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E-governance and Citizen Information 128 Catalonia in the International Context...proximity to the citizenry and improving management efficiency. Thus, in recent years a diverseand large number of policies have been enacted in this area (Jordana et al, 2003).The fact that ICTs do not require specific powers – with the exception of policies regulatingthe telecommunications market – has justified part of this spread of public policies, which atthe same time have been linked to proposals for administrative reform.Parallel with these actions, a debate about the causes and results of the spread of technologyis emerging. Based on empirical evidence, many authors point out that the degree of economicdevelopment of the territories conditions the spread of ICTs; in other words, the wealthiest territoriesshow a greater penetration of new technologies. However, should also be said that thespread of technology is not linear and homogenous but that each case – or groups of cases withcommon characteristics – show different results (Guillén and Suárez, 2001; Welp, 2004; Milner,2002; Castells and Himanen, 2002). Public policies do not have a linear effect either – an aimis planned and the expected result is obtained – but other variables exist (the users, the contexts,the actors intervening in the definition of the initiatives) that influence the end result.For example, the gap that can – and often does – open up between the availability of infrastructureand technology and its effective use, and even between its use and the obtainingof the greatest efficiency (Fernández and Welp, 2003).In the context of increasing globalisation, there is a debate about the tendency of politicalsystems to follow a pattern that leads to differences being increasingly less important. Whilstthe supporters of the theories of divergence state that various institutional contexts producediverging results, the supporters of convergence state that political systems tend to be increasinglysimilar. The divergence theorists suppose that public policies tend to reinforceand reproduce a pattern of effective performance or path dependence (Pierson, 1995 and2002; Hall, 1993). Meanwhile, the convergence theorists, for their part, state that the globalisationof markets, in general, and the existence of supranational areas, like the EU, in particular,stimulate convergence in the design of public policies and in their results (Thatcher,2000).In the specific field of the promotion of ICTs in public Administration, a third group of authorsstates that the adoption of technology, for example in the development of governmental portals,has become a global tendency. However, it is also stated that very often these policiesonly reinforce the pattern of already existing actions. In brief, for these authors a process ofconvergence has taken place in practice but not in the results, which are conditioned by theinstitutional context and, specifically, by the degree of autonomy of their bureaucracies(Wong and Welch, 2004). With all these elements – global changes that redefine the role ofgovernments and the introduction of new technologies and administrative reforms that appealto the change of Public Administration – a transformation is beginning towards what wehave called Network Administration.http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic
E-governance and Citizen Information 129 Catalonia in the International Context...In this situation, we propose to analyse e-governance in the international context. We shallpresent “the state of play” in three regional governments: Scotland, Emilia-Romagna andQuebec. We shall carry out the analysis comparing them with the Catalan case – analysedin the first part of this report – in order, ultimately, to derive some conclusions. To summarise,with the comparative study we are seeking to identify:a) whether or not there is a global tendency towards convergence in processes of technologicalinnovation and administrative change; and within this, b) to what extent a transitiontowards a new form of Network Administration, which between the different case studiescould have differential characteristics, is detectable. We shall consider, as we have done inthe case of Catalonia: the structure and function of public Administration; the innovation andintervention strategies of the private sector in the co-management of public policies in thisarea, and the relationship with the citizen that is established through these processes.The comparison will be carried out following the axes previously proposed and taking intoaccount the peculiarities of each region, such as the degree of power they have, the specificcharacteristics of their bureaucracies and the ideological orientation of their governments,in order to analyse in an exploratory manner the possible influence of some ofthese elements on the configuration of different “models” for the development of electronicgovernance.The regions chosen present similarities – in terms of their level of development and powers– and differences – in relation to history, political and institutional contexts and the distributionof powers between the regional and local government level – that allow us tocontrast the cases. Structurally they are similar territories in terms of population (Scotlandand Emilia-Romagna have close to 4.5 million inhabitants, and Catalonia and Quebecaround 7 million) and all are located in developed regions. The cases diverge in terms ofthe processes by which they have acquired their powers and also in respect to the distributionof these between the regional and local government levels. In Emilia-Romagna andScotland the local level has greater weight than in Quebec and Catalonia, where the regionalgovernments are stronger (an aspect evidenced in the size of their public administrations).The political parties in power and the recent history of changes of political party ingovernment also allow us to derive conclusions about the influence (or not) of the ideologicalorientation and political change in the maintenance or modification of strategies for administrativereform and technological innovation. Another variable to consider is the possible influenceof identity components in the strategy of relationships with citizens.Based on the research of Esping Andersen (1993, 2000) we can group these regions accordingto the development of different welfare sates, in accordance with the combined character-http://www.uoc.edu/in3/pic
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