government and the strategic goals pursued via related programmes is a pre-requisite for informed decision-making and formation of public opinion. Although considerable amounts of public funds are invested in e-government projects, the outcomes of their implementation – in terms of value for money, public value, and the overall contribution to good governance - often remain unclear. Moreover, the very strategic goals of e-government are often blurred by a screen of hype and catch-all concepts such as information society or modernisation. Combined with an obvious lack of public debate in many countries, this results in uncertainty regarding the strategic goals of e-government and their relationships with the objectives of State reform.
Keywords:
e-Government, governance, state reform, public sector reform, European Union
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