信息时代协调效率与公平的挑战——政府议程的英国经验

The Challenges of Reconciling Efficiency and Equity in Information Age Government Agendas:Lessons from the United Kingdom

自从20世纪90年代后期的"科网热潮"以来,世界各地的政府均推出了规模庞大的计划来运用信息通讯技术(information and communication technologies,ICTs)提供公共服务。很多这些信息时代议程将焦点集中于电子服务在推进公共服务效率方面的潜力。然而,即便电子政务服务的大规模展开无疑带来了巨大的收益,一些社会政策论者却提出,公共服务的特殊性质决定了政府机构不应简单模仿电子商务的模式。特别是,有学者出于对公平问题的高度关注,指出政府必须在公共部门电子服务传递的转变过程中负起责任,一个重要的原因是,由于获取网络技术的条件因人而异(所谓的"数码鸿沟"),则意味着那些极可能需要获得重要公共服务的人常常是那些最不能获取最新技术的人。论文着眼英国的经验——其政府致力于确保向信息时代的转变将是"一个增进社交的契机"——探讨政策制定者在信息时代政府计划中试图协调效率和公平议程时面临的挑战,并突出这两者之间的紧张关系及其体现出来的对政策制定者的深层次挑战。

Since the dot.com boom of the late 1990s,governments around the world have developed often extensive plans to use information and communication technologies(ICTs)to deliver public services.Much of the focus of these information age agendas has been on the potential for electronic service delivery to boost the efficiency of public services.Inspired by e-commerce models in which the substitution of virtual networks for physical ones enabled commercial enterprises to substantially reduce overhead costs while maintaining close contact with customers,e-government agendas have been implemented in practically every country in the world,often with strong policy input from major multi-national IT corporations.However,while the roll-out of e-government services has undoubtedly brought great benefits,some social policy commentators have suggested that the distinct nature of public services prevents a simple mimicking of e-commerce models by government agencies.In particular,there are strong equity concerns that governments need to account for in the transition to electronic service delivery in the public sector,not least because differential access to internet technologies(the so-called 'digital divide')means that those most likely to need access to key public services are often those least likely to have access to the latest technology.Drawing on the experiences of the United Kingdom-whose government committed itself to ensuring the transition to an information age would be an occasion for increasing social-this paper explores the challenges policy makers face when attempting to reconcile efficiency and equity agendas in their information age government plans and highlights significant tensions between the two that present policy makers with some deep challenges.