Document(s) 2 of 16

"...let us resolve to bridge the Digital Divide between countries,
between rural and urban areas, between educated and
illiterate populations, and between men and women. And let
us act urgently so that all the world's people can benefit from
the potential of the ICT revolution...."

—U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
2002 "World Telecommunication Day"

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are bringing about major changes in the way in which local and regional authorities operate, interact and communicate internally or with other administrations, enterprises and citizens. As the closest level of government to the citizen and the main providers of public services, local and regional authorities are in the front line in the development of e-government and e-governance initiative.

e-government can be defined in many ways, but this work identifies it as the composite trend of governments at all level, mainly through their operational arm, the administration and, subsidiarily through the access of citizens to public affairs, aimed at promoting 1) a better and more efficient administration, 2) more effective inter-administration and administration-enterprise relationships and 3) user-empowering servicing and more transparent access of citizens to political decision-making.

e-governance is instead generally referred to as the capacity of ICTs to harness changes, looking not only at the increasing use of ICTs as a technological tool for delivering services online and improving the efficiency of administrations, but as a new paradigm for opening up government services to citizens, thereby increasing transparency and participation, and making government more responsive and centred upon its citizens' needs.

But this is a limited definition of the potential of e-governance, in fact, the conceptualisation of e-governance that I propose in this work is that e-governance concerns a rapidly evolving multi-dimensional, multi-actor, multi-level and inter-sectoral area of application, influenced not only by the ICT-revolution, but mainly by globalisation, international economic competition and state transformation. It also takes place in a very specific environment and contextual atmosphere about which we must understand and learn, in order to best guide the process. This overall change can be identified as manifold, although producing a composed impact on our lifestyle, level of wealth and relationships, inter-regionally and inter-nationally speaking.

In this respect, exchanges of experiences can provide a valuable tool in helping local and regional authorities to rise to the challenge and meet the expectations and needs of citizens in the digital era. This does not involve imposing a model, especially imported from the North to the South, but instead, pooling the wealth of knowledge that we have together and tapping this resource through the creation of a platform for the dissemination of practices and the localisation of solutions to promote regional development and good local governance.

However, as technology changes rapidly, so does the study of ICT-related issues. This is especially true with regard to a subject such as e-governance, that is still in its infancy, with a limited literature, no demonstrated results from applied research and which is evolutionary by definition.

Therefore, the findings and conclusions of this work should be considered both as a starting point and as a basis for further research and analysis.

This is also because from the time I started investigating in the area of e-governance to the publication of this work, there has been an emerging interest in the subject and, at the same time, some first applications of the hypothesis of the positive impact of ICTs on governance are also showing their limitations.

My own observations of the issues related to ICTs and governance have been subject to evolution. In fact, this research is the result of my "learning journey" on e-governance in Africa, started actually when, from e-Europe I went to e-Africa. It began in 2002 when I was working with the United Nations, and it was enriched by the experience gained at the Executive Master in e-governance at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), of which I am now the Managing Director, after being a "pioneer" participant in its first edition in 2005.

During this period I have been looking at the interrelation between ICTs and governance, and it is now clear to me that, as one of the most recognised and appreciated scholars in this field, and a pioneer in the area, Prof Claudio Ciborra, already mentioned in his inaugural lecture at the London School of Economics in October 2002, "New approaches are desperately needed".

It is with this recommendation in mind that I am also looking at the relationship of ICTs and Governance, not only from a technological point of view, but mainly as the framework in which institutional redesign can take place.

I wish you pleasant reading.

Gianluca C. Misuraca

Document(s) 2 of 16