Gov 2.0: Towards a User Generated State?
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00808.x |
| Author | John Morison |
| Date | 01 July 2010 |
| Published date | 01 July 2010 |
Gov 2.0:Towards a User Generated State?
John Morison
n
Newelements associatedwith Web2.0 relating to interactivity and end-user focus havecombined
with the availabilityof new levels of information toe ncourage the development of what maybe
termed a Gov 2.0approach.Thi s,i n combinationwith recent i nitiatives in the modernising gov-
ernment programme, has emphasised new levels of public participation and engagement with
governmentas well as a re-e ngineering of public services to makethem more responsive to their
end users. Adoptinga governmentality perspective,it is argued that this involves awider process
of governing throughconstructi ngand reconstructing ideas of the public, community and indi-
vidual citizen-consumers who take on a role in their own governance. It is argued thatthi s fun-
damental re-working of the nature of what is public represents a constitutional change that is
perhaps more signi¢cant than the constitutional reform programme directed to formal govern-
ment which attracts moreattention.
INTRODUCTION
This article looks at how government is being transformed, and will further
change radically, in line with developments in information and communication
technology associated with the Web 2.0 phenomenon.The idea of Web 2.0 refers
to the latest stage in an evolution of computing towards a second generation of
web design and development allowing new levels of interconnectivity and inter-
activity.The idea of many us ers adding value to conte nt through their interactions
with one another translates in the context of government into what may be
termed Gov 2.0. This involves the idea that the elements of interactivity and user
generated content thate ngage people in the context of shopping, music and social
networking, have application in developing how government both delivers its
services and interacts with citizens. In addition, there is the hugely important
factorof the power ofpublic informationwhich, following an extensive Govern-
ment review, is increasingly being made freely available for distribution, use and
re-use by a range of people and groups.
These ideas ^ of interactivity, user generated content and qualitatively new
levelsand forms of information ^ combine to suggest important newpossibilities.
These will often involve using new informationtechnology but Gov 2.0 is wider
than this alone. In the context of government the 2.0 approach coincides with an
ongoing, wider process of modernisation of government. Although this is less
eye-catching than Labour’s constitutional reform package, it has been more far-
n
School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast.Thanks are due to Tom Zwart and colleagues at the Uni-
versity of Utrecht for hospitality during research leave where these ideas ¢rst emerged, and to Spyr-
idon Flogaitis and StephenTierney for invitations to talk about these issues in Athens and Edinburgh
and to the participants in the seminars held there. Thanks also to the organisers of the 10
th
European
e-Government Conference for the invitation to give the academic keynote address at the 2010confer-
ence on aspects of this topic. I amgrateful too to Gordon Anthony, Philip Leith, Mark Flear and David
Newman.
r2010The Author. Journal Compilationr2010 The Modern Law ReviewLimited.
Published by BlackwellPublishing, 9600 Garsington Road,Oxford OX4 2DQ,UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
(2010)73(4) 551^577
reaching and radical. It is ha s sought to re-engi neer public se rvices, re-construct
ideas of the public, the citizen and the consumer, and govern through these
ideas in new market-based citizenship models that privilege consumer power
as a means of securing equality and participation through the exercise of choice.
This is a large-scale, new political project and it is producing a new technology
for governing. While this is being realised in New Labour’s programme of
modernisation, which has transformed the underpinnings of public services
and changed the basis for public participation in decision-making, it has also
set the agenda for any future government in the United Kingdom.With reduc-
tion in public spending puttinga squeeze on public services moregenerally, ideas
about amore e¡ectivepublic service are of increasing interest. (Indeed, early signs
from the Conservative - Liberal Coalition Government suggest that many
elements of this programme of public service reform will continue in a very
similar direction.)
There are two elements to this ongoing modernisation agenda. First, in rela-
tion to public services, the Government agenda of modernisation has been singu-
larly stimulated as ideas about customer-centric services, consumer choice and
personalisation of services combine with developments such as individualised
budgets for health, national performance indicators and the release of real time
data to evaluate the performance of the whole range of service providers. As will
be discussed below, the continuing e¡ortsby Government towardsreforming the
public sectorbuild upon earlier reforms and set out an agenda for puttingcitizens
in control by increasing choice a nd introducing the opportunity of person al bud-
gets in the National Health Service and in areas like adult skills, social care and
disability. This programme also stresses the importance of giving clear and com-
parable information about service quality and ensuring that user satisfaction
becomes the key measure of success and reward. Secondly, and with regard to
improving democratic interactionand re-engaging with traditional politics, there
has been considerable activity in addition tothe rather formal level of the Govern-
ance of Britain agenda with its programme of institutional reform to Parliament,
citizenship and Britishness.
1
As will be outlined shortly, there are a whole series
of Gov 2.0 style initiatives aimed at directly increasing public participation and
engagement and revitalising the link between public and government. Some of
these such as the initiatives from the Prime Minister’s O⁄ce involving YouTube,
e-zines and e-petitions are perhaps designed mainly to be media attractive. How-
ever there are others, particularly at local level, involving innovative deliberative
formats (with and without new technology) which seek to enroll a range of
actors in a new and extended project of governance.
The purpose of this article is not simply to report on this ^ although it does
have to be said that most public lawyers, while trans¢xed by the project of con-
stitutionalreform to themargins of traditional, big government, have failed to see
the importance of this revolution in governance.
2
Rather the article is aimed at
1Cm 7170 (2007) and Cm 7342 (2008).
2A notable exceptionto this, perhaps con¢rming that there is a general trend, can be found with
C. Harlowand R. Rawlings, Law and Administration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
3
rd
ed, 2009).
Gov 2.0:Towards a User Generated State?
552 r2010The Author. Journal Compilation r2010The Modern Law ReviewLimited.
(2010)73(4) 551^577
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