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Rochet, Claude ; Habib, Johanna ; Soldo, Edina
2009 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2009-0156
The introduction of France's Constitutional Bylaw on Budget Acts (LOLF) in 2006 and its concept of performance-based management implies a profound reengineering of the relationship between the central government and the autonomous agencies in charge of implementing policy. In this paper, we examine the case of French scientific research policy, which is carried out via a network of 160 universities and 40 specialized scientific agencies, all of them enjoy statutory autonomy. Information systems are key in ensuring that processes in the field are in line with central public policy objectives. A new approach to this network is required, one that we call "urbanization", i.e. rethinking the system's overall architecture as a city map, rather than the "spaghetti" networks inherited from the past. Managing such a project raises strategic questions about centre-periphery relationships, and requires a partial solution to the dichotomy between local strategic autonomy and the central impetus the state must give in order to enforce its political objectives. In terms of centre-periphery theory and a strategic planning approach to IT, we explain why information systems are a critical issue in centre-periphery relationships. We then analyze how IS reengineering may foster strategic dialogue between the central administration and autonomous agencies. Finally, we use as an example the difficulties we encountered in designing the new capabilities, and we conclude on the emerging paradigm shift in public administration concepts.
2009 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2009-0175
Trust in government has been shown to be volatile in recent years and Internet transparency is seen as a solution to strengthen trust. However, critics argue that transparency will only lead to less trust, and sceptics say that it has no effect at all. This debate on transparency is lacking empirical information, and therefore central to this article is to what extent transparency influences trust. Three dimensions of trust are distinguished: the competence, benevolence and honesty of the government agency in question. To examine whether Internet transparency affects these dimensions, an experimental design was used which compared results from three groups of volunteers. The groups were given varying amounts of prior information regarding the government agency, ranging from much to none. Results showed that the relationship between Internet transparency and these dimensions of trust is not unequivocal. Perceptions of benevolence and honesty are affected by the level of transparency, while perceptions of competence remain stable. Hence, a heterogeneous effect of transparency on trust is demonstrated. This calls for a more refined view in the debate on this relationship; this study offers a beginning point for more detailed insight in the various effects of transparency on trust.
Grönlund, Kimmo ; Strandberg and, Kim ; Himmelroos, Staffan
2009 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2009-0182
Two contemporary promises of participatory democracy are addressed in the present article; (a) democratic decisions reached in small group deliberation between lay citizens and (b) the possibility to exploit information and communication technology in democratic dialogue and decision making. Initially, a quasi-experimental approach was used to explore the potential and impact of face-to-face deliberation between citizens. In this design, a random sample of adult citizens was first surveyed and invited to take part in the experiment. The original face-to-face experiment was a one-day event where the participants received impartial information, questioned an expert panel and discussed in small groups. The participants were randomly allocated to 12 small groups consisting of a dozen persons each. The question at hand was whether a sixth nuclear power plant should be constructed in Finland. Later on, the face-to-face experiment was replicated virtually. The article has two main research questions. First, it investigates how a virtual environment can be used for deliberation and decision making. Second, it examines how information and deliberation in small groups affect participants' knowledge and opinions on energy politics. It is found that both modes show considerable resemblance in their outcome.
Wall, Matthew ; Sudulich, Maria Laura ; Costello, Rory ; Leon, Enrique
2009 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2009-0179
Online voting advice applications (VAAs), which help voters to decide in elections, have become commonplace in many European countries. However, their use and reliability is under-researched. This paper analyses the data generated by a VAA deployed in the run-up to the May 2007 general election in Ireland. The website was designed to allow users to compare their own placement on a number of policy dimensions with those of the main parties competing in the election. We compare the users of the website to the population in terms of their overall demographic characteristics and policy preferences, and examine the extent to which the advice issued by the website corresponded to users' stated voting intentions. The findings indicate that the VAA attracted users that were not representative of the wider population. Furthermore, we find that the supporters of the two main centre-right parties in Ireland (Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael) were less likely to be correctly identified by the application than supporters of the other parties. While VAAs offer the potential to improve the quality of democratic participation, the findings reported here also highlight a number of important challenges.
2009 Information Polity
doi: 10.3233/IP-2009-0177
There has been a growing concern regarding political disengagement among citizens within liberal western representative democracies. This concern has brought about calls for local political online forums to be used to support participatory and deliberative democracy online to reverse this trend. However, little empirical investigation has been conducted into what such forums can support in terms of deliberative democracy. This paper, focusing solely on deliberation will answer the following question: Can local political online forums support all categories of deliberation? A two pronged methodological approach consisting of both a quantitative deductive method and a qualitative inductive method was used to examine this research question. This paper argues that within the literature deliberation falls into three main categories. However, another form of online discussion was identified as part of this empirical research named Cross Cutting Discussion.
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