Abstract
Perhaps nowhere is the cleavage between novel forms of democratic engagement and the inertia of more entrenched and traditional practices greater than in the realm of fiscal planning and budgeting and the manner by which governments undertake and seek approval for their spending plans. On the one hand, over the past decade there have been widening calls for more participative experimentation in budgeting exercises. By contrast, with respect to the fundamental secrecy and top-down decision-making inherent to the Westminster model, governments have not strayed far from traditional practices—particularly at national levels. Accordingly, fiscal federalism and corresponding tensions between localized flexibility and innovation and national-centric models of democracy and government, often more rigid and traditionally hierarchical, are key determinants of public sector adaptation as mobility expands.
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- 1.
Unlike President Obama, the Governor has been able to secure passage of his budgets via compromises with the legislature that have included structural changes to financial and oversight contracting practices that augment the direct purviews of the Governorship. See, for example,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/31/opinion/gov-cuomo-budgets-his-way.html
- 2.
With respect to Aboriginal affairs and the governance of the First Nations, the consequences of this absence of consultation (according to the First Nations) became visible for all to see in late 2012 and early 2013 with the “Idle No More” protest movement and the hunger strike of an Aboriginal Chief that would ultimately force the government into public meetings and promises of a new path going forward.
- 3.
A brief commentary, by this book’s author, further elaborates on such examples (Democratic schisms: the clash of old and new voices): http://www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca/article/?nav_id=1014
- 4.
The Premier announced his plans to retire in 2012—sparking a Party leadership contest and the January 2013 election of a new Leader, Kathleen Wynne, who was formerly sworn into the Premiership on February 11, 2013 (leading a minority government, as further explained below).
- 5.
See, for example, the National E-Health Transition Authority: http://www.nehta.gov.au/
- 6.
The formal government response was published on May 3, 2010:
- 7.
This strategy, however, denotes one of the richest examples of a digital and participatory governance strategy encompassing many central elements discussed through this book. Four guiding principles include leadership, participation, transparency, and performance. Source: http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/victorian-government-resources/government-2-0-action-plan/government-2-0-action-plan-victoria.html
- 8.
For more details of such initiatives, please see http://www.opendataday.org
- 9.
Prime Minister Harper has thus largely refused to attend First Minister’s meetings, for example, comprising Provincial Premiers and Territorial leaders.
- 10.
See, for example, Flumian’s quote reservice codesign and prosumers in Chap. 2.
- 11.
In accordance with this characterization, the federal open data effort is housed within the confines of Treasury Board, the central agency responsible for financial and managerial oversight of the Government of Canada including government-wide expenditure reviews (also housing, albeit awkwardly in this regard, the government-wide CIO Office).
- 12.
This observation includes the publicly available Integrated Business Plan for 2012–2013 as well as entering the term “cloud” in the search function of the SSC home page.
- 13.
BC is the first Canadian Province to publish its own “Gov 2.0” strategy, available here:
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Roy, J. (2013). Austerity and Federalism. In: From Machinery to Mobility. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7221-6_8
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