Self-interest insufficient to explain the development of e-government
IT managers and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) admitted that local leaders in
the public sector tend to resist e-government reforms because the administrative changes
required to adopt the new technologies threaten their position and influence. One CIO
administrator, in describing his efforts to promote e-government in his region said,
“Many local government leaders just don’t want to cooperate because they fear the
technology or fail to see its value.” Düsseldorf is widely considered to be one of the most
advanced cities in Germany in its implementation of e-government reforms. The IT
manager for Düsseldorf expressed the sentiments of other Chief Information Officers I
interviewed, explaining that his city began down the e-government path in 1999 with a
process called the “new reform model.” The new model was based on an administrative
model in Holland. It was a commitment to Buergerdienste (serving the citizen) and a
movement away from the principle of “gesetzen vorgaben” (strictly following the law).
The change that led to e-government was “fundamentally a cultural change and a cultural
issue. Prior to the 1999 reforms, those in the bureaucracy saw themselves as superior to
the citizen. The reforms attempted to reduce this top-down, hierarchical thinking. It was
an effort to make the citizen equal to the state. And it was a process that was resisted at
first.” Labor union representatives also acknowledged that the job cuts associated with e-
government reform is a central concern to public sector employees. The national head of
the IT division of Ver.di
, the largest public sector union in Germany, acknowledged that
many of her members were concerned about e-government reforms because she said,
“Although e-government is being sold as a tool of participation and democracy, it has
typically been used to simply reduce personnel.” The local public sector union leader in
13
Ver.di is the largest public sector trade union in Germany, representing over two million workers.
19
E-government in Germany 19
Convention