Unveiling E-Government and Development Governing at a distance in the new war

Egovernment is being promoted by international agencies and G-8 nations as a means to obtain efficiency, accountability and transparency in the governance of developing countries. In particular, the model for good governance is the one advocated by New Public Management: the minimal, service-delivery state. The paper shows first through the case of Jordan, how e-government is difficult to implement, given the characteristics of the local administration, the socio-economic context and the dynamics of the technological infrastructure. Next, it asks whether the marketisation of the state embedded in e-government makes sense as the paramount approach to improve democracy and foster development. Indeed, even the new institutional economics would point out that the whole idea of the service-delivery state has shaky foundations. The transformation of citizens into customers is problematic; and the correlation between good governance and minimal state with development can hardly be demonstrated historically. A complementary explanation of the current rush to promoting and building egovernment plans in less developed countries focuses on the emerging, intimate link between aid and security (as spelled out in the US National Security Strategy). To wit, e-government appears to be a means for the rich metropolitan states to govern “at a distance” (through sophisticated methodologies and technologies) the potentially dangerous, weak borderland states. But such an approach, as many other IT fixes for the private sector, may fail and backfire. IT applications will drift away from the set targets and global, durable disorder within and between states may obtain intact. New approaches are desperately needed. 1 This paper is the text of Professor Ciborra’s inaugural lecture at LSE on 24 October 2002 Unveiling E-Government and Development Governing at a distance in the new war