eGOVERNMENT AND THE TRANSFORMATION AGENDA

Government policy-making emphasis worldwide is moving increasingly to how ICT can be used to achieve efficiency savings ( Gershon 2004 ) or to transform activities ( Cabinet Office; Transformational Government 2005 ). The role of ICT in achieving efficiency benefits or supporting transformational change is almost universally accepted by policy-makers, despite the fact that little robust evidence exists.
eGovernment evaluation methodologies are reviewed and evidence is provided in this paper to demonstrate that transformational eGovernment projects produce greater benefits than other types of initiatives. The level of benefits for different groups of beneficiaries is examined. A key factor determining benefits and impact of any project is the number of users of the service and/or the frequency of use of a system.     

New regionalism in five Swiss metropolitan areas: An assessment of inclusiveness, deliberation and democratic accountability

Abstract.  Focusing on area-wide policy coordination in metropolitan areas, this article examines the democratic consequences of the supposed shift 'from government to governance'. In the first, theoretical, part it draws upon the debate on old and new routes towards regionalism in order to identify four different types of metropolitan governance. It then develops two working hypotheses – an optimistic and a pessimistic one – in order to analyse the implications of various types of metropolitan governance on inclusiveness, modes of decision making and democratic accountability. In the second part, these hypotheses are tested on the basis of comparative case studies on twenty schemes of area-wide policy coordination in five Swiss metropolitan areas in the fields of water supply, public transport, social services for drug users and cultural amenities. The results suggest that 'governance' is superior to 'government' in terms of inclusiveness, that it cannot be seen as significantly linked to the fostering of deliberative decision making, and that it can present serious flaws in terms of accountability. It is noted, however, that a shift 'from government to governance' does not intrinsically imply democratic drawbacks. Contextual factors play a strong conditioning role.     

繁荣法学研究,推进依法治国--《学报》编辑部2006年新春寄语

“落红萎地多于雪,嫩绿成荫淡似烟”,伴着春天的脚步,2006年第1期《北京政法职业学院学报》又奉现在读者面前了。值此之际,编辑部全体同仁谨向关心爱护《学报》的新老朋友致以春天的问候和深深的敬意。     

DOES POLITICAL CHANGE AFFECT SENIOR MANAGEMENT TURNOVER? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF TOP‐TIER LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND

In many political systems the political neutrality of senior managers' tenure is often cherished as a key part of the politics-administration dichotomy and is subject to formal safeguards. We test hypotheses about the impact of political change on senior management turnover drawn from political science, public administration and private sector management theory. Using panel data to control for unobserved heterogeneity between authorities, we find that changes in political party control and low organizational performance have both separate and joint positive effects on the turnover rate of senior managers. By contrast, the most senior manager, the chief executive, is more sheltered: the likelihood of a chief executive succession is higher only when party change and low performance occur together. Thus the arrival of a new ruling party reduces the tenure of senior managers, but chief executives are vulnerable to political change only when performance is perceived as weak.     

THE VALUE OF CHOICE IN PUBLIC POLICY

Conceptualizing and measuring choice is problematic both in theory and in practice. Measuring by counting the alternatives seems counter-intuitive as a smaller set of better or more diverse alternatives seems to provide more choice than one that is simply larger. However, concentrating upon better alternatives leads to choice being defined by welfare or utility which is also counter-intuitive. The implications of this paradox are considered in relation to examples drawn from the choice agenda in British social policy. Empirical difficulties in measuring the welfare gains through implementing greater choice at a time of other central-led policy initiatives such as targets are discussed, and the extant evidence discussed. Criteria for judging whether or not choice has been welfare-enhancing are suggested. It is argued that 'soft choice' where service providers provide information and explain different options is preferable to 'hard' choice of simplistic targets to increase choice by ticking target boxes.     

MAKING GOVERNANCE NETWORKS EFFECTIVE AND DEMOCRATIC THROUGH METAGOVERNANCE

In response to the growing discrepancy between the steadily rising steering ambitions and the increasing fragmentation of social and political life, governance networks are mushrooming. Governance through the formation of networks composed of public and private actors might help solve wicked problems and enhance democratic participation in public policy-making, but it may also create conflicts and deadlocks and make public governance less transparent and accountable. In order to ensure that governance networks contribute to an effective and democratic governing of society, careful metagovernance by politicians, public managers and other relevant actors is necessary. In this paper, we discuss how to assess the effective performance and democratic quality of governance networks. We also describe how different metagovernance tools can be used in the pursuit of effective and democratic network governance. Finally, we argue that public metagovernors must develop their strategic and collaborative competences in order to become able to metagovern governance networks.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: REALIGNMENT OF WORLD POWER: The Russo-Chinese Schism Under the Impact of Mao-Tse-tung's Last Revolution. By Oton Ambroz. SAMUEL TERRY: The Botany Bay Rothschild. By Gwyneth M. Dow. RURAL INDUSTRY IN THE PORT PHILLIP REGION 1835–1880. By Lynnette J. Peel. NOT A WHITE WOMAN SAFE: Sexual Anxiety and Politics in Port Moresby 1920–1934. By Amirah Inglis. SOCIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT. Edited by E. de Kadt and Gavin Williams. POLITICAL CHANGE: Collected Essays. By David E. Apter. RICH NATIONS AND POOR IN PEACE AND WAR: Continuity and Change in the Development Hierarchy of Seventy Nations from 1913 through 1952. By Henry Barbera. ECONOMIC REALITIES IN POOR COUNTRIES. By Leslie Stein. G.D.H. COLE: An Intellectual Biography. By L.P. Carpenter. HISTORY AND WILL: Philosophical Perspectives of Mao-Tse-Tung's Thought. By F. Wakeman Jr. TO PHOENIX SEAT: An Introductory Study of Maoism and the Chinese Communist Quest for a Paradise on Earth. By L.R. Marchant. THE COUNTER REFORMATION. By G.W. Searle. ON THE MEDIEVAL ORIGINS OF THE MODERN STATE. By Joseph R. Strayer. IMPERIAL ECONOMIC POLICY, 1917–1939: Studies in Expansion and Protection. By Ian M. Drum-mond. TAMATE — A KING: James Chalmers in New Guinea. 1877–1901. By Diane Langmore. THE BASES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER. Essays in Honour of C.A.W. Manning. Edited by Alan James. SMALL STATES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Nobel Symposium 17. Edited by August Schou and Arne Olav Brundtland. THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL TREATIES 1914–1973. A History and Guide With Texts. By J.A.S. Grenville. INTERNATIONAL LAW AND NATIONAL BEHAVIOUR: A Behavioral Interpretation of Contemporary International Law and Politics. By A. Sheikh. FULL CIRCLE. By S.F. Rowell. THE NUREMBERG FALLACY: Wars and War Crimes Since World War II. By Eugene Davidson. THE AUSTRALIAN COLONISTS: An Exploration of Social History 1788–1870. By K.S. Inglis. JEREMY BENTHAM: Ten Critical Essays. Edited by Bhikhu Parekh. THE DAMNED INHERITANCE: The Soviet Union and the Manchurian Crises, 1924–35. By G.A. Lensen. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND THE RISE OF SWEDEN. By Michael Roberts. SOCIALISM AND THE CHALLENGE OF WAR: Ideas and Politics in Britain 1912–18. By J.M. Winter. ACCUMULATION ON A WORLD SCALE: A critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment. Vols. 1 and 2. By Samir Amin. Translated by Brian Pearce. GERMANY CONFRONTS MODERNISATION: German Culture and Society, 1790–1890. By Robert Anchor. WORKERS AND PROTEST: The European Labor Movement, The Working Classes and the Origins of Social Democracy, 1890–1914. By Harvey Mitchell and Peter N. Steams. MAJOR IDEOLOGIES: An Interpretative Survey of Democracy. Socialism, and Nationalism. By Alexander Groth. CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT AND POLITICS. By Ernest Gellner. Edited with a preface by I.C. Jarvie and Joseph Agassi. MODERN DEMOCRACIES: Economic Power versus Political Power. By Maurice Duverger. DICK DETERRED: A Play in Two Acts. By David Edgar. THE IMAGE OF AUSTRALIA. British Perception of the Australian Economy from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century, By Craufurd D.W. Goodwin. CONFIDENTIAL DISPATCHES: Analyses of America by the British Ambassador, 1939–1945. Edited by Thomas E. Hachey. THE STATE'S SERVANTS: The Civil Service of the English Republic 1649–1660. By G.E. Aylmer. NORMAN LINDSAY, The Embattled Olympian. By John Hetherington. MARKETING BOARDS AND MINISTERS: A Study of Agricultural Marketing Boards as Political and Administrative Instruments. By P.J. Giddings. ELITES IN THE POLICY PROCESS. By Robert Presthus. LAW, LEGISLATION AND LIBERTY: A New Statement of the Liberal Principles of Justice and Political Economy. Vol. I Rules and Order. By F.A. Hayek. DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1928'29–1938'39: A Study in Cyctical and Structural Change. By G.D. Snooks. INDIA'S SECOND LIBERATION. By Pran Chopra. NORMALIZATION OF JAPANESE-SOVIET RELATIONS 1945–1970. By S. Vishwanathan. MAOISM IN ACTION: The Cultural Revolution. By C.L. Chiou. THE PLANS OF WAR: The General Staff and British Military Strategy c. 1900–1916. By John Gooch. REVUE INTERNATIONALE d'HISTOIRE MILITAIRE. A NEW HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. Edited by F.K. Crowley. AUSTRALIAN CULTURAL ELITES: Intellectual Traditions in Sydney and Melbourne. By John Docker. SUEZ 1956. By Robert R. Bowie. LABOR IN POLITICS: The State Labor Parties in Australia 1880–1920. Edited by D.J. Murphy. J.H. SCULLIN: A Political Biography. By John Robertson.