E-Government Strategies in Spanish Local Governments

Abstract

Interest in the use of new technologies as an instrument for the modernisation of public management is something common in public administrations. Local governments have recently invested considerable human and material resources to try to deliver services in a more efficient way. Although the progress made in the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) has been significant, an analysis of all local government shows that its impact on the reform policies has been unequal, and that the real objectives of these processes of modernisation have not always been the same. Most governments have chosen a strategy that reproduces the way that the traditional administration works; whereas only a few have tried to make use of the potential that ICT offers to provide more transparency, new online services and to make administrations more receptive to citizens’ needs. The first section of this article gives global data about the development of ICT in Spanish municipalities. Next, the websites of Spanish cities are analysed to identify the factors that enhance e-government and its implementation in the benefit of transparency, interaction with citizens and accountability.

Key Words:

• E-government
• e-governance
• transparency
• accountability

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jose Manuel Ruano de la Fuente

José M. Ruano de la Fuente is a professor in the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Spain, and has been a visiting scholar in several European and US universities. His research focuses on comparative public administration and local governance. He is vice-president of the Scientific Council of the European Association Entretiens Universitaires Réguliers pour l’Administration en Europe (EUROPA) and a member of the Permanent Study Group on Local Governance and Democracy in the European Group on Public Administration (EGPA).