Slovenian e-Government

rakerman writes "In its October 20th issue the Economist reports from Ljubljana that 'Slovenia may be Europe's most Internetted government', including 'holding most of its cabinet meetings online'. There is some information at the Slovenian e-government site, in particular check out their detailed strategy for e-commerce in public administration." I''ve read the article; very well done.

Comments

small, "newer" and flexible

[Vspirit]

Changing our infrastructures, Governments included, is easier in smaller organisations than larger ones. This I believe is one of the main reasons, that smaller organisations are better suited for innovations and why larger organisations follow, incorporate and acquire them in order not to become obsolete and replaced.

If major changes are to be expected in the way we live and organize ourselves, then I believe the chance for that is higher by supporting and learning from the smaller entities (on their terms), compared to start dancing with the big old lady.

Not for "old" countries

[JavaPriest]

I guess that Slovenia could make this happen thanks to it being such a "young" state. I don't know exactly how long they are independent by now but it should not be much more than ten years.

Older countries (or more generally, organizations), with a tradition of paper, will only be able to move toward e-government very slowly. Primarily because people are reluctant to change in general, but paper also makes a lot of "excuses" possible (see article). Another big issue is that a lot of people require signatures, mostly to be backed up and blame someone else in case something goes wrong. As digital signatures still aren't accepted here (in Europe) normal (paper) signatures are still required.

In my organization, some people even make paper copies of e-mails in order to classify them in an ordner...just because they have done so (classifying "normal" mail) for years!

E-govt my *bleep*

[YanIsa]

I'm from Slovenia. I can tell you that the article is a nice coup for the Slovenian govt marketing dept and pretty much nothing else.

Yes, I can find all the government departments on the net. Yes, there is an "internet ministry". Yes, they all have a nice matching spiffy web graphics. Yes, I can access all the laws online.

So what?
Can I file my tax returns via the net? No.

Can I contact govt officials via the net _and get an answer_? No.

Can I do anything via the net instead of waiting in a queue? Nope.

Did they abolish the monopoly on leased lines and voice communications, held by a company that the govt ownes? Are the voice calls and modem calls cheap? Can I choose my phone operator? No, no, and no.

To top it off, due to the 9/11 terrorist strikes the govt has now usurped the right to check all email (and other forms of communications) without a court order - a thing constitutionally possible just in a state of emergency (read war). Does the parliamentary commision that keep tabs on the police actions object? Nope.

Unfortunately, this is just another example of pretending to give more control to the public while in fact reducing it.

Yan

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Hello, Mr. Govt Man.