Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
<p>This paper explores the extent and character of cross-sectoral and cross-national policy learning within the area of government information technology policy. We look particularly at two issues as windows into the wider current development of the sector: the evolution of IT contracting form...
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| Format: | Report |
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American Political Science Association
2001
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| _version_ | 1797070480019030016 |
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| author | Dunleavy, P Margetts, H Bastow, S Tinkler, J Yared, H |
| author_facet | Dunleavy, P Margetts, H Bastow, S Tinkler, J Yared, H |
| author_sort | Dunleavy, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This paper explores the extent and character of cross-sectoral and cross-national policy learning within the area of government information technology policy. We look particularly at two issues as windows into the wider current development of the sector: the evolution of IT contracting forms and structures, and the development of e-government policies. We explore these issues in three (former) Westminster systems with divergent new public management (NPM) pathways, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In a complex and hard to penetrate sector like government IT there are no ‘perfect’ cases, no typical representatives of a wider population. The point of our comparative work is primarily to introduce a requisite degree of diagnostic diversity to help explore the variety of causation patterns operating to differentiate national government characteristics from one another. The primary research methodology used has been detailed Web research and systematic documentation analysis across the three governments, extensive interviewing with over 110 officials and IT industry personnel across our countries (mainly focusing on central governments), and somein depth unobtrusive measures censuses and survey work within the UK carried out during 1999 and 2001.</p> <br/> <p>The paper has four parts. The first briefly situates the government IT sector within the range of policy learning and policy transfer experiences, brings out its salience for the contemporary evolution of state-civil society relations, and considers some key interpretative expectations that might find applicability in this area. Part 2 sketches salient features ofthe basic institutional structures and NPM experiences of our three countries in order to focus down on the development of their government IT contracting regimes over the last decade. We show how initially institutionally linked or NPM emulating countries have in fact diverged to very different current contracting models. Part 3 considers the progress of egovernment initiatives across the case countries and their relative degrees of success so far in overcoming ‘channel rivalry’ barriers from established departments and agencies; achieving joined-up governance; and maintaining or developing government’s nodality in the Internet era. The final part draws together the findings and considers alternative interpretations. </p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:39:27Z |
| format | Report |
| id | oxford-uuid:5b08acaf-6bd7-4275-b3a3-6b5931e23338 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:39:27Z |
| publishDate | 2001 |
| publisher | American Political Science Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:5b08acaf-6bd7-4275-b3a3-6b5931e233382022-03-26T17:19:35ZPolicy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.Reporthttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_93fcuuid:5b08acaf-6bd7-4275-b3a3-6b5931e23338Symplectic Elements at OxfordAmerican Political Science Association2001Dunleavy, PMargetts, HBastow, STinkler, JYared, H<p>This paper explores the extent and character of cross-sectoral and cross-national policy learning within the area of government information technology policy. We look particularly at two issues as windows into the wider current development of the sector: the evolution of IT contracting forms and structures, and the development of e-government policies. We explore these issues in three (former) Westminster systems with divergent new public management (NPM) pathways, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In a complex and hard to penetrate sector like government IT there are no ‘perfect’ cases, no typical representatives of a wider population. The point of our comparative work is primarily to introduce a requisite degree of diagnostic diversity to help explore the variety of causation patterns operating to differentiate national government characteristics from one another. The primary research methodology used has been detailed Web research and systematic documentation analysis across the three governments, extensive interviewing with over 110 officials and IT industry personnel across our countries (mainly focusing on central governments), and somein depth unobtrusive measures censuses and survey work within the UK carried out during 1999 and 2001.</p> <br/> <p>The paper has four parts. The first briefly situates the government IT sector within the range of policy learning and policy transfer experiences, brings out its salience for the contemporary evolution of state-civil society relations, and considers some key interpretative expectations that might find applicability in this area. Part 2 sketches salient features ofthe basic institutional structures and NPM experiences of our three countries in order to focus down on the development of their government IT contracting regimes over the last decade. We show how initially institutionally linked or NPM emulating countries have in fact diverged to very different current contracting models. Part 3 considers the progress of egovernment initiatives across the case countries and their relative degrees of success so far in overcoming ‘channel rivalry’ barriers from established departments and agencies; achieving joined-up governance; and maintaining or developing government’s nodality in the Internet era. The final part draws together the findings and considers alternative interpretations. </p> |
| spellingShingle | Dunleavy, P Margetts, H Bastow, S Tinkler, J Yared, H Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title | Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title_full | Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title_fullStr | Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title_short | Policy learning and public sector information technology: Contractual and e-government changes in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| title_sort | policy learning and public sector information technology contractual and e government changes in the uk australia and new zealand |
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