The article discusses the governance of the digital as the new challenge posed by technological innovation. It then introduces a new distinction between soft ethics, which applies after legal compliance with legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union, and hard ethics, which precedes and contributes to shape legislation. It concludes by developing an analysis of the role of digital ethics with respect to digital regulation and digital governance.This article is part of the theme issue 'Governing artificial intelligence: ethical, legal, and technical opportunities and challenges'.
The "big data" phenomenon turns out to have a significant impact on the political-institutional sphere and on traditional channels of political representation. The latest U.S. presidential election is a clear proof. The electoral campaign which allowed Trump to get to the Presidency is just the last example showing how the use of data is changing the relationship between citizens and institutions. It would be wrong, however, thinking that the mentioned phenomenon is limited to the U.S. reality. Big data, as has been highlighted in the literature, differ from traditional data (or small data) for three main characteristics, the so-called 3Vs: volume, velocity and variety. The impact on the political institutions side is considerable, and is determined above all by the strong predictive capacity as a typical feature of big data utilization. Processing large amount of data, ends up in a close and reliable picture of what is going to happen, where the more traditional small data have always been characterized by inaccuracy and disorder. This is what data mining (i.e. the set of techniques and methodologies aimed at extracting information from large amounts of data) apply for. In a phase where the political representation circuit seems to be afflicted by an irreversible crisis, big data risks to transfigure the relationship between citizens and institutions and it is worth of a deep analysis.Summary:1. Big data and democracy. – 2. The multi-functionality of big data. – 3. Big data, populismo and representative democracy. ; El fenómeno de los macrodatos tiene un impacto significativo en el ámbito político-institucional y en los canales tradicionales de representación política. La última elección presidencial de los Estados Unidos es una prueba clara. La campaña electoral que permitió a Trump llegar a la Presidencia es solo el último ejemplo que muestra cómo el uso de los datos está cambiando la relación entre ciudadanos e instituciones. Sin embargo, sería erróneo pensar que el fenómeno mencionado se limita a la realidad de los Estados Unidos. Los macrodatos, como se ha destacado en la literatura, difieren de los datos tradicionales (o datos pequeños) para tres características principales, las llamadas 3V: volumen, velocidad y variedad. El impacto en el lado de las instituciones políticas es considerable, y está determinado sobre todo por la fuerte capacidad predictiva como característica típica de la utilización de los macrodatos. El procesamiento de una gran cantidad de datos termina en una imagen cercana y confiable de lo que sucederá, donde los pequeños datos más tradicionales siempre se han caracterizado por la inexactitud y el desorden. Esto es lo que se aplica a la minería de datos (es decir, el conjunto de técnicas y metodologías destinadas a extraer información de grandes cantidades de datos). En una fase en la que el circuito de representación política parece estar afectado por una crisis irreversible, los macrodatos corren el riesgo de transfigurar la relación entre ciudadanos e instituciones y merece un análisis profundo.
Mobile-government (m-government) is the initial stage of the development of the futuristic trends of the e-government. There are several features of advanced technologies of mobile platforms, including smartphone applications, internet facilities; integrated personal computer platforms are promising developments for incorporation into various socio-economic systems. In the same purview, the growth of the technology of m-government has been tremendous. An evolution of the practice of m-government can lead to excellent communication patterns between the government and the voting population. The current study evaluates the various features of m-government, its implementation, the process of general incorporation into the system of governance. This study focuses on the generic challenges surrounding the application of m-governments across different locations in the world, its relevance to the citizens, as well as reviewing the potential requirements and possible challenges in its implementation. This current study reviews existing literature to understand the various benefits of the technology of m-government with the primary focus of this study is to determine the methods of enhancement of government information regardless of the time and location. A detailed review of existing literature pertinent to m-government and compiles the findings on the definition, usability, challenges, and implementation of m-government was conducted. Findings suggest a need for the development of a model for technical, political and social assessment of user intent for adoption for mobile services in particular. It effectively establishes a relationship between various drivers of m-government and user acceptance.
The explosive growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) throughout the previous decade has tremendous impact on its efficient applications in Government sector. It's expedited higher interface between the general public and therefore the Government departments. within the developing countries the goal of the e-Governance is to make sure clear, smart, seamless, secure and authentic flow of knowledge, so extending honest and unbiased services to public at isolated and difficult geographical sites crossing the division barriers.
We evaluated the financial performance of government bond portfolios formed according to socially responsible investment (SRI) criteria. We thus open a discussion on the financial performance of SRI for government bonds. Our sample includes 24 countries over the period of June 2006 to December 2017. Using various financial performance measures, the results suggest that high-ratedgovernmentbonds,accordingtoenvironmental,social,andgovernance(ESG)dimensions, outperform low-ranked bonds under any cut-off, although differences are not statistically significant. These findings suggest that ESG screenings can be used for government bonds without sacrificing financial performance.
Established at the height of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the intergovernmental European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has, potentially, considerable influence over decisions on the provision of loans to Eurozone member state governments and on the recapitalization of banks. Legally and organizationally, the ESM is an international financial institution and thus its accountability can be compared to that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions. However, the ESM's governance structure and decision-making procedures show that it is deeply embedded in the Eurozone governance architecture, resulting in a dual institutional embeddedness. Focusing on vertical and horizontal accountability combined with a learning perspective on accountability, this article presents an assessment of the accountability mechanisms applicable to the idiosyncratic ESM and how these mechanisms work in practice.
This survey explores how citizens of eight European countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) feel about the technological transformations that are unfolding in their cities and workplaces and how they think their governments should deal with them. Its findings confirm a shared intuition among researchers: the fourth industrial revolution is producing a growing sense of insecurity and uncertainty among our fellow citizens. Over two thirds of Europeans of all ages believe that, if not appropriately controlled, new technologies will cause more harm than good to society in the coming decade. This belief is, in turn, leading to a growing resistance to innovation and to a general demand for more regulation. The vast majority of Europeans surveyed expect their governments to set new laws and taxes to limit automation and prevent job displacement, even if that means stopping technological progress. These results are consistent across countries, age groups, genders and ideological tendencies. Perhaps unexpectedly, Europeans are not only worried about the challenges they will face on the job market, but also about what this will mean for their social lives: over two thirds of Europeans find it concerning that people will spend more time socializing online than in person in the future. Our data also suggests that people not only worry about the incoming technological transition, but also feel that the institutions tasked with making this process manageable are failing. Most of the people surveyed feel that the educational system is not training them to tackle the challenges brought about by new technologies. This is particularly true for older university graduates who find themselves rudderless in a fast changing job market. Moreover, they also feel that the companies they work for are not adapting correctly to the new scenario and are likely to disappear in the next ten years. The growing disillusionment with the political class is reflected, in turn, in the number of ...
Democracy is rule by people, but not every individual is directly involved in governance. Therefore, open governance must be a minimum standard for democracy. The Open Government Partnership supports the practical implementation of open government. Georgia became member in 2011, and implemented numerous reforms to strengthen good governance. This paper will analyze the achievements, key challenges, and the quality of participation, of Georgian national action plans. This will strengthen the practical assessment of open governance in the development process. This paper will examine action plans, monitoring reports, the OGP flagship database, and other sources. Furthermore, readers can find possible answers to the pertinent question of what are the innovative approaches that strengthen the role of citizens in Georgia.
The Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) started operation in January 2016 in the context of severe criticism from the U.S. government and transnational civil society organizations, but with the support from major Asian and European states. The establishment of this new global governance institution (GGI) raises intriguing questions concerning legitimacy and (de)legitimation. What legitimacy challenges has the AIIB as a new institution experienced and how has the Bank tried to boost its legitimacy? What specific legitimation and delegitimation practices have been applied by what actors and with what effects? Contributing to research on legitimacy in global governance, this article develops a framework for analyzing legitimacy struggles. It highlights the dynamic relations between legitimation (practices intended to boost beliefs that the rule of a political institution is exercised appropriately) and delegitimation (practices challenging the appropriateness of a political institution's exercise of authority). The framework includes a systematic study of different agents of (de)legitimation (including GGIs, states, and nonstate actors), practices of (de)legitimation (categorized as institutional and discursive), and institutional sources of (de)legitimation (related to procedure as well as performance). The case study, based on indepth qualitative content analysis of documents produced by the AIIB and other actors, demonstrates how legitimizers and delegitimizers respond to each other. Being a new GGI, legitimacy struggles on the AIIB have to a large extent focused on its institutional design referring to (the lack of) democratic procedures. Legitimizers tend to stress technocratic performance, whereas delegitimizers are more concerned with fair performance.
