Future trends in e-governance: linking policy, practice and research

This paper will address changes in understanding governance processes thanks to new ICTs. Electronic governance, or the facilitation of governance through ICT and related tools, provides a unique opportunity for reassessment of the traditional methods, processes, and outputs of the public sector. This paper addresses some of these key opportunities and the challenges that accompany them. Practically and concretely, this paper intends to link discussions in policy, practice, and research in e-governance by addressing the challenges of developing a strategy for implementation of change towards governance structures that recognise the need to improve participatory methods in policy making whilst also assuring that exclusion - of a digital nature or otherwise - does not render the process counter-productive. It will raise questions of representativeness, meaningfulness, the role of existing institutional elements in current governmental structures, and additionally the need for political will in order to move towards a governance structure that makes use of ICT-based means.