Springer A Critical Impulse to e-Governance in the Asia Pacific

This book offers a comparative study of the vision, ability and dynamism shown by governments in Asian Pacific countries engaged in the distribution of e-governance. Creates a platform for mutual learning, and offers a dispassionate evaluation of e-projects. Review “Everyone who  wants to think clearly and productively about how information and communication technology may transform governance, citizenship, and political culture should read this masterful, comprehensive, yet succinct analysis of the big questions and issues involved. Professor Singh cannot tame the Internet but she can and does make the potential impacts of e-governance on democratization, individual privacy, freedom of speech, and law highly intelligible.”      David H. Rosenbloom, Distinguished Professor, School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington DC, USA “This wide ranging analysis uses concepts from philosophy, sociology, psychology and political economy to help understand how successful adoption of information and communication technology by Asian governments depends on productive coordination among government agencies, business, and civil society. It also requires a foundation of effective institutions, communication infrastructure, inter-operability across platforms,  technical skills, and wide accessibility for the potential benefits to be realized.”      Clay Wescott, Director, Asia Pacific Governance Institute, Washington DC, USA “The book emphasizes the dynamic nature of governance and the realities of its impact on development. It touches the core principles of political economy. Governments looking for answers will able to find them in this book. The chapter on the epistemological and the theoretical discourse highlights some of the fundamental flaws of conceptualising e-governance in isolation from ICT. Whilst the Australian case study highlights the theoretical debate on governance and ICT, it also provides an example of how other actors in the economy can pose a challenge to government efforts.”     Datuk Dr. Norma Mansor, Director, Social Security Research Centre, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia From the Back Cover This book presents a comparative study of the vision, ability and dynamism on the part of governments in selected Asian Pacific countries as they engage in the distribution of e-governance. Consequently, it creates a platform for mutual learning and offers a dispassionate evaluation of mega e-projects. It is an interdisciplinary study of information and communication technology within mainstream social science research and attempts to bridge the gap in empirical research between the nature of technology and the manner in which it is governed. The analysis shows that hegemonic and panoptic structures of surveillance and control may derail efforts to establish sustainable e-governance, while a liberal futuristic framework with open socio-technology networks on Big Data analytics, IPv6 and Cloud Computing may strengthen the trend towards democratizing institutions. Further, the book highlights the extraordinary energy being generated in the emerging new world through their use of the internet and suggests how governments could translate this into a new wealth of economic opportunities, social inclusion and equitable development, in addition to achieving the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals). Lastly, it emphasizes the importance of a visionary approach, which, wherever present, has been able to sustain e-governance by meaningfully linking the micro to the macro and heritage to the horizon.                                      About the Author Amita Singh is a Professor of Law and Governance at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is also the Secretary General of NAPSIPAG (Network of Asia Pacific Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Governance), a governance research network for the Asia Pacific region. She has wri