Implementing e-government in hard times: When the past is wildly at variance with the future

Abstract

The article aims to contribute to the debate on the role of e-government in spurring the reorganisation of the public sector and broader economic development in a period when financial austerity reduces the public resources available to drive change. The overarching argument here is that the past constrains what can be done in the future. In other words, the administrative patterns and attitudes of old determine the speed and breadth of the new practices championed by the stimulus packages. The paper analyses the Digital Agenda launched in 2012 by Italy's bipartisan government and discusses the consequences of this path dependency 'on the ground'. Our findings indicate that the potential of e-government as an engine of growth and a driver of large-scale change is thwarted by the policy makers overplaying of cost-cutting targets rather than transformational targets.