Transcript Document

ICT for Development
e-Governance and the
peace agenda
ICT4D Lecture 15
Tim Unwin
“For millions of people across the world, war and
violence are as much parts of daily life as are going to
school, shopping in the supermarket, or surfing the Net
for people in Western Europe or North America”
(Unwin, 2002)
Outline
• War and Peace
• The Governance Agenda
 MDGs
 The UN and donor organisations
•
•
•
•
UN e-Government
A framework for ICT in governance
Case Studies
Picture me an enemy
 The use of video
Lecture 15
War and peace
• War and violence affect
many aspects of poor
people’s lives
 International conflicts
 Civil strife
 Domestic violence
• But what exactly is the
relationship between
poverty and violence?
• Many conflicts caused by
interests of global capital
 US imperialism
Lecture 15
Governance and Government
• Governance
 The processes and systems by which a government
or governor operates
• Government
 The institutions and people involved
 The dominant decision making arm of the state
• Also governance in the IT industry
 The processes that need to be in place for a
successful project
 This coalescence of usages, may help explain why eGovernance is such a prominent concept
Lecture 15
The governance agenda
• Peace and good governance vital to improving
the lives of poor people
• The Washington consensus (Williamson, 1990)
 macroeconomic discipline
 a market economy
 openness to the world.
• The twin pillars of modern capitalism
 Free market
 Liberal democracy
 And thus the importance of good governance
 Essential for enabling economic growth, and thus profit
Lecture 15
The governance agenda
• The logics of growth and governance
 If economic growth is essential to eliminate poverty
 Then it is crucial to have good governance to enable
growth
• Governance is interestingly not one of the MDGs
 But donors keen on delivering macro-economic policy
instruments see good governance as an essential
enabler
 And it is in target 12 of Goal 8 (the catch-all)
Lecture 15
The governance agenda
• David Held has argued that there are many
different kinds of democracy
 Yet world’s powerful nations are determined to
impose one particular vision
 This is surely itself not ‘democratic’
 Democracy serves those in power
• This is not to deny that creating conditions that
reduce conflict and violence is desirable
 But it is to argue that the motives for this need to be
transparent
 And that we need to focus on interests of the poor
Lecture 15
UN e-Government Readiness
report 2004
“Economic and social empowerment today rests on the
ability to access, gather, analyze and utilize information
and knowledge to widen individual choices for political,
economic, social, cultural and behavioral decisions.
ICTs are the conduits which transmit information and
knowledge. By integrating technology into development
planning, more effective and speedy solutions can be
found for economic growth and sustainable human
development”
(UN e-Government Readiness report, 2004
http://www.unpan.org/egovernment4.asp)
Lecture 15
UN e-Government Readiness
report 2004
• e-Government readiness
 Based on five stages





Emerging presence
Enhanced presence
Interactive presence
Transactional presence
Networked presence
• E-Participation index
 Assesses the quality, relevance, usefulness and
willingness of government websites for providing
online information and participatory tools and services
to the people
Lecture 15
UN e-Government Readiness
report 2004
• Top 10 e-Government
readiness










US 0.9132
Denmark 0.9047
UK 0.8852
Sweden 0.8741
Republic of Korea 0.8575
Australia 0.8377
Canada 0.8369
Singapore 0.8340
Finland 0.8239
Norway 0.8178
• Top 10 e-Participation










UK 1.000
US 0.9344
Canada 0.9016
Singapore 0.8361
Netherlands 0.8033
Mexico 0.7705
New Zealand 0.7705
Republic of Korea 0.7705
Denmark 0.7377
Australia 0.6721
Lecture 15
UN e-Government Readiness
report 2004
• Examples of e-Government
readiness







55th South Africa 0.4902
67th China 0.4356
86th India 0.3879
114th Uganda 0.3290
130th Zimbabwe 0.2833
136th Egypt 0.2653
140th Rwanda 0.2511
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
World Average 0.4127
Lecture 15
ICT in governance
• UN Readiness Report: ICT can help
 “Improve transparency and efficiency of the
public sector”
 “Create network links across service delivery
agencies”
 “Cut bureaucratic red tape”
 “Realize vast savings”
 “ICTs in the public sector can engage citizens
as participants in the overall development of
the future”
Lecture 15
ICT and ‘Good’ Governance
• ‘Good’ governance: freedoms




To access information about government
To be represented
To vote
To meet collectively
• Technologies




Internet: enabling access to information
Creating networks and communities
Radio and TV: disseminating electoral messages
Mechanisms for ‘being heard’ and commenting on
services
Lecture 15
WSIS - WGIG 2003-5
• Working Group on Internet Governance
 One of the key agendas of WSIS Tunis 2005
 The terms ‘governance’ and ‘govern’ mean more than
‘government activities’
 the enabling dimension includes organized and
cooperative activities between different stakeholders
 Internet governance encompasses a wider range of
conditions and mechanisms than IP numbering and
domain name administration.
 But at Tunis dominated by role of US in
 Public policy issues around




Equitable distribution of resources
Access for all
Stable and secure functioning of the Internet
Lecture 15
Multilingualism
WSIS Tunis 2005
• Considerable debate over the role of the US in
‘controlling’ the Internet
• Internet Governance
 ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers)
 To retain role as manager of domain names
 But creation of a new Internet Governance Forum
 To include government, business and civil society
representation
• Focus on governance, SPAM, cyber crime and privacy
Lecture 15
Case Studies
•
•
•
•
Jamaica e-Governance programme
Information Kerala Mission
Lesotho 2002 elections
UPEACE
Lecture 15
Jamaica e-Governance
programme
• Facilitation of access to information
and knowledge, which forms the
basis of decision making eg by way
government websites, other online
sources of information
• Automating tedious tasks such as
filing tax forms, checking the status
of applications etc.
• Providing avenues for citizens to
communicate with government
officials
• Providing a mechanism for
advocacy on issues of public
interest among disparate groups
• But issues surrounding practical
delivery
Lecture 15
QuickTime™ and a
None decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Information Kerala Mission
• Aims
 Innovative ICT-based knowledge societies at the
grass roots level under the leadership of Local Self
Governments
• Activities
 Samveditha web portal of 1215 local bodies in Kerala
 Sanchitha repository of legislations, executive orders
and promulgations
 Swathantra information systems on 53 municipalities
• http://www.infokerala.org/new/
Lecture 15
Lesotho 2002 elections
• History of contested elections
 Key issue was voter registration
• 2002 elections
 South African company Arivia provided
 Sites and software
 Voter registration, including capturing of biological data and
fingerprints
• Photograph, signature and fingerprint of each voter
 Encouraged widespread acceptance of results
• But real wider issues over balance between
government efficiency and citizen’s rights
 A global issue!
Lecture 15
UPEACE (University for Peace)
• UPEACE established in Costa Rica in 1980
 First country in modern world to abolish its army
• Revitalized by Kofi Annan in late 1990s
 Worldwide programme
 Africa Programme launched 2002
 Linking of African scholars into a knowledge network
 Providing access to best international peace education
 International, multicultural and multidisciplinary
QuickT ime™ and a
T IFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see t his picture.
Lecture 15
Picture me an enemy
• 1991 war in former
Yugoslavia
• Documentary film told
through stories
 Natasa, a Serbo-Croat
from Croatia
 Tahija, a Bosniak
(Bosnian Muslim)
Quic kT ime™ and a
T IFF (Uncompres sed) decompres sor
are needed to s ee this picture.
Quic kT ime™ and a
T IFF (Uncompres sed) decompres sor
are needed to s ee this picture.
Quic kT ime™ and a
T IFF (Uncompres sed) decompres sor
are needed to s ee this picture.
• http://www.visavisproductions.
com/
Lecture 15
Conclusions
• E-Governance as being highly contested
 The rights of individuals and the rights of states
 Considerable ethical debate
• Role of G8 and UN in promoting governance
agendas
 And links with WSIS second phase
• ICT does have real potential to enhance
transparency
 But will this necessarily be in the interests of poor
people?
Lecture 15