Since the middle of the 1990-s governments around the world have been executing major initiatives in order to use the vast potential of the Internet for improving and perfecting government process and participative democracy.
Government officials in Belarus do realize the importance of new developments. Their understanding of the ICT developments reflected in "informatisation" policies shows that they do not go further than creating of unified information exchange system. At the same time they regard the e-government simply as a more effective and productive way of bureaucratic structures, not as a tool for promotion of participative democracy.
Much have been said about the power f governments over cyberspace. But as L. Lessig pointed out in his "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace", architecture and technologies may impose rules upon government as well. And if ICT developers realize that, they can influence the situation. Political implications of site creation technologies and ideologies (Site Generations developed by PWÑ Consulting) prove that architecture itself may predetermine democratic shifts in using ICT technologies by governments.
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Original URL — http://imsconference2002.spbu.ru/02-enGOVf05.htm |