Digital Era Governance: IT Corporations, the State, and e-Government

Government information systems are big business. They are critical to all aspects of public policy and governmental operations. Governments spend billions on public sector IT-the UK alone commits [pound]16.5 billion a year. Yet governments do not generally develop or run their own systems, instead relying on private sector IT corporations to undertake large, lengthy contracts to provide their IT. Some of the biggest companies in the world (IBM, EDS, Lockheed Martin, etc.) have made this a core market. The book shows how governments in some countries (the USA, Canada, and Netherlands) have maintained much more effective policies than others (in the UK, Japan, and Australia). It shows how public managers need to retain and develop their own IT expertise and carefully maintain well-contested markets if they are to deliver value for money for government services with the powerful global IT industry.

This book describes how this critical aspect of the modern state is managed, or in some cases mismanaged. It shows how a new paradigm of 'digital era governance' (DEG) has increasingly defined the leading edge of modern Western public management. It emphasizes reintegrating key roles like e-government development within the public sector, adopting a holistic approach to public management and relentlessly exploiting the potential of digitalization to cut costs and improve services. It will be vital reading for public managers, IT professionals, and business executives alike, as well as for students of modern government, business, and information studies.