The Institutional Dimension of e-Government Promotion: A Comparative Study on Making ‘Business Reference Model (BRM)’ in the U.S. and Korea

Why do e-government initiatives which are commonly implemented to achieve similar policy goals produce different outcomes in different nations? To answer this question, this paper examines e-government policy structure, which has been regarded as one of the most important institutional arrangements for e-government promotion (European Commission, 2007; Park, 2006; OECD, 2005; Eifert and Puschel, 2004). Specifically, the legal framework, the managerial tools for coordination and control, and the organizational arrangements of the e-government policy structures of the Bush administration in the U.S. and of Roh administration in Korea are compared. Based on such a comparative analysis, this study demonstrates how different institutional arrangements of e-government policy structure influence the different outcomes of BRMs in the two nations

Coping with E-Waste: Prospects of E-Waste Circular Economy Within the GCC: Analyzing the Legal Framework on Recycling of E-Waste Within the GCC

The GCC has experienced rapid population growth and urbanization in the last 40 years. The rise in population has caused a surge in e-waste within the GCC countries. Electronic waste poses severe health and environmental risks, calling for the adoption of a circular economy where e-wastes are converted into valuable products through recycling. However, achieving a circular economy requires a robust legal framework, technologies and policies as practiced globally. The Global E-waste Monitor has traced e-waste generation in the GCC countries since 2014. One critical finding is that the e-waste generation has surged with population growth, urbanization and the advancement in technology that encourages the use of new electronic devices and dumping of electrical and electronic equipment considered obsolete. The end-of-life of electronic devices has been shortened due to the population\u27s technological advancement and increased affordability of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Drawing on the literature, this study explored whether the GCC has an adequate legal framework to enable a circular economy by recycling e-wastes rather than dumping them in landfills. The research sought to find the best practices on e-waste recycling globally and compare them to the GCC settings. The study examined the adequacy of the GCC legal framework and the ability to achieve a circular economy using a qualitative case study methodology where e-waste management policies and legislation are examined in different GCC states to understand e-waste management in the region. A descriptive study design was used to explore the current GCC states’ legal frameworks and e-waste management status using primary and secondary data sources. The data was collected from the GCC states government documents by examining the constitutions, published environmental laws and policies, government websites and other secondary sources like journal articles and international organizations’ reports. The study established that achieving a circular economy in the GCC is minimal because of limited laws regulating e-waste recycling. Further, the region has not adopted the best technology to recycle e-wastes as seen in European settings. The inadequate legal framework should be addressed to ensure proper e-waste recycling to achieve a circular in the GCC countries

Адміністративно-правові засади впровадження е-уряду в Україні

The article is devoted to an important and modern topic of studying the administrative and legal framework for the implementation of e-government in Ukraine. Its relevance is due to the fact that Ukraine, as a developing country, has quite high rating of the United Nations e-Government Development Index. Therefore, the existence of an appropriate legal framework and an extensive system of public authorities that are actors in the field of e-government is a priority issue. The purpose of this article is to determine the components of the administrative and legal framework for the implementation of e-government in Ukraine. The object of this article is public relations to implement and operate e-government. The subject of the study is directly the administrative and legal principles of implementation in Ukraine. The authors propose to analyze the concept of e-government in Ukraine, its potential to address a range of issues, and the risks of its improper implementation. Methods which were used for proper research: method of terminological analysis, structural-functional method, descriptive, institutional approach, critical-dialectical and legal analysis methods.Стаття присвячена важливій та сучасній темі вивчення адміністративно-правових засад впровадження е-уряду в Україні. Її актуальність обумовлюється тим, що Україна, як країна що розвивається, має досить високі рейтинги показника United Nations e-Government Development Index. Тому питання існування відповідного нормативно-правового підґрунтя та розгалуженої системи органів державної влади що є суб’єктами у сфері функціонування Е-уряду є пріоритетним питанням з ключовою важливістю. Метою даної статі є визначення компонентів адміністративно-правових засад впровадження е-уряду в Україні. Об’єктом – суспільні відносини пов’язані з сферою впровадження та функціонування е-уряду

Urban rehabilitation, governance, and housing affordability: lessons from Portugal

This paper examines the role of ‘urban rehabilitation societies’, a legal and institutional framework launched by the Portuguese government in 2004 and implemented locally ever since. The paper discusses how this model has provided an alibi for neoliberal narratives, grounded on the virtues of the market and on market-oriented strategies. The research methodology uses a combination of qualitative documentary analysis and face-to-face interviews with government officials and public officers to scrutinize the effects of policies on issues of governance and housing affordability.Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Grant number SFRH/BPD/75863/2011, POPH/FSE) and within the framework of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, this project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 747257

Improving the Security Levels of E-government Processes within Public Administration through the Establishment of Improved Security Systems

Processes that are related to the identification and the authentication of persons and other legal entities have been necessarily existing and functioning for a while in public administration and business. Information Society offers new e-services for citizens and businesses, which dramatically change the administration and results additional challenges, risks and opportunities. Citizen’s confidence and trust to services has to be improved, meanwhile several requirements, like data protection, privacy and legal requirements has to be satisfied. The usual business process of identification of the corresponding entity is generally based on some trivial control mechanism, typically password identification. In order to keep up the trust of the public in the public administration activities, the process for entity identification (both person and legal entity) should be amended taken in account the business and security consideration. Identity management solutions show intriguing variation of approaches in Europe, they are at a different maturity level of services. Our paper gives an overview about the most frequently cited identity management architectures (namely: Liberty Alliance Architecture, IDABC, Sibboleth, Government Gateway Model and Austrian Model) and presents an identity management framework (based on the PKI, but improved it), customized for the Hun-garian specialities, which offer possibilities to improve the related services quality. The goal of this paper is to show a solution for the improvement of the identity management solution for e-government processes through the development of security mechanisms making use of the readily avail-able technologies

E-democracy Implementation: The Imperative of Agenda Setting

Decline in the level of citizens’ participation due to disconnect between citizens and their representatives has been identified as one of the prominent challenges facing most democratic societies in the world today. E-democracy has been identified to have the potentials to reduce the contemporary estrangement between the democratic actors by creating new forms of engagement, deliberation, and collaboration in polity to make the democratic processes more inclusive and transparent. However, edemocracy initiatives in many countries have had mixed success as most e-democracy implementations have been unable to justify the essence of huge investments made into it. This research paper reviews existing edemocracy development processes and agenda of nations among the top twenty countries in e-participation implementation as rated in the UN Global E-Government Evaluation, 2010. The sample composed of secondary data sourced from information system centric academic journals, book chapters, conference proceedings, database of international development organisations (OECD, UN, EU) on e-democracy implementation reports and database of research institutions and centres that focus on e-government and e-democracy implementation. Findings revealed that most countries do not have well established framework and agenda setting for e-democracy implementation, but only based their e-democracy implementation on one of the objectives of their e-government implementation. As a result, policy content is largely missing in most edemocracy strategies at both conceptual and implementation stage. This paper therefore, presents a guideline for e-democracy agenda setting and discusses issues germane to establishing e-democracy agenda. It submits that for a successful e-democracy implementation, the agenda-setting phase should capture the legal and political processes of the country. In addition, e-democracy strategic vision, strategic aim and objectives, strategic policy, mode of implementation and overseeing body should be well articulated in the agenda setting phase of e-democracy implementation plan. The discussion will benefit both researchers, government and practitioners on successful e-democracy implementation as basis for societal development