eGovernment development at the local level

Session 5: Knowledge societ

E-democracy: exploring the current stage of e-government

Governments around the world have been pressured to implement e-Government programs in order to improve the government-citizen dialogue. The authors of this article review prior literature on such efforts to find if they lead to increased democratic participation ("e-Democracy") for the affected citizens, with a focus on the key concepts of transparency, openness, and engagement. The authors find that such efforts are a starting point toward e-Democracy, but the journey is far from complete

Diffusie van interbestuurlijke egovernmentprojecten bij Vlaamse lokale besturen: een analyse van adoptiefactoren

De uitwisseling van gegevens tussen centrale en lokale overheden houdt potentiële voordelen in zich voor het realiseren van een efficiëntere lokale dienstverlening. In dit artikel bespreken we de adoptie van de Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (KBO) en de Vlaamse Verrijkte Kruispuntbank voor Ondernemeningen (VKBO) door lokale besturen. Vlaamse lokale besturen kunnen de data uit deze authentieke gegevensbronnen in hun processen aanwenden door een aantal ICT-ontsluitingstoepassingen te adopteren. Op basis van het conceptueel model van Korteland en Bekkers (2007) onderzoeken we welke factoren de adoptie van de KBO- en VKBO-ontsluitingstoepassingen beïnvloeden. We bestuderen de adoptie van KBO en VKBO vanuit een functionele, een institutionele en een politieke benadering. Vervolgens bespreken we drie groepen van beïnvloedende factoren: organisatorische kenmerken, kenmerken van de diffusiestrategie en netwerkkenmerken

Intergovernmental data sharing: a case study of the CBE project

Despite the increased attention for the barriers that hinder intergovernmental data sharing, the number of cases being studied and the theories used to explain the development of intergovernmental data sharing projects remains limited. Therefore, this paper elaborates on the results of a case study about the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). The CBE is a federal database registering official company data. Federal, regional, provincial and local government administrations have access to the CBE via a number of ICTs. Our study focused on the adoption and the use of the CBE data by local governments. Our analysis led to the development of a model in which the factors that influence the use of the CBE by local governments are depicted. Thereafter, we apply Bekkers’ framework consisting of four ideal-typical policy approaches (a rational, a political, a cultural and an institutional policy approach) to explain our empirical findings. The main conclusion is that intergovernmental data sharing is a dynamic process; both the characteristics of the project and local governments interact with each other, making the development of intergovernmental data sharing an incremental process of muddling through

e-Government policies, strategies and implementation: e-Government in the federal country Belgium

This paper is a continuation of a profound international study carried out in 2002 concerning eGovernment {1}. Seven countries of the OECD were examined. Not only eGovernment policies and organizational components were taken a closer look at but also front- and back office realisations. Despite the fact that each country is developing own eGovernment facilities, there are many similarities {2}{3}. In this article we examine whether these international trends also count for Belgium. We focus on both the federal and the Flemish eGovernment policies