[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=“A framework for e-government“ font_container=“tag:h2|font_size:38|text_align:left|color:%23e30613″ use_theme_fonts=“yes“ css=“.vc_custom_1576054958517{margin-top: -25px !important;}“][vc_column_text]Florian Hartleb, Political Consultant, Estonia[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=“In Short:“ font_container=“tag:h3|font_size:17|text_align:left|color:%23ffffff“ use_theme_fonts=“yes“ css=“.vc_custom_1576054992523{padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #f07d00 !important;}“][vc_column_text css=“.vc_custom_1576055038453{border-top-width: 1px !important;border-right-width: 1px !important;border-bottom-width: 1px !important;border-left-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #eaeaea !important;border-left-color: #aaaaaa !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #aaaaaa !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #aaaaaa !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #aaaaaa !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 1px !important;}“]E-Government intends to improve government processes, connect citizens, and build up interactions with and within civil society. But how can it brought into action? Florian Hartleb introduces an eGovernment model that considers the logic of social systems, IT trends and different levels of interaction between human beeings and technology[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=“.vc_custom_1519752670572{margin-top: -10px !important;}“][vc_column][vc_column_text]Using IT should create a number of benefits for government, including the standardization of processes, more efficiency of information transfer and storage, effective search and a decrease in the costs of information management. There should also be visible benefits for the citizen, including the simplification of the interface with government, the ability to manage one’s own case, and lower taxes. Therefore, the system with its own dynamic is goal-setting, self-transforming and creatively adaptive. In the framework of e-government, new levels of connectivity are introduced and implemented.[/vc_column_text][ult_dualbutton btn_hover_style=“Style 2″ btn_border_style=“solid“ btn_color_border=“#ffffff“ btn_border_size=“2″ btn_alignment=“left“ dual_resp=“off“ button1_text=“Einzelheft kaufen“ icon_link=“url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aws-institut.de%2Fim-io%2Fproduct%2Fqualitaet-4-0%2F|title:Qualit%C3%A4t%204.0||“ btn1_background_color=“#f07d00″ btn1_bghovercolor=“#e30613″ icon=“Defaults-book“ icon_size=“22″ icon_color=“#ffffff“ icon_hover_color=“#f07d00″ button2_text=“Jetzt abonnieren“ btn_icon_link=“url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aws-institut.de%2Fim-io%2Fabo%2F|title:Abo||“ btn2_background_color=“#f07d00″ btn2_bghovercolor=“#e30613″ btn_icon=“Defaults-chevron-right“ btn_icon_size=“22″ btn_icon_color=“#ffffff“ btn_iconhover_color=“#f07d00″ divider_text=“oder“ divider_text_color=“#f07d00″ divider_bg_color=“#ffffff“ btn1_text_color=“#ffffff“ btn1_text_hovercolor=“#ffffff“ btn2_text_color=“#ffffff“ btn2_text_hovercolor=“#ffffff“ title_font_size=“desktop:20px;“ btn_border_radius=“3″ title_line_ht=“desktop:22px;“ btn_width=“280″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=“Relevance of the topic“ font_container=“tag:h3|text_align:left“][vc_column_text]Already in 1833 was stated: “The subject of government has employed the pens of the fist philosophers of every age, from the time from Plato and Aristoteles to the present day (Chipman 1833, reprinted 1969, Preface, p. 1).” In human society in all stages, there is a need for a substitution of new techniques for the adjustment of interest in place of an old technique. Government systems “reflect the diversity and increasing complexity of the tasks that are being undertaken by executives” (Blondel 1992: 269). But on the other side, some concerns exist about the governing process of balancing interests, “the tyranny of the minority over the majority” and the idea of the state itself as a “social whole”. We might agree that a government that cannot administer efficiently and effectively is a bad government. In other words: “Only a government equipped with professional competence is a good and effective government” (Farazmand 1999: 1). The following tries to focus on a framework of e-government. It integrates the classical model for social systems and discusses two main narratives for e-government, he tech-savy and technocratic ones. IT developments have tended to be “solutionfor-every-problem attitude” and even “a remedy for all the traditional shortcomings of government bureaucracy in politicians´ visions of re-engineered public services” (Hood 2006: 475). Dye (2005, 332) argues: “Does the government generally know what it is doing? Generally speaking, no . . . (E)ven if programs and policies are well organized, efficiently operated, adequately financed, and generally supported by major interest groups, we may still want to ask: So what? Do they work? Do these programs have any beneficial effects on society? Are the effects immediate or long range? Unfortunately, governments have done very little to answer these more basic questions.” Governments embrace digital technologies and become more interconnected with partner organizations and smart devices. Governments are facing strong pressure to build and upgrade infrastructure. E-government has the potential of strengthening the performance of government administration by introducing efficiency and effectiveness which comes as a result of, among others, being able to access government services anytime and from anywhere. EGovernment is seen as a solution that transforms government services using information and communication technologies (ICT). E-Government is more than just implementation of ICT systems, which would merely transform government to online delivery of services but it is a total reorganization of the public sector through the use of ICT. This calls for the rethinking of the way public services are delivered and thereby having a transformational impact. In this transformation the whole model of public management, relationships, and behaviors are altered. E-Government intends to improve government processes, connect citizens, and build up interactions with and within civil society. In the complex world of the 21st century, government is reliant upon accurate and timely information about its legislative and policy contexts. Whether that information is gathered by governments, or provided by citizens and businesses, the quality of management of that information is vital. For example, governments have offered a range of reasons for interfering with digital networks, employed many tactics, and experienced both costs and benefits in doing so.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=“The logic of social systems“ font_container=“tag:h3|text_align:left“][vc_column_text]Process is a traditional major concern of public policy concerned with understanding the means by which societies could and should make collective choices in the public interest. In this sense, the classical system analysis of David Easton is still relevant. In his words, “a system does not exist in a vacuum. It is always immersed in a specific setting environment” (Easton 1957: 385). Therefore, the system with its own dynamic is goal-setting, self-transforming and creatively adaptive. In the framework of egovernment, new levels of connectivity are introduced and implemented. The same applies for David Easton’s distinction between types of system support: while performance should clearly affect specific support, directed to “the perceived decisions, policies, actions, utterances or the general style of (…) authorities” (Easton 1975: 437), diffuse support, “representing as it does attachment to political objects [such as regimes] for their own sake, will not be easily dislodged because of current dissatisfaction with what the government does” (Easton 1975: 445). His Input-Output model can be illustrated, see figure 1. The debate on e-government has also a lot to do with the role of the citoyen, a customer, client, homo economicus or even technicus. Is the homo technicus the next stage in human evolution? Homo Technicus could be defined as a human living in symbiosis with technology and machines. A human constantly connected to the digital world, such as the Internet or the cloud. Recent work on egovernment has shown that interoperability and re-engineering problems can interfere seriously with the effectiveness of putting government services online. In particular, studies have highlighted the need for standards to support interoperability, security and privacy requirements that stem from the amalgamation of databases and services, and process reengineering to optimize the benefits of shifting governmental services online (Twizevimana/Andersson 2019).[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=“The Tech-Savvy eGov Narrative“ font_container=“tag:h3|text_align:left“][vc_column_text]The tech-savvy narrative shows two important characteristics. First, it shows a high level self sufficiency. Second, it steps from the transformation of governmental administration to the transformation of the whole government or the whole society. The following arguments are the most typical ones in the tech-savvy narrative.

▶ Latest IT technology is used with huge success in today’s businesses; therefore, we need to use IT also to transform public administrations.

▶ e-Government is established all around the world with high pressure; therefore, we also need to establish it in our country.

▶ IT technology is available; therefore, we need to use it to transform public administrations. A good example is the case of blockchain technology.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=“15477″ img_size=“medium“ add_caption=“yes“ alignment=“center“][vc_custom_heading text=“Technocratic eGov-Narrative“ font_container=“tag:h3|text_align:left“][vc_column_text]The technocratic e-government narrative is the egovernment narrative per se. The term “technocracy” would refer to a management of society by technical experts — here, the creators of the platforms and the interest groups for a neoliberal state based on IT. This statement would neglect the advantages of a digital implementation. Rather than sharing an ideology, technocrats may be seen as sharing a mentality or cognitive framework. This involves a unique way of analyzing social problems, formulating solutions and implementing policy. Technocrats therefore share a form for analyzing the means or instruments utilized in attaining social ends and an implicit set of criteria for evaluating political success. This perspective is not based on an ideology of answers or issues but an ideology of methods. What the technocrats offer is not a new set of values, but a new methodology of understanding social problems (Centeno 1993: 312). Technocratic legitimacy is based on the appeal of scientific knowledge (Centeno 1993: 313). today’s young technocrats – who can be found in the organization of global elites such as the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and regional authorities such as parliaments and political parties alike – are themselves no experts, but childs of a political selection process; they just sing the ‘the gospel of technocracy’ (Draheim et al 2020). The general debate focuses on a static approach. Most of the studies adapt functionalist arguments based on the statement that social complexity requires technical expertise (Centeno 1993: 313). The lack in scholarly work that examines the role of technocrats is puzzling given the plethora of opinions expressed in the media about the role of technocrats in todays’ democratic societies and the elevated interest in technocrats and technocratic governments in the press (Centeno 1993: 316). Technocracy and populism are to sides of the same coin. For example, both are critical towards the existing system. Technocracy refers to one correct policy solution, whereas populism addresses to the so called authentic will of people. In these sense, both phenomena of growing importance tend to be apolitical (Bickerton/Accetti 2017). A modell for an e-government modell can be illustrated as in figure 2.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=“Epilogue“ font_container=“tag:h3|text_align:left“][vc_column_text]Both the tech-savy and technocratic e-government narratives are top-down processes. What is about legitimation (just as output) or should be a feedback circle installed in the sense of David Easton? The implementation of e-voting (as in Estonia) has a limited effect due to a lack of mobilisation in terms of voting tournout (Solvak/Vassil 2016). It is also not linked to an evaluation of the e-government system. Across Europe many e-participation projects have been funded in recent years, but their effects and impacts are not very clear. The extent to which people are motivated through the mobilisation strategies of both political organisations and peers within their networks via social media is an issue of some debate. The mobilisation hypothesis argues that access to digital technologies has the capacity to draw new participants into civic life, particularly among younger citizens. In reality, however, studies often find mixed results, with digital technologies facilitating reinforcement and mobilisation only among particular user groups of digital platforms (Nam 2012). Or is this not needed any more if we switch to Artificial Intelligence generated solutions and decisions?[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=“15478″ img_size=“medium“ add_caption=“yes“ alignment=“center“][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][ult_createlink title=“Zu den Literaturangaben“ btn_link=“url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aws-institut.de%2Fim-io%2Fausgabe-2019-4-392%2F|title:Ausgabe%202019-4-334||“][/vc_column][/vc_row]