Information and Communication Technology and Public Innovation : Assessing the ICT-Driven Modernization of Public Administration

The modernization of public administration is a recurring theme on the political and public agenda in many countries. Modernization presupposes innovation. However, is an innovative public administration a contradiction in terminis? If we look at the practice of public administration, and evaluate - from an evolutionary perspective - how public administration has transformed itself during the last 40 years, we actually see a variety of radical and incremental changes. Hence, innovation does take place. This book clearly demonstrates how public administration organizations try to adapt to changing circumstances in their environment in order to secure their legitimacy. At the same time we see that public administration tries to respond and anticipate to new technological developments as well as to make use of them. In many countries e-government has become the symbol of the way in which ICT has penetrated in the nerves of ministries, local and regional government and all kinds of agencies. In this publication, a number of case studies have been presented in which different kind of ICT-driven innovations have been described and analyzed.