Administering and Governing with Technology: The Question of Information Communication Technology and E‐Governance
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Published date | 01 May 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12311 |
| Author | Jean‐Marc Coicaud |
Administering and Governing with Technology:
The Question of Information Communication
Technology and E-Governance
Jean-Marc Coicaud
Rutgers University
Overall the community of experts, practitioners, and schol-
ars focusing on and dealing with information communica-
tion technology (ICT) and e-governance sees them as
positive developments. Citizens often also see them as
helpful, facilitating their interactions with public services. In
this perspective, ICT and, more specifically, e-governance,
i.e. the use of ICT to assist the administration of public ser-
vices and, in connection with it, governance and govern-
ment practices at the local, national, regional and
international levels, are viewed as contributing to the
greater effectiveness, transparency, and credibility of public
administration, governance and government functions.
1
Against this background, this brief article does not mean to
deny the virtues of ICT and e-governance. It is indeed diffi-
cult not to see the benefits brought by ICT applied to gov-
ernment and governance operations and services. Still,
offering a bit of a contrarian view, it draws out some of the
limitations or downsides of ICT in the context of govern-
ment/governance. As such, it touches upon three main
points.
First, it challenges the assumption that ICT applied to
public administration, governance and government is
always and by definition improving their functions. For the
positive aspects of e-governance are not all there is to it.
There are also problematic if not negative aspects to e-
governance.
Second, the article refers to the paradoxical situation of
ICT and e-governance today. On the one hand, they aim at
improving the effectiveness, transparency, and credibility of
public administration, governance and, by extension, gov-
ernment institutions and actors and their actions and poli-
cies at the local, national, regional and international levels.
On the other hand, they are developing at a time when the
public sector institutions and actors and their actions and
policies are increasingly weakened and devalued, at the
national, regional and international levels. This is especially
the case due to the increasing role of transnational forces
and the fact that these are not necessarily in line with and
committed to the idea of the public good.
Third, as a way to conclude, the article alludes to the
need to better dovetail ICT and e-governance with the tradi-
tional functions and responsibilities of public institutions
and actors toward the public good.
1. Tempering the ICT and e-governance optimism
There is no doubt that in the past 20 years or so ICT has
profoundly transformed, and transformed positively, rela-
tions and activities within and among societies. In the pro-
cess, it has also changed in positive ways, and continues to
change positively the interactions between public adminis-
tration, governance, and government institutions and actors
and the citizens. In this regard, e-governance is officially
conceived of and pursued as a way to facilitate and, ulti-
mately, improve the ability of public actors and institutions
to administer and deliver better services to societies and
their members. And indeed, the author of this article is old
enough to remember what it was to deal with all kinds of
administrative transactions, with the national administration,
universities and banks, in the pre-ICT and Internet days. To
take a more specific example, even the conduct of research,
let alone of collective international research with colleagues
and institutions overseas was before the existence and daily
use of the Internet and emails a slow, cumbersome and
costly activity.
This explains that the ICT tools called upon by the public
sector and now made an integral part of its routine activi-
ties, at least in developed countries, have led the literature
of and on e-governance to highlight the fact that e-govern-
ance gives primacy to five key principles and goals in
particular: increased transparency; increased access to infor-
mation; increased participation and engagement of adminis-
tered people and citizens; and increased effectiveness.
2
These principles and goals amount to making e-governance
an important method for the public sector, its institutions
and actors, to pursue and achieve good governance.
In line with these goals and principles, e-governance,
where it has been applied at the local, national, regional
and international levels, is making a positive difference. For
instance, prior to the use and development of ICT, interact-
ing with and conducting transactions with the national pub-
lic sector could be challenging, in developing countries but
even in developed countries with a long tradition of highly
developed administrative institutions and services. The infor-
mation on the existing services and the procedures to fol-
low to have access to them were frequently not readily
available and hampered by red tape and not-so-friendly
©2016 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Global Policy (2016) 7:2 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12311
Global Policy Volume 7 . Issue 2 . May 2016
296
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