Democracy and Bureaucracy in the Age of the Web

Abstract

The foundations for governance in an information age are developing through the World Wide Web as it becomes the principal electronic public gateway into government organizations. Governmental openness is now important to a variety of strategies for governmental reform. The Web (a) makes government more efficient; (b) facilitates the functioning of new network-like arrangements between public organizations, the private sector, and citizens; and (c) empowers citizens to play a stronger role in interacting with government. We describe the concept of organizational openness and summarize a methodology to measure it on a worldwide basis. Data from 1997 through 2000 are presented, showing rapid diffusion of the Web and variation in levels of openness, even across countries with similar levels of economic and political development. Bureaucracies adopt Web technologies as a function not of traditional diffusion processes, but of emergent institutional isomorphism. Short-term prospects for responsive government improve, but so do unrealistic expectations affecting government legitimacy.