Is the Internet Mightier than the Sword

This paper considers how to reduce corruption and improve governance, with particular attention to the impacts of information and communication technology. The media and the press in particular have played an important role in opposing corruption. The Internet and related tools are both supplementing and supplanting the traditional roles of the press in opposing corruption. A regression model with a sample of 164 countries demonstrates that, controlling for the independent variables commonly employed in empirical work on corruption, greater access to the Internet explains reduced corruption. The effect is statistically significant albeit modest. It is possible that the social media will have a growing impact on reducing corruption and improving governance. A number of examples of current uses of these media are provided. Recent insight and experience suggest how the newer information and communication technologies are somewhat tipping the balance toward those opposing corruption.

The Contribution of Colombian Civil Society Organizations to E-Government for the Improvement of Transparency through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies

This chapter presents the experience of civil society organizations in Colombia to improve the transparency of the municipalities’ administrations through the project ‘Internet for Accountability’ developed by Colnodo in partnership with Corporation Transparency for Colombia. Within this initiative, a website for municipalities was developed and afterwards improved and expanded by the Territorial e-government Strategy (GELT) and implemented by the Connectivity Agenda of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies. The chapter begins by describing the current situation of the municipalities’ websites and how they have been expanded with the support of the GELT strategy. Subsequently, presents the consultation carried out with the municipalities in order to find out the impact and usage of the websites on citizens’ participation and accountability. Finally, presents the conclusions based on the experience of the organizations involved and the information gathered during the consultation.

Danish eGovernment Success Factors

As illustrated by the specific eGovernment strategies, initiatives and good practice examples Danish authorities, at all levels of government, posses a number of strengths equipping them well for further digitisation and a move to Government 2.0. Strengths which include: Well developed strategies, goals and activities; single point of entry initiatives; attended and aligned development, common standards and enterprise architecture; joint development, strategies, corporation and marketing; guidelines and methodologies developed specifically to optimise the use of ICT etc.

The Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet)

Views from some stake holders; attempts to improve the system and recommendations are also considered.

Evaluation of Turkish Public E-Procurement Systems

However all these needs to gain strong expertise and competence of technological and administrative talent is needed to make the government and suppliers together via the Internet. The aim of this work is to introduce the evaluation processes and tools using the technique of SWOT analysis in the existing studies to provide empirical illustration of how this perspective would be used to give a sense of public e-procurement in action and it also aims to make a new sustainable reliable e-governmental model that includes change management, interdepartmental coordination, resolving the security and authentication for implementing public e-procurement in the frame of Turkish e-Government infrastructure and projects. In this context, a key objective is to develop Governmental policy regarding interactions with private and public sectors. In order to minimize information transformation initiatives, risks, and policy implementation should focus on promoting strengthening effective and affordable connectivity and interoperability.

Municipal Mobile SMS Services

The Municipality of La Paz (MLP) has been a pioneer municipal institution in applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for its benefit and the benefit of La Paz’s citizens in the last 10 years. In 2009 the Government of the Municipality of La Paz (GMLP) developed a new Master Plan, with the objective to further improve its management and to further reduce bureaucracy and corruption. This Plan consisted of several elements, one of them related to ICT, was the introduction of 18 new Web Services of which 9 are Web Geographical Services and 9 are Mobile Short Message System (SMS) Services. This Chapter presents how the MLP developed into a modern and efficient institution while providing services and information to its citizens through these e-Government initiatives and ultimately through the use of mobile phones using SMS. Municipalities and governments in general that are applying mobile services and information are now called “Mobile Governments” or “M-Governments”.

E-Governance vs. E-Readiness in Urban Municipal Governments in Tamil Nadu, India

The fast growing information and communication technology (ICT) sector brought in the use of computers, internet and mobile phones not only by the technocrats but also by the general public to receive and send communication faster, cheaper and easier. This situation brought out visible changes in people life, government function and cities spatial form and structure. Globally, the e-Governance system approach attempts to change the government-centered planning and delivery of civic services to people-centered planning and execution of development. It is also evident that the transformation is prominent not only in the planning and production of services but also in terms of urban local government system. This is to state that there are two noticeable visible changes in the government system such as (a) Government to Governance, and (b) Governance to e-Governance. These changes make the central, state and local governments more responsible, transparent, and participatory in terms of planning, development and management of towns and cities. But due to the urgency and cope with the World order the central, state and local governments in India introduce e-Governance without looking into the concept of e-Readiness. This chapter attempts to explore the basic question such as how the application of e-Governance system to be considered as an important means towards improvement in the service delivery systems of urban local governments within the perspective of e-Readiness.

Experiences of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in the Promotion of E-Governance in Latin America

Although the three cases that we describe have not been evaluated in their impact, they turn out to be valuable, specially because they show that countries with scarce resources can likewise face this type of initiatives successfully, providing a signal of commitment with a more efficient and specially more transparent government.

Parties and ICTs

This chapter asks whether, and to what extent, parties are using the Internet for political mobilization. Internet offers new opportunities for political mobilization. If we believe that parties want above all to win elections, the question that follows is, how are they using the Internet to further this goal? I argue that if parties are not fully exploiting the Internet for political mobilization is because it is not always in their interest to do so. A key argument of this chapter is that using the new media to mobilize support may have different costs and benefits for parties depending on their characteristics. To test hypotheses concerning the characteristics of parties that matter for online mobilization, I propose and develop a methodology to assess the efficacy of party websites as platforms for political mobilization. To test the argument, I engage in website analysis using evidence from parties in Spain and Catalonia.

Gender Evaluation of Rural E-Governance in India

In the present chapter, the author seeks to identify the existing gender gaps in rural e-governance in India and has attempted to explore the factors responsible for these gaps with reference to a rural e-governance scheme in one of the most economically and socially challenged state of India as an illustration to support some of the points sought to be made in the paper. The author argues that in Indian context, where rural women are already less visible in the public sphere due to socio–cultural factors and men already dominate, e-governance is more available and accessible to men. Hence to avoid the emergence of a gender based digital divide in rural governance that would further marginalize the rural women, it is necessary that the potential of ICTs is exploited in such a manner as to address the existing gender issues in rural governance, which are still obstructing women’s way to participate equally in the process. Women’s abilities, needs, perceptions and building women’s capacities to use the ICTs are other important factors that should be given due consideration while planning for rural e- governance to make it meaningful to women.