Electronic Government (E-Government) and Development

Abstract

E-government denotes the strategic, co-ordinated use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in public administration and political decision-making. The benefits it is expected to deliver are greater efficiency of the institutions concerned, improvements in public services, and political participation and transparency. But fast results can only be expected where a sound institutional base and good technical and infrastructural facilities already exist. In the foreseeable future, the introduction of e-government will mainly be confined to the industrialised and more advanced developing countries. However, potential uses are also opening up for the poorer countries. In many cases, the obstacles to reform are not so much financial and infrastructural difficulties as political blockades. Development cooperation can use e-government as a means of supporting partner countries in devising and implementing political and administrative reforms and in improving market-oriented frameworks. Beyond the immediate benefits of the new technologies, e-government should be taken as an instrument to promote good governance and to strengthen reform-oriented actors in politics and civil society.

Le gouvernement électronique désigne l'utilisation stratégique et coordonnée de technologies d'information et de communication (TIC) dans l'administration publique et dans les centres de décisions politiques. Les bénéfices escomptés sont une plus grande efficacité des institutions concernées, l'amélioration des services publics, la participation politique et la transparence. Cependant, des résultats rapides ne sont à prévoir que s'il existe déjà une solide base institutionnelle et de bonnes infrastructures et facilités techniques. Dans un avenir proche, l'introduction du gouvernement électronique se limitera principalement aux pays industrialisés et aux pays en développement les plus avancés. Malgré tout, les pays pauvres pourront peut-être en profiter. Dans de nombreux cas, les obstacles aux réformes ne sont pas tant dus aux difficultés financières et au manque d'infrastructures qu'aux blocages politiques. La coopération au développement peut faire usage du gouvernement électronique pour aider des pays partenaires à réaliser des réformes politiques et administratives et à améliorer les bases d'une économie orientée vers le marché. Au-delà des bénéfices immédiats dus aux nouvelles technologies, le gouvernement électronique peut être considéré comme un instrument capable de promouvoir la gestion publique et de renforcer la position des acteurs politiques ou civils soutenant les réformes.

Notes

Christian von Haldenwang is a senior advisor with Germany's technical cooperation agency GTZ at the UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. The paper was written while the author was working as a research fellow at the German Development Institute (GDI) in Bonn, Germany. The views expressed below are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of any of the institutions mentioned above.

  1. This is the definition of the Commission on Global Governance, as cited in Weiss [2000: 796].

  2. See http://www.infodev.org (accessed 15 July 2002).

  3. See http://www.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/ (accessed 15 July 2002).

  4. See http://www.unpan.org/discover.asp (accessed 21 December 2001).

  5. These observations are based on a field visit to Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2002. See also www.sac.ba.gov.br; www.poupatempo.sp.gov.br.

  6. Auctions are called ‘reverse’ when the providers, and not the buyers, of goods or services compete with each other. Usually, only registered companies are eligible to bid, although the auction may be public. At the end of a pre-established time span (e.g., one hour), the lowest offer gets the deal. At electronic marketplaces, procurement agencies can order goods and services directly from a company using an online catalogue. This procedure simplifies and speeds up delivery and payment. It requires limited-term framework contracts with a number of companies as a means of ensuring both performance and appropriate product quality.

  7. Taking the current exchange rate of 2.80 Reais per US$. See http://www.comprasnet.gov.br; Gomes Fernandes [2002]

  8. Prices obtained through reverse online auctions compared to prices paid before. Interview with Phedro Pimentel dos Santos Neto, Government of the State of Bahia, 20 June 2002. It should be kept in mind, however, that the maximum amount for purchases made through online auctions so far has been 5,600 Reais (around US$2,000 at the current exchange rate), which means that only a minor part of public procurement is covered by the new system.

  9. Interview with Roberto Agune, Government of the State of São Paulo, 18 June 2002.

10. See Minogue, [2001] and Heeks and Mundy [2001] for a rather critical discussion of the NPM approach and the use of ICT in this context. Both articles, though, are based on an understanding of NPM which emphasises the strengthening of market competition, the downsizing of public employment, the introduction of business administration tools and the privatisation of service delivery. These are certainly recurrent features of public sector reform, but the core of NPM in my point of view is the fundamental change from bureaucratic input control to management by results. See Naschold [1996] for a more balanced discussion.

11. For the distinction between multiple websites, joint websites and Internet portals, see Metropolis [2002: 10].

12. The state of California, for example, offers this service to users who may register as a resident, business person, media/press, state employee, student, or tourist. See http://www.state.ca.us.

13. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 0.9% of Africans (excluding South Africa), 1.6% of Indians and 4.6% of Chinese have used the Internet in 2002. In Brazil, the percentage of Internet users was 8.2%, in Thailand 7.8%, and in Chile 23.7%. Although figures have risen sharply over the past few years, and available data may tend to underestimate collective forms of access, it should be clear that a vast majority of the global population will not be able to make proper use of the new technologies for years to come. Only at the upper end of the spectrum are countries such as the USA (55.1%), Sweden (57.3%) and the Republic of Korea (55.2%) already using the Internet as a mass communication device. See http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/Internet02.pdf (accessed 21 January 2004).

14. Interview with André Cordeiro, Government of the State of Bahia, 20 June 2002.

15. If governance is ‘the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs’, as cited above (see note 1), then e-governance refers to the use of ICT in this context.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christian Von Haldenwang

Christian von Haldenwang is a senior advisor with Germany's technical cooperation agency GTZ at the UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. The paper was written while the author was working as a research fellow at the German Development Institute (GDI) in Bonn, Germany. The views expressed below are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of any of the institutions mentioned above.