Reconfiguring Power, Citizenship, Society

Abstract

Power has been a topic of long-standing debate about the impact of computerisation. Advocates of the use of ICTs in government have often imagined the technologies heralding in a new era of democratisation, citizen participation and the flattening of power, whereas others have equally worried that the technologies will bring about greater centralisation of power into fewer hands. Yet others have argued that it is not the technologies that we should be concerned with, as they are politically neutral, rather it is the political actors which enrol technological devices for their political ends. While this characterisation of the debate is somewhat simplified, understanding the contribution of e-government to changing configurations of power is more complex, multi-layered, contingent and nuanced than many previous incursions have imagined.