The new public management, e-government and the notion of 'public value': lessons from Mexico

E-government has increasingly become one of the keys government’s interests. This paper discusses egovernment within the context of governmental reforms heavily influenced by the New Public Management (NPM). The general vision of NPM supposes that the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) will enhance efficiency, policy effectiveness and democratic values (OCDE 2003). Based on the concept of ‘public value’ developed by Moore (1995), we discuss how egovernment policies impact government’s political agendas, and not only the process throughout government deliver public services. ICT, we argue, do not only change the platform used to serve public services but also the nature of these public services. Our central argument is presented as follows: if egovernment is strictly following the NPM prescriptions (efficiency and accountability), there is a risk of missing the social and political implications associated with the use of ICT in the public sector. Works addressing such other social and political values are the exception in the literature of e-government. Thus, in this paper we aim to open the way for a deeper discussion of the effects of e-government policies on public values. We draw on an empirical case from Mexico to illustrate our main arguments.