Governanca democratica na era da informacao

Abstract

This article investigates how e-government could potentially enhance the political scope of the public sphere, in terms of reinforcing the efficiency and accountability of the State with the support of the civil society. It focuses on discussing the use of information technology in relation to the diminishingcosts of incentives toward civil society engagement on the discussion of the public policy agenda. It argues that e-government mechanisms could potentially reinforce civic participation, which, by extension, could dialectically facilitate government restructuring, influencing organizational change in the State apparatus. Next, taking the Brazilian case as a proxy, it presents a comparative analysis of 40 important national web portals using the UN/Aspa criteria. In addition to this analysis, it presents some results collected from in-depth interviews and focus groups, complemented by results from aspatial survey on digital divide. It concludes by proposing a strategic plan for e-government to overcome the serious hindrances to its full development.