Business Research Project \"E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public

¶ … Business Research Project "E-democracy, E-governance, and Public Net-Work"

Steven Clift's article about technology and how it is changing the face of government gives much insight into several issues and concepts. The three most important concepts are the ones mentioned in the article title -- e-democracy, e-governance, and public net-work. The purposes of this paper are to define these three terms, to discuss how these concepts are being implemented throughout the world, and to indicate opinion as to why the United States appears to lag behind other parts of the world when it comes to these issues.

E-democracy is defined by the article's author as "the use of information and communications technologies and strategies by 'democratic sectors' within the political processes of local communities, states/regions, nations and on the global stage" (Clift, 2003). A discussion of what this really means is important. Democratic sectors include everything from governments to the voters that put them in office, and they are all significant. They have many different rights and responsibilities, but they all tie in together to make up the concept of e-democracy.

E-governance has to do with governments making their decisions and working with others through computers and online avenues (Clift, 2003). This is allowing more individuals in the general public to contact government officials and receive responses to their comments and questions. In addition, it allows governments to work more closely with those that they do business with and have partnerships with, since they can utilize the Internet to send and receive information much more rapidly than they could in the past.

Public net-work, the last of the three issues that need to be defined, is a very new concept. It involves using information and communication technologies to ensure that public policy goals are implemented and that stakeholders can stay involved in these policies and the decisions that are being made (Clift, 2003). This is becoming a vital component of many governmental entities today as they strive to keep up with changing technology in the information age. Much of this is expected of them by their stakeholders and it is for this reason that keeping up with technology has become so important.

These concepts are being implemented throughout the world in several ways. Many countries have begun to create technological infrastructures for their governmental entities in the hopes that this will bring them closer to the citizens and help to understand their wants and needs. This has been found to have many challenges, however, as implementing this type of technology is much more difficult than the speculation of whether it could be done or how it should be done. Another problem that these individuals are facing right now is that many of the entities that are utilizing e-democracy are finding that they are unaware of what the other entities are doing.

This becomes problematic where decisions and policies are concerned, but it appears to be the current state of affairs. In the future, however, this may change somewhat as those that involve themselves closely with this issue realize that there are problems with the system as it is right now in all parts of the world. No one country has perfected a system whereby all governmental entities are linked in the way that they should be to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Despite the imperfections, it appears that countries all around the world are trying out the Internet as a way of ensuring that the voices of the people are heard. So many people own computers, and the ones that do not often know someone who does or can find somewhere with public access. In this way, all individuals in a country can make sure that the politicians of that country know what it is that the people want and need from them. This does not ensure that these people will receive these things, but it does allow those in government to determine what is seen as very important to the majority of citizens.

Important to this issue is a brief discussion of the examples that are listed within the article in order to understand some of the concepts behind Clift's (2003) argument and also to better understand why there is concern for the United States on this issue. The examples come mostly from countries other than the United States, which is the first clue that the U.S. is not keeping up with other countries in this respect.