icegov2012 proceedings

Anti-Corruption Online Monitoring Systems in Brazil
Ricardo Matheus
University of São Paulo
Araújo street, 124. São
Paulo – SP – Brazil
+55(11) 7227-7521
ricardomatheus
@gmail.com
Manuella M Ribeiro
Fundação Getúlio Vargas
Araújo street, 124. São
Paulo – SP – Brazil
+55(11) 7633-1678
maiamanuella
@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Since the development of electronic government, the main area
using information and communication technologies in
governments were financial control and tax payment. However,
recently, this scenario has been changing and new forms of ICT
have been used. One of this new form is the anti-corruption online
monitoring systems. It is a new channel where all of information
about governments is published on transparency portals and there
is a complex system to receive inquires and charges, kind of
ombudsman through the Internet. It was conducted an exploratory
study of sub-national initiatives from Court of Accounts to find
initiatives and a structured review of websites. The States Courts
of Accounts are the entity responsible to control State
Governments in Brazil. The final considerations reveals what are
the limits and challenges of anti-corruption online monitoring
systems have in terms of technological use, as web 2.0, social
networks and others innovations perceived on the international
literature review.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
J.1 [Computer Applications]: Administrative Data Processing –
government
General Terms
Management, Theory.
Keywords
Anti-Corruption, Electronic Government, Electronic Governance,
Latin America, Brazil.
1. INTRODUCTION AND
CONTEXTUALIZATION
The Federative Republic of Brazil is the biggest country in South
America, with around 190 million of habitants spread in
8.514.876 km2 [1]. Brazil is also the first economy of South
America and the 7th of the world [2]. The capital is Brasilia,
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ICEGOV '12, October 22 - 25 2012, Albany, NY, USA
Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1200-4/12/10...$15.00
419
José Carlos Vaz
University of São Paulo
Araújo street, 124. São
Paulo – SP – Brazil
+55(11) 2174-6800
vaz
@usp.br
Cesar A de Souza
University of São Paulo
Araújo street, 124. São
Paulo – SP – Brazil
+55 (11) 3091-5892
calesou
@usp.br
situated at the very center of the country, but the biggest and most
economically dynamic city is São Paulo, at the Southeast. The
country is divided in 26 States and 5.565 cities [1], which are
federative units – which mean they are autonomous and have their
own Legislative and Executive powers. The cities became
autonomous after the Constitution of 1988, which marked the end
of military dictatorship in the country, after 21 years. It is
interesting to notice that, during the design of the same
Constitution, it was tried to establish a parliamentary system, but
the population, through a plebiscite held in 1993, chose the
Presidential system of government.
Recently, the Association of Brazilian Magistrates, pointed out at
"Confidence Barometer in the Brazilian Institutions", that two of
the three institutions with the worst ratings are linked to the
Legislature [3]. This fact shows how necessary is to open
Legislative Power and produce better governance of this actions
and, recently, several public policies towards the idea of social
control are reconfiguring relationships between state, society and
market [4, 5]. The State is not seen anymore in Brazil as a
promoter of policies top-down approach, but a mediator of social
relations, with policies built collectively [5]. The society is called
to be responsible also for the policies pursued by the government,
and this space is that the concept of governance is gaining
strength, the possibility of connectivity and transparency in
government.
Some of these innovations are from the use o ICTs in public
administration, the e-government, and close impact of the
government bureaucracy re-engineered during the State Reform in
the 80’s and 90’s. On the Legislative Power, the wave of
modernization came through the 'Interlegis Program' [6] focused
on modernization and integration of Legislature at federal, state
and municipal levels. Its modernization improved public policies
to promote more transparency and interaction of that Power with
society. With the ICTs on the legislative power, the scenario
changed some States Courts of Accounts (SCAs), where computer
applications and software were created and offered to citizens the
possibility of social control improvements of government actions,
increasing chances of corruption combating. Our goal in this
article is to find the limits and challenges of anti-corruption online
monitoring systems have in terms of technological use, as web
2.0, social networks and others innovations perceived on the
international literature review.