ABSTRACT
Information and communication technology (ICT) has been a major research focus in public administration for over two decades. ICT has come to be seen as central to the improvement of productivity and better delivery of services in the public sector. The use of ICT, such as the Internet, is becoming increasingly widespread among businesses and the general public. ICT undoubtedly holds great potential for increasing the efficiency and quality of government services and for broadening public access at the same time. Some literature suggests that as front-line or street-level employees lose their discretion in favor of ICT systems, power shifts to systems designers and analysts. Frank Fischer further argues that ICT leads to political transformations that result in creation of competing political and economic elites, technocratic strata of experts, and a depoliticized mass public. The optimistic view of ICT as the agent of transformation is not without its cautionary detractors.
