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Commentary: Local Government, the Internet, and Sustainability
Author(s) -
Washington Val
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12165
Subject(s) - citation , library science , government (linguistics) , state (computer science) , sustainability , political science , the internet , public administration , law , computer science , world wide web , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , biology
In their article, Sonia Royo, Ana Yetano, and Basilio Acerete attempt to measure local government commitment to sustainability goals by examining the existence and success of e-participation tools. Th eir dispiriting conclusion is that use of the Internet by municipalities—in this case, European municipalities—to engage the public on sustainability issues has been halfhearted and largely unsuccessful, even for those local governments that have signed on to a larger, high-profi le coalition eff ort. But, as the authors point out, we are still learning how the Internet can be used as a democratic tool, and it may well be that a municipal Web site is simply not a promising vehicle for the promotion of a local sustainability agenda.