Remodeling the Transnational Political Realm: Partnerships,Best-Practice Schemes,and the Digitalization of Governance

Abstract

Drawing on theories of governance and governmentality, this article investigates the growing array of transnational organizational forms that create, share, and provide knowledge and expertise about various aspects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and e-modernization. It analyzes the characteristics and role of transnational partnerships and transnational best-practice schemes. These organizational forms, viewed as instantiations of soft-governance techniques of agency and performance, are illustrated by examples based on the authors' fieldwork: the World Bank–initiated Global Knowledge Partnership, the Balanced E-Government Index (BEGIX) launched by the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the Stockholm Challenge. Such transnational forms aim to enhance participation and empowerment while promoting competition and self-discipline at the level of organizations and individuals. In addition, transnational partnerships and best-practice schemes constitute nodes through which the accomplished actors of these emergent organizational forms communicate, flow, mix, and create alliances on a transnational scale, while capitalizing on them in domestic and other organizational realms.