Digital State at the Leading Edge

The History of Government On-Line Between 1999 and 2006 the Government of Canada undertook a specific project to rationalize and consolidate its Internet presence, it electronic service delivery, and its electronic administrative efficiency. This book reports on the highlights of that project, and attempts to assess its outcome and impact from various perspectives. As a person who actually helped set some of the standards for this project, I found this book fascinating because it gives a comprehensive overview of the kind that most participants in the day-to-day project never acquired. Some of the chapters refer to electronic government in Ontario, but I will focus on the federal studies because that is the area I am familiar with. Borins introduces the book, articulates the conceptual framework for the study, contributes research on a number of the specific topics covered, and writes the concluding chapter. As he explains it, Government On-Line (GOL) is actually the outgrowth of administrative reforms that pre-date the Internet. In reviewing the various chapters for the conclusion, he agrees that many of the project goals were accomplished. However, not all the lessons learned are being effectively applied, so there continues to be room for improvement. Brown gives a history of the implementation of GOL, from which I learned for the first time that The Institute for Citizen-Centred Service (ICCS), an organization often credited with pushing Canadian governments towards better service to the public, was in fact sponsored and incubated by these same governments. Brown also participated in the research and writing for more specific topics in the book, including the chapter on the human element in the "digital leadership" that conceptualized GOL and kept it on track. Kernaghan chapters in the book examine the various interfaces between politics and administration that GOL had to accommodate and manage. As world-class consultant Paul Strassmann keeps reminding all managers, computers and networks are just so much plastic, metal and glass unless they are deployed and used to give value-added to the governance process - but too many public officials and public servants appear determined to resist this trend by what ever means available! As Kernaghan says, there really is no excuse for this reticence except the hope of somehow reversing the process. Comparison With Other Countries Thompson reviews two case studies from the United States that show the dilemmas of applying Systems Analysis to politics and public policy. The Republicans won the second Presidential election for Bush by using the very best of Knowledge Management techniques to get their vote out. They were agile and flexible. By contrast, the Democrats used "industrial organization" techniques, and couldn't keep up with the day-to-day changes in campaign needs. The other case study is Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's initiative to integrate a high-tech approach to warfare, much as M