The Evolving Role of Non-State Actors in Digital Era Government

Abstract

Digital government theories and reforms have adopted three distinct approaches to non-government participation in state activities, emphasizing free markets, network building, and state capacity building alongside ‘citizen as user’ narratives. This paper details the implications that these varying approaches to participation have for broader debates in the field of public management on the plight of pluralistic governance. The paper also offers cautionary lessons to guide public managers as they tap the potential of digital technologies to bolster government’s problem-solving capacity — both as it is exercised using the state’s resources and in concert with non-state actors operating outside its bounds.