1.11. Governance perspective

Theories of governance emphasize the regulatory function of the state to guide or steer our collective behaviour to achieve common interests. The governance perspective emphasizes open, transparent collaboration and participation among actors in complex, networked interrelationship, as an alternative model to hierarchical and authoritative control regimes.

In the public context, governance is about how to steer or guide society so as to best serve public interests and achieve the common good. The life cycle of legislation model of governance leads to an appreciation of the potential of legal knowledge-based systems. Focusing on the implementation phase of the legislation life cycle, it is discussed how legal knowledge-based systems can be used to improve the correctness, consistency, transparency and efficiency of deep transactions, i.e. those determinative processes of public administration requiring the application of complex legislation and regulations. Most efforts of public administration to bring transactions online have been restricted to simple transactions requiring little or no knowledge of the law, such as change of address notifications. Only when deep transactions are supported will the full potential of information and communications technology to improve the quality and efficiency of public administration be fully realized. Legal knowledge-based systems are a mature and proven technology with the capability to help realize the potential of eGovernance. (Gordon 2006)







References:

Gordon, T. F (2006). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group, Hershey, Pennsylvania, ch. Legal Knowledge Systems, pp. 1161–1166.

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