Shaun Goldfinch

Do they want it? Do they use it? The ‘Demand-Side’ of e-Government in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract Drawing on 435 telephone interviews in Australia and 498 in New Zealand, this paper investigates the ‘demand’ side of e-government. That is, we examine the use of and support for e-government measures. Whilst respondents were generally supportive of e-government on a number of measures, we find that the majority were reluctant to use some of the more sophisticated ‘transactional’ e-government measures, and less than half had even visited a government website. High users of information and communications technologies (ICT) were more likely to use e-government measures, and are more positive towards e-government in general across several measures. Similar to a number of U.S. studies, we find a ‘digital divide,’ where older age, and less education were associated with lower ICT and e-government use and support. Income level was not a statistically significant predictor in all cases however, and gender was not significant for e-government support.

Is Public Trust in Government Associated With Trust in E-Government?

The term e-government describes the use of information and communications technology, particularly the Internet, for the delivery of public services. As governments invest in e-government, there is only limited knowledge of the extent of public trust in the new electronic modes of delivery; we also know little about whether there is any relationship between trust in government and trust in e-government. This article reports on research designed to probe this issue. Drawing on survey data from Australia and New Zealand, a series of hypotheses are tested pertaining to relationships between public trust in government and e-government, in the use of information and communications technology and trust in e-government, and support for e-government investment and development. Trust in government was found not to be correlated with trust in facets of e-government service provision but was associated with support for e-government investment. More intensive Internet users were more likely to trust e-government services.

Putting the Numbers to Work: Implications for Violence Prevention*

By analysing international crisis behaviour from 1918 to 1994, this study seeks a better understanding of the factors that make interstate and intrastate crises endure and escalate into violence. Observations are crisis actors drawn from the International Crisis Behavior (ICB) dataset. The analysis indicates that an actor is more likely to use violence in a crisis if there is social unrest in that country; if it is contiguous to its main adversary in the crisis; if there is a violent trigger to the crisis; if there is an ethnic dimension to the crisis; and if the crisis is a long one. If the principal adversaries in a dyad are democratic or the actor is democratic, the likelihood of the use of violence is significantly reduced. Crises tend to be longer when there is an ethnic component and if there is violence. Taken together, the two analyses link crisis duration and outbreak of violence. Ethnicity and unrest have both direct and indirect effects on violence. The findings have implications for conflict prevention in two ways. If the factors found to be predictors of an escalation to violence are present during a crisis, then this provides an important early warning for agencies that the outbreak of violence is likely. In particular, early and decisive intervention, assuming it is successful, may be an effective method of preventing escalation to violence. Even in the absence of a crisis, the existence of such factors can be addressed through structural prevention, particularly through the development of democratic and other institutions.

Information and Communications Technology Use, E-Government, Pain and Stress Amongst Public Servants

This paper examines information and communications technologies use, work intensity, technology preference, respondent characteristics, pain and stress in 240 New Zealand public servants across six agencies. In particular, we find that four variables are the most consistent predictors of painhours using a cell phone, stress, female gender and ones salary.

The challenge of sustaining respect in a central budget agency: what can Ireland learn from New Zealand?

A primary leadership challenge facing central budget agencies is sustaining the respect of finance ministers. Lessons are drawn in this article from the corrosive effect that missed opportunities to take the lead on economic strategy and public service modernization had on the long-term respect commanded by the Irish Department of Finance, and from the strategic re-orientation the New Zealand Treasury undertook to correct its tendency to ‘over-reach’ itself in these areas following a process of capacity-building and cultural transformation in the 1980s.

The Democratic Peace and Substitutability During International Crises: Institutionalized Democracy and Foreign Policy Choices

Most and Starr (1984, 1987) argue that states are not constrained to one foreign policy option when dealing with any particular problems, and that particular policy instruments can be used in a number of different contexts and in response to different internal and external stimuli. Similar causes can lead to the use of different instruments; different stimuli can lead to the use of similar instruments. As such, studies that examine single causes and single effects are likely to produce weak and inconclusive results and provide a limited understanding of the complexities of international politics. Despite encouraging a growing body of literature focused on policy substitutability, empirical evidence for policy substitution remains mixed at best.