|
This paper presents the findings of a study that explores the extent to which internal stakeholders involved in an English local authority e-government site share a common sense of purpose and understanding of the potential value of the site as a driver of citizen participation. The background to the research lies in the European Commission’s 2010 vision of e-government as a tool of transparency, dialogue, shared decision-making, collaborative policy-formulation and partnership. Active citizenship has long been recognised as a key component of a healthy, functioning democracy and the both the European Commission and individual European nations are keen to exploit the networking opportunities presented by the Web to engage more closely with their citizens. Recently the European Commission has acknowledged that the Web is not yet operating as an effective facilitator of democratic inputs into policymaking, let alone the more ambitious mandates. The empirical research reported in this paper explores whether a lack of shared vision and commitment amongst internal stakeholders may provide at least a partial explanation for the lack of progress. We interviewed two groups of stakeholders; elected Councillors and employees of the local authority. The findings expose a number of pertinent and long-standing issues and challenges; in general our research identifies a lack of shared purpose, lack of motivation and a failure to identify the benefits of using the Web to engage citizens. As such, the study is of interest not only to academic colleagues, but also to policy-makers and local authorities tasked with delivering public services online and engaging citizens more extensively in the processes of democracy.
Keywords:
e-democracy, e-participation, engagement, UK, local e-government, internal stakeholders
Download FULL PAPER
Back to Contents
|
