Dear Mayor

Online Communications with Local Governments in Hangzhou and Nanjing

Bibliographic Data

ID3839009
AuthorsKathleen Hartford (Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume19
Issue2
Pages217-260
Publication date2005-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChina Information (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0920203x05054682
OpenAlexW2104786678
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited15

E-government at the local level in China has emphasized numerous interactive features. One such feature has been the "leader's mailbox" for citizen communications with the government. In the Yangzi Delta cities of Hangzhou and Nanjing, new reform-oriented mayors have emphasized e-government as an important tool for improving governmental performance; their decisions to publish many of the "mayor's mailbox" communications online were intended to encourage grass-roots feedback, place pressure on bureaucratic agencies to change their behavior, and build a stronger popular image for local governments. The mailboxes in the two cities are managed differently, and differ in their articulation with other bureaucratic processes. Those differences may in part reflect somewhat different political priorities for the mayors, and may spell differences in the effectiveness and potential for institutionalization of this aspect of e-government. Ultimately, these mailboxes are effective because they work alongside other reforms in urban governance. By eliciting citizen feedback and increasing intragovernmental transparency, the mailboxes have become important information sources for government managers, but they are more likely to be effective in improving bureaucratic-administrative operations than in fostering participatory-democratic developments or progress towards civil society

Bureaucracy · Citizen journalism · Democracy · Government (linguistics · Local government · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Transparency (behavior · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · E-Government and Public Services · Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting · Law · Public Administration

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