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The Internet provides a powerful tool for reinventing local governments. It encourages transformation from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm, which emphasizes standardization, departmentalization, and operational cost‐efficiency, to the "e‐government" paradigm, which emphasizes coordinated network building, external collaboration, and customer services. Based on a content analysis of city Web sites and a survey of Web development officials, this article shows that many cities are already moving toward this new paradigm. These cities have adopted "onestop shopping" and customer‐oriented principles in Web design, and they emphasize external collaboration and networking in the development process rather than technocracy. The article also analyzes the socioeconomic and organizational factors that are related to cities' progressiveness in Web development and highlights future challenges in reinventing government through Internet technology.

"Appendix of subjects on which disallowance and surcharges have been made by district auditors in the accounts of local authorities": vol. for 1903-1904, p. 157-168. ; Mode of access: Internet.

This is a conference paper. ; Five years after the start of democratic government in South Africa, local government structures in the Eastern Cape are beginning to take over responsibility for the delivery of basic water services from central government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and village water committees (VWCs). This shift in responsibility has forced NGOs, like the Mvula Trust, to examine their modus operandi and the appropriateness of their existing partnerships with community structures. This paper documents the experience of the Mvula Trust in the Eastern Cape on several programs in which partnerships with new local government bodies are developing. Particular reference is made to the Eastern Cape Premier's Office programme, the Irish Aid Model Project programme and the DANIDA Contract facilitation programme. The challenges, benefits and problems of working with local government are assessed, and recommendations made as to how more effective partnerships can be developed in the future.

The general philosophy of Local Government reform Professor Mills has argued, is "decentralized administration, controlled by a democratic participating society at the community level" (Mills 1974: 9). Along similar lines, Jones (1996: 10) has also argued that for local government reforms to be successful, they have to incorporate at least the following three policy initiatives relating to public participation: effective citizen participation in all transactions that affect their lives and life chances; systems of co-managing, co-guiding, co-steering and partnerships within and throughout communities; and capacity building throughout the system to solve a range of community needs and problems. In line with this, and for purposes of this study, public participation is defined as the involvement of members of civil society in the activities of local government, whereby citizens are given genuine control over decisions that affect their lives. Public participation, thus defined, is characterized by the following advantages (Jones 1998: 63; Girvan 1995): economic value; control; rootedness; transparency; and solidarity. Despite these advantages, the level of public participation in the Jamaican Local Government has been very minimal. The paper then discusses some reasons underlining the lack of public participation in Jamaican local government.