Suchergebnisse

Swiss politics is known for a strong involvement of society in its legislative process. In addition to the elected legislative and executive authorities, it is possible for parties, associations, and unions of citizens to share their thoughts and concerns about concrete laws and regulations. These comments find their way into the final laws and regulations to a varying extent. The implementation of eHealth services in Europe is set by basic democratic rules. Their introduction involves complex project management, including several public and nonpublic stakeholders. This case study discusses the influence of stakeholders on the legislative process through the example of the Swiss electronic health record and analyzes the influence of stakeholder groups by means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Precisely, 137 comments about the central decree on the introduction of electronic health records were studied during the political hearing procedure in 2016. The relevance of the paper shows that stakeholder options influence the legislative process. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier 1987, 1993, 2007) provides the theoretical framework for this case study. The hypotheses are deduced based on this approach (group differences, influence). First results show that public stakeholders at the federal level tend to have more influence on the development of eHealth legislation than other groups (Health, IT). General practitioners have the ability to decline a legal decree. As "veto players," they might not implement a lawful requirement in their daily practice. The federal states (cantons) have tested the functions of the electronic health records in advance and are able to give well-founded inputs. This explains their rather significant influence.

Digitalization has led to an increase in electronic government services and democratic developments. One crucial aspect in the context of e-government for democracies consists of e-voting systems, which enable citizens to vote electronically. The Swiss government recently decided on the nationwide introduction of e-voting systems. One target group, which could particularly benefit from the introduction of e-voting systems, are Swiss nationals living abroad. However, the introduction of e-voting systems entails costs, thus an estimation of the willingness of Swiss nationals abroad to make use of the possibility of voting electronically is central to the introduction of e-voting systems. In November 2017, 596 Swiss citizens living abroad completed a questionnaire addressing their experience with and assessment of e-voting systems. Results yield a very high willingness to use e-voting among the respondents. Swiss nationals living abroad seem to perceive e-voting as being very useful and efficient. In addition, the findings show that concerns about data security seem to be of high importance for potential users of e-voting systems.

Digitalization has led to an increase in electronic government services and democratic developments. One crucial aspect in the context of e-government for democracies consists of e-voting systems, which enable citizens to vote electronically. The Swiss government recently decided on the nationwide introduction of e-voting systems. One target group, which could particularly benefit from the introduction of e-voting systems, are Swiss nationals living abroad. However, the introduction of e-voting systems entails costs, thus an estimation of the willingness of Swiss nationals abroad to make use of the possibility of voting electronically is central to the introduction of e-voting systems. In November 2017, 596 Swiss citizens living abroad completed a questionnaire addressing their experience with and assessment of e-voting systems. Results yield a very high willingness to use e-voting among the respondents. Swiss nationals living abroad seem to perceive e-voting as being very useful and efficient. In addition, the findings show that concerns about data security seem to be of high importance for potential users of e-voting systems.

Digitisation processes in the public sector have led to an increase in innovative approaches for better service delivery using information and communication technology. Citizens, however, often have reservations towards e-government efforts due to concerns regarding data protection (DP) and data security (DS). This article is based on a mixed-methods design consisting of a media analysis and an online survey of 1000 respondents from the UK and Germany, which investigates the conception of DP and DS from the citizens' point of view. Results demonstrate that citizens do not fully understand the terminology used in newspaper articles concerning DP and DS. Moreover, findings show that DP and DS are of great importance to citizens. However, the perceived relevance of DP and DS varies between services, being strongest for online banking. Compared to the German citizens surveyed, the UK citizens displayed greater concerns about disclosing personal data online. Despite some differences, however, findings across both samples indicate a common lack of understanding of the two concepts DP and DS. The resulting citizen concept of DP and DS can help to mediate between politics, technology and the public in the discourse of e-government initiatives and the requirements for DP and DS. We argue that citizens' understanding of DP and DS is a prerequisite for governments to adequately address citizens' concerns regarding e-government initiatives.

Digitisation processes within the public sector have led to an increase in innovative approaches for better service delivery. The umbrella term describing the promotion of better public service delivery by means of information and communication technology (ICT) is e-government. Within the public sector, citizens and their requirements as stakeholders are particularly central. Research shows that citizens are often positive about e-government efforts. What is striking, however, is the consensus regarding the identified citizen concerns towards e-government related initiatives. Study results reveal reservations of the population towards digital e-services or e-government in general are often based on concerns that pertain to data security and data protection. Against the background of the relevance of data protection and data security, it is also noticeable that there is no common understanding in research and practice as to what is meant by the terms. We argue that one reason for the lack of consensus stems from the fact, that data protection and data security is an elusive concept because it can be approached from different perspectives. First, there is a technical perspective which is primarily led by technicians. Second, there is a legal perspective, which is primarily explored by the administration and politicians. Finally, there is the subjective perspective of citizens. The latter is often much less concrete than the other perspectives and is based on intuition rather than facts. Ensuring data security and data protection when implementing e-government initiatives is fundamental and the discussions about technical and legal perspectives are legitimate and important. At present, however, both the technical and legal perspectives fail to adequately address the fears and concerns of the population, which is also caused by a high degree of complexity of the debates in the public arena. The paper therefore aims to help conceptualise data protection and data security from the population point of view by means of an empirical survey. The study is based on an online-survey among citizens from the UK and Switzerland in which they are asked, in a broad sense, what they understand by the concepts of data security and data protection. In a narrower sense, the survey concept to investigate citizen perception of data security and data protection is derived from literature exploring data security and protection from a theoretical, technical and legal perspective. The survey results of the subjective evaluations by the citizens are then compared to the legal and technical perspectives. In a next step, a theoretical concept for data security and data protection from the citizen perspective is derived from the empirical data. Gathering responses from two different countries also allows for an assessment of differences and similarities of the perceptions of citizens with altered political and legal environments. In addition, the data allows to examine whether the understanding of data protection differs along sociodemographic characteristics. The citizen concept of data security and data protection helps to mediate between politics, technology and the population in the discourse of e-government initiatives and their accompanying requirements for data protection and data security.

Die Schweizer Politik zeichnet sich unter anderem durch einen starken Einbezug der Gesellschaft in ihre legislativen Prozesse aus. Zusätzlich zu den gewählten legislativen und exekutiven Behörden besteht auch für Parteien, Verbände und Zusammenschlüsse von Bürgern die Möglichkeit, ihre Anliegen und Bedenken in die Gesetzgebungsprozesse einzubringen, die dann in unterschiedlichem Maße Eingang in Gesetze und Verordnungen finden. Die vorliegende Fallstudie diskutiert den Einfluss von Stakeholdern auf den legislativen Prozess anhand des elektronischen Patientendossiers und analysiert den Einfluss von verschiedenen Stakeholdergruppen mittels einer quantitativen und qualitativen Analyse. Hierfür wurden Kommentare von 137 Interessengruppen zur Verordnung über das elektronische Patientendossier während des politischen Vernehmlassungsverfahrens im Jahr 2016 zusammengetragen und untersucht. Den theoretischen Rahmen dieses Beitrags stellt das Advocacy Coalition Framework dar. Die Hypothesen wurden von diesem Ansatz abgeleitet (Gruppenunterschiede, Einfluss). Die Befunde zeigen, dass verschiedene Stakeholdergruppen den legislativen Prozess in der Schweiz unterschiedlich stark beeinflussen. Weiter deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass Akteure auf Kantonsebene tendenziell einen höheren Einfluss auf die Ausgestaltung der E-Health-Gesetzgebung haben als andere Gruppen (Gesundheits-/Sozialverbände, IT).

Partizipationsprozesse werden durch Verwaltungen zunehmend digital durchgeführt. Trotz dieser zunehmenden Bedeutung an digitalen Mitwirkungsprozessen ist bisher jedoch wenig über die Beurteilung solcher Prozesse durch die Verwaltungen selbst bekannt. Mit Hilfe einer Befragung unter Städten und Gemeinden in der Deutschschweiz sollten deshalb die Erfahrungen mit digitalen Mitwirkungsprozessen, damit verbundene Chancen und Herausforderungen sowie Beurteilungen der digitalen Mitwirkung als Ganzes untersucht werden. Für die Datenerhebung wurden kleine und mittelgrosse Städte und Gemeinden in der Deutschschweiz befragt. Von den insgesamt 494 angeschriebenen Städten und Gemeinden beteiligten sich 188 an der Umfrage, was einer Rücklaufquote von 38 Prozent entspricht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Mehrheit der befragten Städte und Gemeinden zwar bereits Erfahrung mit der Teilnahme an digitalen Mitwirkungsprozessen hat, jedoch nicht mit deren Durchführung. Der Grossteil der Befragten empfand die Teilnahme oder Durchführung als zufriedenstellend und die überwiegende Mehrheit von 92 Prozent würde die digitale Mitwirkung anderen Verwaltungen weiterempfehlen. Unter denjenigen Gemeinden und Städten, welche bereits Erfahrung in der Durchführung digitaler Mitwirkungsprozesse aufwiesen, vertrat rund ein Drittel die Auffassung, dass der Einsatz einer digitalen Plattform zu einer erhöhten Akzeptanz in politischen Vorhaben geführt habe. Als häufigster Grund für die Unzufriedenheit mit der Durchführung wurde eine geringe Teilnahme der Bevölkerung genannt. Die grösste Chance im Zusammenhang mit der digitalen Mitwirkung sahen die befragten Verwaltungen bei der Möglichkeit zu Effizienzsteigerungen, gefolgt von Chancen im Hinblick auf die Standardisierung von Mitwirkungsprozessen und einer grösseren Erreichung von Einwohnerinnen und Einwohnern. Die grössten Bedenken gegenüber digitaler Mitwirkung manifestierten sich einerseits in der Sorge, dass nicht alle Teilnehmenden das digitale Instrument bedienen könnten und andererseits in den durch eine Investition in eine Software-Lösung entstehende Kosten.

Öffentliche Planungs- und Steuerungsinstrumente sollen eine ganzheitliche und wirkungsorientierte Verwaltungsführung unterstützen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Grenzen und Herausforderungen dieser Instrumente im Kontext der Schweizer Kantone vertieft betrachtet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Kantone Steuerungsinstrumente in unterschiedlichem Ausmass einsetzen und dass die Instrumente begrenzt aufeinander abgestimmt sind. Dies lässt sich erklären durch die politische, institutionelle und kulturelle Prägung der Planung und Steuerung. Darauf aufbauend diskutiert der Beitrag, wie Steuerungssysteme weiterentwickelt werden können, um dem «Zeitgeist» des 21. Jahrhunderts zu entsprechen.