Open Government, Behavior Control, and the Privacy Risk of Digital Government

Alessandro Spina

Chapter 11 in Public Administration and the Modern State, 2014, pp 176-188 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract It is hard not to notice the active presence of governmental bodies on social networks. Public administrations are recruiting “social media” officers and adopting policies for the use of social media in order to provide more content online and engage in direct interaction with citizens. Everyone can become a “friend” on Facebook or “follow” on Twitter public institutions, start conversations, and have communications mashed up in the daily journal of the social networks. The engagement of public administrations with various social networks is often portrayed as a modernization trend toward more transparent government or Open Government. The growing online presence of these institutions is a signal that Open Government not only is about communication but is also becoming a new interactive and collaborative form of governance. In parallel and somehow less visible than this trend, public bodies are also turning to alternatives to the law for influencing behavior. This includes new techniques of government that incorporate behavior-based instruments such as technical constraints or choice architecture, social norms, and information strategies (Calo, 2014). These new regulatory tools are referred to as “nudges,” as they indicate a less coercive or direct intervention by the public institutions in the private sphere of individuals.

Keywords: Social Network; Smoking Cessation; Public Institution; Public Administration; Behavior Control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-43749-5_12

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137437495_12

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