Partners and International Organizations
(English)
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A, B, CZ, DK, FIN, F, D, IRL, I, NL, N, P, E, S, CH, GB
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Abstract
(English)
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The Swiss research project 'e-gouvernance': analyse compréhensive du rôle des NTICs dans la transformation de l'Etat, part of COST Action A14 'Government and Democracy in the Information Ag' was carried out over a seven-month period between November 02 and May 03, by a MIR/LEM-EPFL team led by Prof. Matthias Finger. It comprised an initial documentary research on e-governance and related concepts, a main fieldwork period involving in-depth interviews in six European settings, and an analytical debriefing. For the fieldwork phase, three cities (Bologna, Tampere and Issy-les-Moulineaux) and three countries (Ireland, Estonia and France) have been investigated. The basic objective was to explore and document state-of-the-art achievements in e-governance on the part of a series of European pioneering actors, according to a two-fold theoretical framework. The first set of assumptions, based on Matthias Finger theoretical proposal on the transformation of the State and the emergence of its new missions, allowed the research team to check how new e-governance schemes proved relevant and effective as far as 1) service delivery to inhabitants and citizens, 2) policy-making and the enabling of citizen participation in public decision-making processes and 3) regulatory attempts of general interest involving public, private or civil actors and aided by ICT applications. The second set of dimensions checked, necessarily combined with the first ones, meant evaluating how well the targeted cities or states did in 1) functions or services supported by ICTs, 2) governance schemes and multi-actor interactions, 3) quality and efficiency of such interactions and 4) combining the various geo-political levels of political and economic life. Results were uneven (between the cases) and to some extent provided rather a promising evidence of what future developments could bring up (all situations were stimulating form the point of view of e-governance issues), more than absolutely convincing pathways for others to enter. In some cases however, in particular like Ireland, Issy-les-Moulineaux and Tampere, we observed a quite exceptionally proactive setup in terms or exploring news ways in the building of tomorrow's public service, state responsibility and citizen involvement. Problems exist (resistances, overloads and overcosts, new divides, etc.) and were acknowledged as such, but within what should be seen as rather a collective learning curve than a proof of some inherent problems linked with ICT development and/or administration. Facts, tracks for inspiration, effective innovation, awareness of new problems to be coped with, new regional, national and international ties were a few among the assets identified by the research. New issues (like user response and uptake, interface design problems, effective ethical follow-up, etc.), but also priorities and assignments for further experiments (as well as potential objectives for a corresponding research agenda) seem also more clear and part of the findings to be put forward.
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