E-Government : towards a public administration approach
By: ZOURIDIS, Stravos; THAENS, Marcel
.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, December 2003The Asian Journal of Public Administration 25, 2, p. 159-183Abstract: In public administration science and practice, the debate on e-government concentrates on service delivery, information and technology. This article argues that we need a broad public administration approach towards e-government that surpasses this technocratic emphasis. Public administration theory helps us to escape from the conceptual prison of the information management ideology that currently dominates e-government. Both the locus of e-government (the parts of public administration that are being touched by it) and its focus (its approach towards governance) can be used to broaden the concept. If we do not enrich e-government, many of its possibilities will remain unexploited. Also, if we stick to the information management approach, e-government will endanger the very foundations of the legitimacy of public administration.
In public administration science and practice, the debate on e-government concentrates on service delivery, information and technology. This article argues that we need a broad public administration approach towards e-government that surpasses this technocratic emphasis. Public administration theory helps us to escape from the conceptual prison of the information management ideology that currently dominates e-government. Both the locus of e-government (the parts of public administration that are being touched by it) and its focus (its approach towards governance) can be used to broaden the concept. If we do not enrich e-government, many of its possibilities will remain unexploited. Also, if we stick to the information management approach, e-government will endanger the very foundations of the legitimacy of public administration.
Click on an image to view it in the image viewer
There are no comments for this item.