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Governments these days often boast about the efficiency of their electronic
systems. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) apparently allow
public service to become cheaper, faster and more democratic. E-government has
become another buzzword, the shining future of the public realm. Critics claim,
however, that ICTs potential for democratic renewal is hampered by ancient
assumptions of how governments should function. But which viewpoint is nearer
the truth?
In this original and insightful volume, Vincent Homburg demonstrates how the
use, form and impact of ICTs are, in fact, entwined within the socio-political,
economic and institutional aspects already established by government and public
administration. Evangelical or fatalistic perspectives are discredited to show the
different realities in which ICTs play a role in our daily lives. Using case studies
and vignettes from throughout Europe and the USA, the book analyses what these
new technologies actually do, and how they are screened through varying layers
of bureaucracy and convention.
This is a timely addition to our understanding of what is meant by e-government.
It gets behind the political rhetoric. Understanding E-government: Information
systems in public administration will be key reading for all students of public
administration, political science, organization theory and information systems.
Vincent Homburg
First published 2008
by Routledge
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Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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2008 Vincent Homburg
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Homburg, Vincent.
Information systems in public administration: understanding
e-government/Vincent Homburg. P. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
I. Internet in public administration. I. Title.
JF1525.A8H66 2008
352.3802854678dc22
2007042301
ISBN 0-203-88564-3 Master e-book ISBN
Preface vii
1 Introduction 1
A puzzling but faulty question ... how do ICTs affect public 1
administration?
Examples of wired public administration: challenges, problems and 4
dilemmas
A social shaping of technology perspective 7
Theoretical lenses used in this book 10
A programme for this book 13
Notes 14
References 14
Index 128
Preface
This work is about a very odd couple: public administration and information and
communication technology (ICT). Representatives of both worlds have long
neglected one another, other than using overly stereotypical images of each
others disciplines. In fact I could observe this myself when I joined the
Information Systems group of the Faculty of Management and Organization
Science at Groningen (The Netherlands) in order to prepare a PhD thesis. I had
been trained in public administration and policy sciences, and at the beginning
my colleagues were rather confused with what they considered to be my preoc-
cupation with aberrant political processes and irrational behaviour in general.
Having completed the PhD thesis, I joined the Public Administration group at
Erasmus University Rotterdam. There, my colleagues desperately tried to
persuade me of the irrelevance of technology for the study of policy processes
and public administration. At the same time they held me personally responsible
for everything that went wrong with their personal computers, Internet connections
and mobile phones, of course.
This book is neither about deviant technologies, nor about irrational behaviour
in public administration. Rather, it is an attempt to argue how specific information
and communication technologies in public administration are shaped and crafted
in accordance with prevailing interests, power structures and values, whereas
at the same time the practices and values of public administration itself are
challenged by the potential of ICTs.
I can only hope that this book helps to persuade those in charge of developing
public administration curricula to pay attention to ICTs in public administration
programmes, and that students of information systems are introduced to the
wonderful world of public administration. Let us hope that future public executives
and public managers will be better equipped to deal with the challenges of
e-government and e-governance, beyond using it as a hollow phrase to denote
desired yet rather unspecified public management reforms.
I end this preface by mentioning Christopher Pollitt, now at the Catholic
University of Leuven, and Victor Bekkers of Erasmus University and by thanking
them for their encouragement and support. Christopher Pollitt encouraged me to
viii Preface
write this book and his advice has without any trace of doubt improved the book.
Thanks to Victor Bekkers, who read the manuscript once it was near the final
stage, and whose support was indispensable throughout the writing process.
Vincent Homburg
Rotterdam, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
September 2007
1 Introduction
Key points
After reading this chapter, you will be able to
The focus of this book is upon the use of smart machines, or in general infor-
mation and communication technologies, in and around public administration. In
recent years, a lot has been said about electronic government or e-government
(Bekkers and Homburg, 2005; Fountain, 2001; Grnlund, 2003; Snellen, 1998;
Tat-Kei Ho, 2002) and in practice, there are enough existing implementations of
ICTs to talk about an actual wired government (Minister for the Cabinet Office,
1999, 2000; Ministerie van Economische Zaken, 1999; Ministry of Research and
4 Introduction
Information Technology, 1995; Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom
Relationships, 1999; National Audit Office, 2002; National Performance Review,
2000; OECD, 2003). It is seductive to ask the question what the effects of smart
machines are for public administration, but, for the reasons mentioned above,
such a question will not be asked in this book. Rather, the focus is on the proper-
ties, potentials and paradoxes of smart machines for governments (including an
analysis of what would make machines smart or intelligent). After reading the
book, it will probably not be possible to give an answer to the question, what are
the exact consequences of ICTs for public administration, but I hope that the
question is more circumscribed, defined more exactly and, therefore, better
answerable.