Copyright (c) 2010 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts Recent documents in Helen Z Margetts en-us Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:31:25 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/6 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/6 Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:28:44 PDT This article looks at the role of the Internet in policymaking, identifying potential policy effects of widespread use of the Internet by citizens, firms, governments and voluntary organizations. It considers how the Internet and Internet-enabled social change might impact upon each of the four 'tools' of government policy -– nodality, authority, treasure and organization -– and how it might impact upon the mix of tools that policymakers select. It suggests a number of values normally associated with the Internet -– innovation, trust, openness and equity -– that might be expected to emerge in policy trends. It discusses the implications of Internet-driven change for public policy research, pinpointing some key methodologies that will become increasingly important; generation of large-scale transactional data; network analysis and experimental methods. The article argues that we cannot understand, analyse or make public policy without understanding the technological, social and economic shifts associated with the Internet -– a task that the journal Policy & Internet is poised to undertake. Helen Z. Margetts professor DIGITAL ERA GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/5 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/5 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:14:08 PDT Keith Dowding URBAN POLITICS http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/4 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/4 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:08:17 PDT Peter John ELECTORAL SYSTEMS http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/3 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/3 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:44:40 PDT Christopher Hood PUBLIC POLICY AND MANAGEMENT http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/2 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/2 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:40:14 PDT Economists studying commercial activity on-line argue that the most significant difference between on-line and off-line commerce is the ability of firms to ‘know who your customers are and treat them differently’ (Vulkan 2006), customizing prices and offerings. This difference comes from the huge amount of data generated by on-line transactions, in terms of historical records, usage statistics and real-time data. Yet in political life, governmental organizations and political parties have been far slower to use such data to improve their service offerings and devise innovative policy interventions, such as differential pricing and personalized information provision. Likewise, political scientists lag behind economists in terms of analyzing new on-line relationships between citizens and political organizations, for example through the use of experiments and modelling of transaction data. This paper investigates ways in which governments and political scientists might also further understanding of governmentcitizen interactions, using the results of laboratory experiments where subjects are incentivized to simulate social choices on-line. The findings might be used by governmental organizations to feed into service improvements and policy innovation processes. Paper Tobias Escher DIGITAL ERA GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/1 http://works.bepress.com/helen_margetts/1 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:31:04 PDT The "new public management" (NPM) wave in public sector organizational change was founded on themes of disaggregation, competition, and incentivization. Although its effects are still working through in countries new to NPM, this wave has now largely stalled or been reversed in some key "leading-edge" countries. This ebbing chiefly reflects the cumulation of adverse indirect effects on citizens' capacities for solving social problems because NPM has radically increased institutional and policy complexity. The character of the post-NPM regime is currently being formed. We set out the case that a range of connected and information technology-centered changes will be critical for the current and next wave of change, and we focus on themes of reintegration, needs-based holism, and digitization changes. The overall movement incorporating these new shifts is toward "digital-era governance" (DEG), which involves reintegrating functions into the governmental sphere, adopting holistic and needs-oriented structures, and progressing digitalization of administrative processes. DEG offers a perhaps unique opportunity to create self-sustaining change, in a broad range of closely connected technological, organizational, cultural, and social effects. But there are alternative scenarios as to how far DEG will be recognized as a coherent phenomenon and implemented successfully. Patrick Dunleavy DIGITAL ERA GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS