From E-government to E-governance in Europe

To what extent and in which direction the recent so called “shift from e-government to e-governance systems” takes place in European governments? Much has been claimed and written about the influence of e-government on the modernization and growth of public sector initiatives in Europe. Little is known, however, about how the shift from e-government to e-governance takes place in European governments. Particularly, the current research presents a view of both challenges and advantages of implementing e-governance strategies, by examining how closely and critically intertwined e-government and e-governance are in European countries. It also addresses an identifiable gap in the relevant literature which is the extent to which the recent so called “shift from e-government to e-governance systems” takes place in European governments. Sixteen different national European cases are considered. The findings support the view that policy makers should exercise careful consideration of e-government pressures and implementation that is performed via the different e-governance strategies for purposes of consistency and alignment with the planned outcome and the human capacities involved

Healthcare providers in the English National Health Service: public, private or hybrids?

In recent years it has been noted that boundaries between public and private providers of many types of welfare have become blurred. This paper uses three dimensions of publicness to analyse this blurring of boundaries in relation to providers of healthcare in England. The authors find that, although most care is still funded and provided by the state, there are significant additional factors in respect of ownership and social control which indicate that many English healthcare providers are better understood as hybrids. Furthermore, the authors raise concerns about the possible deleterious effects of diminishing aspects of publicness on English healthcare. The most important of these is a decrease in accountabilit