ABSTRACT
The main finding of the book is that reinforced power relations come about through different mechanisms following the introduction of e-government in China. The differentiation in causal paths leading from e-government adoption to reinforcement addresses a weakness of the reinforcement theory, which is unable to account for the mechanisms, and therefore basically unable to explain the processes observed in Chengdu. In contrast, the digital governance framework enables tracing and creation of an inventory of mechanisms and through these it can explain why power relations did not change in any fundamental way when e-government was introduced into urban management and government affairs service centres. This is important for everyone who is interested in the ongoing public sector reforms in China because the mechanisms and the context necessary for them to fire indicate which levers and handles can be pulled to initiate change. Such knowledge enables strategic use of e-government by decision makers and for entrepreneurship shown by individuals within the administration.
