This article is written by Pablo Roca, Political Science and E-government Professor, Universidad del Pacífico, Universidad Autónoma del Perú, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas.
- The problem: In Peru, some government and social indicators are going in the right direction, whereas others present a worse picture.
- Why it matters: Government strategies have been failing to deliver satisfactory public services, leading to a growing disaffection among Peruvians.
- The solution: Challenge the narrow concept of good governance as good economic outcomes or index scores and discuss a broader understanding of good governance in developing countries.
Every government needs a strategy to achieve well-being at national and local levels. However, in some countries like Peru, politicians have been failing in this critical task. As citizens interested in a better government, we need to critically review what we are asking and expecting from our representatives.
Populist rhetoric of legislators has been growing as an answer to union demands. However, it is crucial to avoid reducing political activism and advocacy to simply asking for more public spending. For instance, teaching or healthcare worker syndicates might be happy when there is a salary increase; police officers or public servants might be happy if they receive more benefits. However, the general interest is a broader concept: it goes beyond the salaries of public employees or social benefits. It is crucial to maintain a balanced budget and have prudent fiscal management.
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Patrimonial, rent seeking or even corrupt legislators utilise a populist rhetoric around the public budget approval as a tool to increase their popularity or gain people’s support. However, more public spending does not mean greater satisfaction. Citizens in Peru currently do not approve of their Congress — as can be seen in the polls —in which less than 9% approve of the legislature’s performance in the last year. In fact, irresponsible budget management could lead to a rising public debt. Former economy ministers in Peru expressed their concerns about this when the budget deficit in the country reached 2.8% in the last year (above the fiscal goal of 2.5%).
An increased say for citizens
As citizens we should be aware that public allocations must be aligned with revenues and a reasonable level of public debt. If we ask for more spending, we should be proposing new ways to generate more revenues, increasing productivity or innovating. Regarding economic recovery and growth, citizenship organised in associations of civil society (in a country where political parties are extremely weak or nonexistent) could take advantage of an open government agenda to develop a more participatory and proactive culture. We can use open data platforms to balance power and tackle corruption but also to propose new evidence-based solutions to wicked problems.
I propose combining the E-Government's agility, efficacy and transparency with better citizen engagement strategies to make people feel and perceive themselves as a critical part of the decision-making process.
Consequently, a stronger and more democratic economy should be based on responsible and prudent citizenship. Citizens’ oversight, monitoring and engagement need to demand increased social justice and effective public services. It also needs to be based on critical and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking to explore and propose new public interventions to achieve more with less (in the context of economic recession). Moreover, a sustainable government requires replacing old ways of market interventions (investing in poorly managed public organisations) with appropriate incentives and a regulatory framework to promote a circular economy in small and medium businesses, big companies, entrepreneurship and innovative ways to protect the environment when productivity rises.
Let’s factor in the other 2 E’s: economy and engagement
Lastly, technology can be a powerful ally in this path of increasing citizen participation to ensure economic and environmental goals. Peru's position in the last OECD Digital Government Index (DGI) — 59th in 193 countries — shows that it is possible to implement effective initiatives and make improvements regarding digital matters. However, we should not be happy or comfortable with these results when the perception of the economy, insecurity, corruption and public officials’ performance are at an extremely low level.
The question that arises is how to transform the achievement of the DGI or E-Government survey into a broader remit that includes the well-being of all Peruvians. If a digital government promises more effective bureaucracies with a user-centred approach that saves time and money for citizens and public employees, why do Peruvians’ perceptions about their life conditions not improve at the same pace as indexes and indicators?
I propose combining the E-Government's agility, efficacy and transparency with better citizen engagement strategies to make people feel and perceive themselves as a critical part of the decision-making process. Eliminating the PASO (an electoral reform introduced in 2019 as part of a major political reform proposed by a committee of experts with the aim to strengthen political organisations) and the impunity in the legislature (from 119 cases of alleged infractions in two years analysed by Congress’s Ethic Committee, just 13 ended in effective sanctions) has reinforced the idea of a political class distanced from the people's voices and demands.
Engaging citizens more is not only a more participatory course of action but also a more effective one, considering user-centred alternatives to strengthen democracy and improve government and economic performance to stimulate better results in the overall equation.
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(Image credit: Unsplash)
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