Information Technology , Democratic Governance , and Corruption

Stuart Thorson 한국정책학회 1997 국가사회정보화방향 국제심포지움 Vol.- No.-

The Intelligent Cities Project Report

Stuart Thorson 한국지역복지정책연구회 1997 지역복지정책 Vol.11 No.-

From Adversaries to Partners : Academic Science Engagement with North Korea

Stuart J. Thorson,Hyunjin Seo 동아시아재단 2013 Global Asia Vol.8 No.2

Engaging North Korea : Building Partners Through Academic Science

( Stuart Thorson ),( Hyun Jin Seo ) 경남대학교 극동문제연구소 2014 ASIAN PERSPECTIVE Vol.38 No.1

Science can serve as an attractive mode for trust building and cooperative engagement between countries where formal political or diplomatic relations have been strained or are nonexistent. In this article we discuss some conditions and constraints for bilateral academic science engagement and suggest how such engagement might help to build trust between the United States and North Korea. We analyze longitudinal data on North Korea``s diplomatic ties and international academic collaboration as well as US public opinion data to provide context for US-North Korea science engagement. We argue that bilateral academic science engagement should be attractive to the United States and North Korea and suggest a set of policy measures that might facilitate such engagement. KEYWORDS: science engagement, US diplomacy, US-North Korea relations.

The Intelligent Cities Project Report

Thorson, Stuart 경희대학교 지역문제연구부 1997 지역개발연구 Vol.4 No.-

This study begins to explore how subnational units of governments -cities, regions, provinces, states, localities - are facing the new challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of the global information economy and the world-wide trend toward devolution of political authority away from national governments. Many have argued that a new global information economy is replacing the industrial economy which has dominated most of the twentieth century. The global marketplace and its technological infrastructure reflect shifts from manufacturing and distributing physical products to the development of products that are differentiated only by the information that is coupled with them (in fact, often the information is itself the product) Further, these information products are delivered through a combination of advanced digital networks that cannot be contained within geographic borders. Many governments (like all industries) are struggling with massive internal reengineering in relation to technology to improve efficiencies and deliver government services electronically to citizens. Economic benefits accruing to governments from technology integration have historically been viewed in terms of cost savings and return on investment from specific projects. However, in an exploding information based economy governments must deal with a complex set of issues including regulation, deregulation, licensing,incentives, and risk management among the constellation of providers and carriers (networks, content, cable, broadcast, wireless voice and data, and telephone), Investment in intense 'leadership capital' to address these problems is likely to create an environment that balances competitiveness, investment, innovation and research where electronic commerce can flourish. The desire for competitive advantage in this new economic model is driving the need for governments to understand, adapt to, and exploit the emerging global information economy. Our research suggests that the successful governance of cities and other subnational jurisdictions will require both sophisticated information technology (IT) strategies and fundamental rethinking of associated public policy. The careful articulation of goals by government leaders seems necessary to the development of rights and responsibilities, advanced research, standards, security, privacy, ethics, and social processes for adoption and use of IT infrastructure. In addition, there will be a need for new cross-boundary local, national, regional, and international cooperation to provide an integrated regulatory climate in which information based economies can flourish. Successful cooperation will depend upon the development and deployment of reliable measures of the economic impact of information technology on subnational government units. To address these issues, we reviewed both theoretical and research literature that deals with governance and information technology. What emerges from our examination is a complex picture: · Despite the significance of the global information economy, few if any substantiated models exist to identify and measure economic benefits to governments from investment in information technology. · Governments are, in the literal sense, becoming more virtual. That is, they must in many cases govern without being physically present. · A growing body of literature addresses information technology in the industrialized West, but very few evaluative studies were found on the impact of information technology in the development process in the developing world, as well as between the developed and developing worlds. · The current global changes challenge the conventional wisdom that developing countries must follow the same path to economic development as that experienced by industrialized nations, that is, from agriculture to manufacturing to high-tech services. In fact, there are examples of governments in developing nations that are proceeding in very different ways. · The diffusion of information and technology has the potential for increasing international tensions when the benefits of the application of technology accrue to one region or government at the expense of others. · The free flow of information and wide diffusion of information technology across national boundaries have already begun to create new tensions in, for example, the area of intellectual property rights. · In many ways the new global labor force operates beyond the traditional reach of governmental entities. · According to the United Nations, the development of national information systems and the capability of handling information are central to economic and social progress, growth and competitiveness, both for the generation of new knowledge and for its application in the process of development. - Many predict that information technology is likely to change the bases of political power and social class and indeed the world order of thriving economies. Our findings clearly indicate the need to develop a body of research that will provide new models and frameworks for action in response to information technology and governance. Such models can provide a yardstick for governments as they go through the planning and policy making processes. More specifically, the next research agenda should address the following questions: · What are the varying social, economic, cultural and political factors affecting the enactment of information policies in both the developing and industrialized worlds? · What are the leading and best practices in regional and international efforts at policy cooperation and coordination as regions consolidate into economic blocs? · What are the economic benefits, both short and long term, of lnvesting in information technology in different government sectors, at the national, regional and local levels? · How should cities and regions throughout the world use information technology to improve performance and reshape the social fabric of the city of the twenty-first century? · How can leaders develop contextually appropriate technology strategies? At what stage of social and economic development and in what specific political setting are particular issues most critical and what technological steps are most appropriate for a government? · What is a blueprint of best practices and how can governments move forward in concrete, definitive ways to link transformation strategies with technology strategies? The Global Affairs Institute and the Institute for Electronic Government will continue their collaborative relationship with the intention of further exploring and delinearing models for change.

Democratic Governance in the Information Age : Citizenship and Electronic Government

( Stuart Thorson,Jong Woo Han ) 한국행정학회 1998 한국행정학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.1998 No.-