Digital governance refers to the framework of people, policies and standards which guide our public digital properties such as websites, e-communications tools and social media.
Failing to create a governance framework will lead teams to work in isolation and duplicative efforts while missing opportunities to be more strategic and efficient, increasing risks to an agency and potentially increasing costs.
Empowering People
Digital tools provide citizens with a means of holding governments accountable and engaging in governance processes, while governments themselves can become more transparent, accountable, and inclusive.
Digital governance must reach its full potential to meet this objective, yet barriers preventing people from participating in e-government platforms, including limited internet access and digital literacy skills as well as security risks and privacy risks must also be overcome. To maximize digital governance’s full potential, the United States should partner with key market democracies by setting global digital governance standards, taking advantage of free trade agreements to leverage them in favor of unification data frameworks both businesses and citizens can take advantage of.
As well as masterfully navigating domestic political divisions and regaining its moral leadership in international affairs, the US must also adeptly manage domestic political disagreements while at the same time adapting to and accepting the challenges presented by digital technology. By doing so, they will help create an open and prosperous future in which everyone has equal chances at success.
Innovating Solutions
Digital Governance (DG) is a framework that establishes accountability, assigns roles and responsibilities, and sets standards for digital operations within an organization. DG covers all facets of an organization’s digital presence including websites, mobile sites, social media channels, data ownership issues, web-enabled products/services etc.
Digital governance models designed for success should enable both those involved in creating new ventures as well as those responsible for evaluating and overseeing them. Both teams must be able to collaborate and communicate efficiently so as to bring ideas from various areas of an organization together.
An effective digital governance model should include clear cyber security protocols and plans to keep pace with changing regulations, in order to address legal issues or cyber attacks quickly and efficiently, and ensure effective metrics exist for measuring new ventures’ effectiveness.
Risks to Democracies
Digital tools and platforms may offer people access to global information and connections, yet they also pose real threats to democracy. Unaccountable institutions may leverage technologies for their own ends without government oversight, while fast-evolved technologies often outpace legal safeguards or security measures, leaving vulnerable populations susceptible to cyber attacks, data breaches and abuse.
Governments must address these challenges by developing domestic governance standards and advocating them in trade agreements with developing nations. A proactive approach to digital governance could reestablish democratic principles, rein in illiberalism and stop the rise of new digital powers that threaten free, open, interoperable internet standards globally.
At the recent G7 summit in Quebec, leaders pledged their dedication to protecting global institutions while leading in developing digital technical standards. The Biden administration should capitalize on this momentum by galvanizing global democracies to develop consensus-driven digital governance principles which ensure an open internet.
Ownership and Accountability
Digital governance can enhance ownership and accountability by offering clear guidelines to follow. It can assist teams in avoiding duplicate efforts, mitigating risk more efficiently, and making informed decisions that incorporate multiple perspectives.
Engagement with policies can also increase by inviting people to play an active part in creating and shaping them, such as reviewing policy documents or training staff how to use new tools, as well as setting up an action plan for gathering feedback and implementing suggestions.
Finally, cybersecurity can promote transparency and accountability by prioritizing citizen needs and engaging citizens in democratic processes. For example, it can offer platforms for active citizen participation in policy making processes or open data initiatives that enable public scrutiny of government operations – these measures make accountability easier by making cases of corruption easier to detect in societies that have experienced democratic backsliding; additionally it strengthens cybersecurity protocols to protect against hacking or other forms of cyber threats.