Opportunities for Democracy in the Information Age
By Yuri Misnikov

Good governance, or the capacity to govern democratically and effectively, is increasingly viewed as the key to a society’s sustainable and equitable development. E-governance holds the key to a society based on information and knowledge. The Internet and other information and communication technology (ICT) tools offer an unprecedented opportunity for people to access information both within countries and across state borders.

No country—rich or poor, large or small—can afford to ignore the gains that ICT potentially offers. For poor countries this is even more pressing, given the leapfrogging opportunities modern technologies can make possible. ICT for development and e-governance, coupled with smart and timely government-enabled policies, may allow a country to reach its development objectives more rapidly and at a lower cost than conventional approaches. Any delay will simply cost more. Estonia is a remarkable case in point. While average income is still much lower in Estonia than the European average, the country is ahead of some EU states in using ICT, which gives it certain advantages, for example, its improved position in relation to global investment and innovation.

Policies in the Information Age

ICT and the Internet offer a unique opportunity for governing elites to overcome the crisis of representative democracy, because they empower civil society to play its role more effectively and facilitate the performance of governments’ main function: serving the people who elected them.

Another responsibility of all governments is to respond to globalization challenges and establish conditions under which their citizens can benefit from globally available information and knowledge. While wise policies may help position the country globally so that the benefits of information are harnessed and maximized for all citizens, inadequate policies will simply increase the overall development gap. Thus the real choice is not about whether or not to devise policies aimed at building an information society and using ICT to generate development dynamics, but about which policies are most workable.

An information society is one that is based on the effective use of information and knowledge and ICT. ICT affects governance patterns and practices at both the central and local levels. At the same time governance systems are not neutral to ICT, in that they can either support or obstruct its application for development. The era of the global information society, as brought about by technological progress and globalization in trade and finance, challenges the way central and regional authorities communicate with their citizens and with the outside world, contests the way business is done, and affects the personal and professional development of every member of society.

Governance, participation, and inclusion stand to benefit enormously from the networking opportunities and access to relevant knowledge across distances. Given genuine willingness to do so on all sides, ICT can finally bridge local, regional, and central governments. In practice, separating the work of the central government from overall governance practices is impossible. For example, the central government cannot simply transfer property, functions, and even resources to the local level without changing its own functions and responsibilities. Similarly, local governments cannot organize their work efficiently and responsibly without a structure of enabling nationwide policies and legal frameworks on the one hand, and without being supported by grassroots communities on the other.

In the same manner, e-government cannot be taken out of the broader e-governance context. It is a challenge to the central government to put itself under the scrutiny of citizens by making its work more efficient, effective, transparent and—most important—people oriented, so as to enjoy enduring support for its development agenda. Regions and communities may even feel empowered enough by ICT to lessen their dependence on the government’s centrally generated services and take advantage of access to knowledge, information, and even resources from across the country, the region, and the world.

E-Linking Private Benefits to the Public Good

The central government may wish to review its citizen services, retaining only those that are a clear public good, while fully or partly outsourcing those that are either too expensive for the government to administer or that would be better and faster delivered to civil society and the private sector by other parties. From that point of view, e-government may ultimately mean smaller government. One possibility is that the concept of small government may only be feasible with the use of ICT.

Good governance, which includes stemming corruption and increasing transparency, has been identified as a missing link in both poverty alleviation efforts and equitable and inclusive economic growth. Perhaps it is no accident that Estonia and Hungary, with the highest level of foreign direct investment per capita in Central and Eastern Europe and the region’s leaders in economic reform, are also the most advanced in the region in terms of ICT. In addition, these countries are characterized by the region’s most vivid examples of public-private partnerships. The Estonian and Hungarian experiences clearly demonstrate the importance of promoting public-private partnerships; implementing smart, bottom-up strategies; involving all stakeholders; ensuring governmental support; capturing economic opportunities and enabling businesses; responding to the challenges of globalization; and focusing on public goods.

Costs

While the myth that all e-government and e-governance initiatives are costly persists, this is simply not true. For example, the average cost of a Hungarian "telecottage" (usually a community-based facility that assists learning, access to technology, access to work, and so on for a local community) does not exceed $15,000 to $20,000 (including operations), although the cumulative social and economic return is much greater. While admittedly many Estonian initiatives have been costly, for these the government encouraged the private sector to provide funding and created the necessary conditions for it to do so.

Conclusion

E-government practices can fundamentally change public service and the government’s business procedures. The importance of developing access infrastructure cannot be overestimated and governments must have clear strategies to address this problem. A combination of personal computers and mobile phones can offer enormous opportunities for networking. Whether the region’s governments are ready to follow this path remains to be seen.

Many believe that the spread of digital networks and communities is unstoppable in the region. Empowered by ICT, the civil society sector will be even stronger in the future, which poses a greater challenge to governments in terms of operational efficiency than of political stability. This challenge can reasonably be met only with the greater degree of democracy and participatory governance that ICT and the Internet can support.

For the sake of societal balance, governments should begin switching to e-government practices to empower themselves through ICT. Leaders should adopt forward-thinking strategies that represent the interests of all stakeholders in foreseeing new development opportunities and embracing them as they emerge. State and local institutions grant citizens more opportunities to influence public life by providing them with the ability to express their views electronically. At the same time, the Internet allows the public sector to expand its role as a client-oriented service provider. Modernization and democratization are two sides of the same coin that must be carefully balanced and harmonized.

The author is regional coordinator of ICT for development for the United Nations Development Programme. He can be contacted by email at yuri.misnikov@undp.org.