During the last decade of the twentieth century, there were major advances in the development of intelligent administration and governance systems - both in developed and developing countries.
New information communication technology has greatly expanded the opportunities for direct participation in policy making as well increasing the transparency of the policy making process.
The development of electronic access to the policy process creates the opportunity for the inclusion of those who historically and traditionally have experienced major obstacles to their mobility and have consequently been excluded from the policy process.
Remote communities, the poor of developing countries, women with responsibilities that tie them into specific physical localities, those on low income with highly restricted travel budgets, the disabled, older persons - for all these constituencies the prospect of electronic voting and electronic lobbying opens up new opportunities for voicing concerns and effecting their respective political agendas.
'Grey power' in the United States makes much use of the new information communication technologies in ensuring that the older persons political views are represented in the political process.
There are a number of features of new information technologies which have important political potentials and effects. New
technology opens up the prospect of communication on the basis of oculacy rather than literacy with important consequences
for the global enfranchisement of the grass roots and the poor. Similarly the asynchronicity of the new technologies reduce the
negative impact of different time zones on the bargaining capabilities of those remote from the traditional centres of power and resources.
The distributed character of the new technology - an infinite number of points of access - enables alterations in the information terrain both in terms of transmission and reception. The distributed character of the technology has opened up on-line processing of legal documents - a situation which is already found in Singapore and in the USA. The links below provide an entrance to this new and exciting
discussion
On line programs, materials and data bases:
On line working papers:
Margaret Grieco
Professor of Transport and Society
Transport Research Institute, Napier University
66 Spylaw Road, Edinburgh EH10 5BR
e-mail at m.grieco@napier.ac.uk