Governance
in the Digital Age
Oct 30, 2005 By John M. Eger
,
Government Technology
Until recently, governments have been relatively passive, and almost at
every level, have been slow to adjust, either by using technology to
adapt, or recognizing technology's role as a catalyst to transforming
both the definition and the delivery of core economic functions such as
education, healthcare, business and the delivery of government
itself....
[While several countries have studied this,] very few of the national
information strategies have focused on the core issue of governance.
They do not address the basic concern of how decisions are made; how
the public is best served in an economical and efficient way, and how
all sectors of the economy -- particularly industry and government at
the local level -- can and should work together to make this
transition. This is at the core of what governing in the digital age is
all about.
A critical component of solving our modern-day dilemma revolves around
understanding the forces of "devolution" -- the flow of power from
national to local and regional communities. A fact, which must be
recognized, is that technology (the technology of telecommunications
and computers) and economics (the economics of a global economy) have
already converged causing disruptions in patterns of life and work as
well as existing institutions. So too, has it affected the locus of
governmental decision-making because of a "reverse flow of
sovereignty." States and local communities -- not national governments
-- increasingly are making or are capable of making the IT decisions
most affecting the economic prowess of their communities.
Unfortunately there is too much evidence to support the fact that many
governments, particularly in Western democratic countries, tend to see
government and industry at opposite poles on many issues when in fact
the body politic would be best served by more cooperative and
collaborative decision-making mechanisms to better serve communities.
Sadly, with the growth and development of more global enterprises, the
interest and concern about the community where a company is
headquartered -- or in some cases, where a large number of company
employees live -- becomes a very distant priority. Indeed, as the
company becomes more global, most often its local interests are reduced
as a priority.
In
The Magic of Dialogue:
Transforming Conflict Into Cooperation, author and researcher
Daniel Yankelovich argues there is a "struggle between two one-sided
visions of our future; the vision of the free market and the vision of
the civil society. Underlying the first vision," he says, "is the
conviction that in the new global economy, the free market, driven by
technology and entrepreneurship, will shape a more prosperous,
democratic and secure world than we've ever known. The conviction for
supporting the second is that to renew our society and halt its moral
decline, we must return to the noble -- and profoundly traditional --
dream of America as a city on a hill. In practice, this means finding a
way to strengthen the values of community, faith, responsibility, civic
virtue, neighborliness, stewardship and mutual concern for each other,
values that are not inherent in the free market economy."...
