The Technology Trap and the Role of Political and Cultural Variables: A Critical Analysis of the E‐Government Policies

Abstract

More than a decade after the first introduction of the e-government policies, early enthusiasms on its immediate benefits on the quality of democracy have undergone critical review. E-government implementation worldwide has proved that technology alone does not necessarily provide more access and more participation. Massive technological intervention is not enough for re-inventing government online. Hence, other variables should be taken into consideration. Factors concerning political culture, cognitive frames and mentality, administrative traditions as well as the countryspecific peculiarities play a relevant role in determining if and how e-gov initiatives can success or fail. In this paper, it will be argued that any opportunity and push for change and actual influence on administrations, governments and societies, prompted by the new technologies, must endure important variables of political, social and cultural nature. At the end it's exactly politics -those elements related to political and government issues, and more in general to the socio-cultural context -that defines not only the basic e-policy characteristics but also its final accomplishment.We must therefore overturn the initial optimistic discourse: the political and socio-cultural variables overcome the technological one and we can state that politics (still) determines (e-)policy.

Analysis of the Methodologies for Evaluation of E-Government Policies

“…Sing et al [39] assume that GDP plays a crucial role in the development of e-government via three influential factors (technological infrastructure, human capital and management index). Other prospective indicators occasionally overlapping with political-sociological indicators are [60][61]: competitiveness, use of ICT in the private sector, innovation index [38], education and urbanization [11].…”

Public E-Procurement and the Duality of Technology: A Comparative Study in the Context of Brazil and Paraíba

“…Therefore, it is realized that ICTs are not always capable of generating the expected effects (Avgerou, 2000), since determining whether the obtained results reach the expected and planned objectives is not simple (Hardy & Williams, 2008). Political will and administrative behavior, for instance, affect the political results of the process, while legal norms and institutional characteristics influence both decisions and how PA deals with its administrative routines (Bolgherini, 2007). Besides, although the objective is to increase the efficiency, quality, and accountability of the public sector, ICTs cause changes in power relations in such a way that some people have increased power over other people (Zimmermann & Finger, 2005).…”

Studying the information needs of e-governance stakeholders: Environmental justice as a context for tool development

“…These tools are needed because the e-governance literature largely homogenizes stakeholders' disparate information needs [47]. Existing analytical tools use limited conceptual space to discuss the information needs of individuals facing social justice issues or issues outside the mainstream of society [4,31].…”