Turbulence in the Relationships Between Governments and High Tech Firms

IF 1 4区管理学 Q3 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences Pub Date : 2023-12-20 DOI:10.24193/tras.si2023.10

M. D. de Vries

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

"The turbulent times governments all over the world are facing include the transition towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in which the confluence of new technological developments result in major challenges for national as well as local governments. The confluence of the newly developed technologies is only possible if huge amounts of data can be stored and transmitted at high speed in, among others, hyperscale data centers (HDCs). This paper focuses on the complex relation that arises between local governments - on whose soil the HDCs are built - and the high tech companies planning and building the HDCs. This relationship is characterized by an unequal playing field with local governments being no match for the high tech industry. The latter sometimes have annual turnovers 1000 times higher than those of local governments and impose rather different demands on decision making processes than governments do. They impose restrictions on the decision-making process that result in processes running counter to principles of good governance and, if exposed, result in a deterioration of institutional trust among the population. This is illustrated through a case study in which a small municipality in the Netherlands was faced with an offer from Meta to make a huge investment in a hyperscale data center, provided the whole process towards the permits and the approval of the building would remain secretive. Shown is an imposed secrecy by the high tech firm and information revealed about the process afterward through the Freedom of Information Act disclosing many irregularities. This changed the existing trust in the municipality into complete distrust at the end of the process and eventually forced the High Tech company to withdraw. The relevance of this paper for this special issue is that the case study shows that the new developments towards the 4IR require capacitated, knowledgeable and decisive local governments, which momentarily are not even present in a developed country like the Netherlands."

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政府与高科技公司之间关系的动荡

"世界各国政府都面临着动荡的时代，其中包括向第四次工业革命（4IR）的过渡，新技术的发展给国家和地方政府带来了重大挑战。只有在超大规模数据中心（HDC）等设备中高速存储和传输海量数据，才能实现新技术的融合。本文重点探讨地方政府（超大规模数据中心就建在地方政府的土地上）与规划和建设超大规模数据中心的高科技公司之间的复杂关系。这种关系的特点是竞争环境不平等，地方政府不是高科技产业的对手。后者的年营业额有时是地方政府的 1000 倍，对决策过程的要求也与政府不同。它们对决策过程施加限制，导致决策过程与善治原则背道而驰，一旦暴露，就会导致民众对机构的信任度下降。有一个案例可以说明这一点：荷兰的一个小市镇面对 Meta 公司提出的巨额投资超大规模数据中心的提议，条件是整个许可和建筑审批过程必须保密。这就是高科技公司强加的保密措施，以及事后通过《信息自由法》披露的有关该过程的信息，其中披露了许多违规行为。这使得人们对市政当局原有的信任在整个过程结束时变成了完全的不信任，并最终迫使高科技公司退出。这篇论文与本特刊的相关性在于，案例研究表明，4IR 的新发展需要有能力、有知识和有决断力的地方政府，而在荷兰这样的发达国家，目前甚至还不存在这样的地方政府"。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION-

CiteScore

2.10

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

25 weeks

期刊介绍： TRAS represents a collective effort initiated by an international group aimed at boosting the research in the field of public administration in a country where during the communist regime there was no tradition in this sense. TRAS represents a unique source of specialized analysis of the ex-communist space, of the transition processes to democracy, of the reform of public administration, and of comparative analysis of administrative systems. The general topic covered by the articles in the Review is administrative sciences. As a result of an interdisciplinary, modern approach, the articles cover the following specific themes: Public management, public policy, administrative law, public policy analysis, regional development, community development, public finances, urban planning, program evaluation in public administration, ethics, comparative administrative systems, etc. TRAS encourages the authors to submit articles that are based on empirical research. From the standpoint of the topic covered, TRAS is lined up with the trends followed by other international journals in the field of public administration. All articles submitted to the Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences have to present a clear connection to the field of administrative sciences and the research (both theoretical and empirical) should be conducted from this perspective. Interdisciplinary topics related to organizational theory, sustainable development and CSR, international relations, etc. can be considered for publication, however the research needs to address relevant issues from the perspective of the public sector. Articles which use highly specialized econometrics models as well as studies addressing macro-economic topics will not be considered for evaluation. The decision on whether a certain topic falls within the interest of TRAS belongs to the editors and it is not connected with the overall quality of the work submitted.