The Role of the Information Society in Promoting a Better and a More Democratic Governance
Abstract
One of the major shifts that our society has witnessed in the past few decades is the paradigm shift from traditional bureaucracies to network arrangements in policy making and service delivery. This paper explores the New Governance as a paradigm shift in Public Administration with an emphasis on the democratic aspect of it. Approaching the New Governance from an Open Systems Theory perspective, this paper argues that the advent and the widespread use of ICTs and the “infosphere” – and the “information society” that has emerged from it – would help in promoting a better and a more democratic governance by providing new channels to put democracy into practice. This paper also acknowledges the dark side of the “infosphere” and the ethical challenges that have come along with it.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v7i4.12018
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