This paper is grounded in the empirical reality of a growing use of information‑ and communication technologies (ICTs) in public administrations. Generally, ICTs are being introduced in an organization in order to increase operational efficiency, quality, and transparency. But, besides these intended effects, the introduction of ICTs also leads to substantial changes in the power relationships among all involved actors. As a result of ICT‑enhanced operations, some of the actors will increase their power, while others will loose some of their power. This paper therefore studies the implications of ICTs on the power relations in local administration settings.

This paper is conceptual in nature: in it, we seek to identify the current trends of State transformation, combine them with the changes in the new information and communication technologies, and extrapolate this combination into the near future. More precisely, the goal of the paper is to analyse how the New Information and Communication Technologies shape the newly emerging governance mechanisms at local, regional, national, European, and global levels. It furthermore aims at developing a conceptual model in order to understand the evolution towards e‑governance, as well as assessing its positive and negative implications for the State and the society at large. Finally, it compares our model with the currently existing definitions and conceptualisations of e‑governance and e‑government.