Admission requirements
Not applicable
Description
This course explores digital interactions between governments and citizens. Focusing on policymaking, digital-era governance, and smart governance, the course will pay special attention to managing participatory processes for better public service delivery.
There are two ways to understand digital governments and how they use digital information in public services. First, governments may collect citizen data and utilize digital technology to improve efficiency and – ultimately – optimize public services (modernization). Second, governments may involve citizens in coproducing data and digital public service delivery (democratization). The course will combine both perspectives.
In the course, students will learn about different types of interactions between civil servants and citizens (e.g., coproduction, participation, etc.), as well as broader normative issues associated with government-citizens relations (e.g., democracy, citizenship). To explore these various aspects, the course draws on different research domains and follows an interdisciplinary approach (e.g., Public Administration, Information and Communication Sciences...).
Course objectives
At the end of this course, students are able to:
Describe theories of how the rise of e-government has changed digital government-citizen relations in terms of public service use and citizen participation;
Put forward evidence-based arguments on the debate regarding street-level and system-level bureaucracies;
Explain the concept of ‘coproduction’ and the role of digital technology in coproduction practices across a range of governmental domains and service areas;
Critically evaluate current debates (e.g., privacy, filter bubbles, and the digital divide) on the potential of big data to improve public services and citizen participation.
The course will raise questions around the democratic dimension of services while also looking at the provision side (civil servants) of the process. There are also different benefits for students from different programs:
ICT in Business Students can gain a better understanding of the service dimension of the technologies and how citizens respond and shape these technologies in the political context.
MPS Students can gain insights into the technologies currently being implemented by government, the effects on democratic and co-creation processes and the opportunities for better management.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
The course follows an in-person lecture approach, in which the instructor will also try to involve the students to have an active participation. During the lectures, readings (such as journal articles, policy documents, etc.) will be discussed.
. Course load
4 tutorial meetings of 75 minutes each.
4 sets of self-study materials of approximately 2 hours each.
3 hours of examination
Assessment method
Assignment 1: Essay (50% of final grade)
Exam (50% of final grade)
You need to have a 5.5 in both the essay and the exam to pass the course. No compensation possible.
For MPS students only: an extended/additional essay assignment is offered for 2 extra EC points.
The teacher will inform the students how the inspection of and follow-up discussion of the exams will take place.
Reading list
There is no general coursebook available for this course. Readings will be available on Brightspace for each course modules. Materials can include journal articles, slides, reports, and even multimedia.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
Programme Co-ordinator: ms. Esme Caubo
Instructor: Dr. Julián Villodre
Remarks
There is only limited capacity for external students. Please contact the programme Co-ordinator
Also register for every course in Brightspace. Important information about the course is posted here. PA and GofS students: please register under 4353DGCI3 in Usis to be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.