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Digital government : leveraging innovation to improve public sector performance and outcomes for citizens
Falk S., Römmele A., Silverman M., Springer International Publishing, New York, NY, 2017. 192 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319387-93-2)
Date Reviewed: Apr 11 2018

The term “digital” is pervasive--in companies, societies, businesses, and governments. Through five international case studies, this book sheds some light on related issues such as “improved governance, efficiency, participation, and education” on the bright side, and “increased risks and challenges from cybersecurity and cybercrime, … use of data, [and] threats to personal privacy” on the darker side. The key to bridging the “significant gap between strategic aspiration and implementation” lies with respective governments, in terms of how they handle the four pillars of governance in the digital world--democracy, transparency, accountability, and freedom.

As a model example of academia-consulting partnership, the contributing authors/editors from Accenture Research, Columbia University (New York), and the Hertie School of Governance (Berlin) have very cogently tied together two parts of the book. The three editors provide an initial chapter as a basic summary of background, opportunities, challenges, and the future outlook of digital government. The other three chapters of the first part are on “Theory and Foundations of Digital Government,” depicting common but distinct threads of governance for any government. The second part of the book gives five case studies from different countries, illustrating the issues involved through the depiction of a single large government project for each country.

In the first part, the second chapter, contributed by Accenture, gives the methodology for “the digitalization index” proposed for the public sector in key countries, and the associated structure and assessment criteria spanning digital strategy, digital services, and digital enterprise. This measurable premise for digital governance outcomes can help governments “in charting the course for their [departments] to become truly digital.” The third chapter is on emerging technologies to address social change. The fourth chapter is on regulating digital government, which is quite important because “the trans-national character of most new technologies presents unique regulatory challenges” for the national governments to handle the “sensitive questions [on] national sovereignty, personal privacy, balancing national security and individual rights, protecting personal access to and transmittal of information,” and so on.

In the second part (five chapters developed by the research workshop students at two academic partner universities), five “country cases illustrate the diverse opportunities that a digital government can offer, including improved access to government services in India and Mexico, increased government transparency in Brazil, expanded broadband access in the US,” and the facilitation of Germany’s national open data policy agenda for a European open data portal.

Understandably, the case studies mirror only the present state of the art in the continually evolving development of referred digital projects; thus, the positions are likely to change or evolve further with time. As an example, the last word is still not out on the legality (or otherwise) of India’s Aadhaar card project--although it is discussed quite ably by the authors as one of the challenges. Presently, the Indian government has specified an extended deadline of March 31, 2018 for mandatory linking of Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts, mobile numbers, and permanent account numbers (PAN). However, the Supreme Court of India is likely to give a clear verdict on the invasion of privacy issue raised by many petitions pending before the court, even before the deadline extended by the government.

Together, both parts of the book provide a useful resource for government policy makers and public sector researchers to develop best practices for evolving national strategies. Each chapter includes a well-written conclusion and a relevant bibliography. Three short forewords by contributing partners precede the main content.

The book may also be useful for graduate students pursuing a course on e-governance in their public policy or public sector management programs; it provides a concise reference resource for taking up further research.

Reviewer:  C.S. Arora Review #: CR145967 (1806-0294)
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