Why has Greece been consistently unable to implement a coherent austerity plan? While many commen... more Why has Greece been consistently unable to implement a coherent austerity plan? While many commentators attribute this to the corruption of Greece’s political elites, Elpida Prasopoulou looks closely at Greece’s political discourse of the past four decades, and finds that it has been dominated by a populist version of social democracy that has positioned its people as the centre of all state activity, with any resistance to this economic order being seen as unpatriotic. Whether or not the sovereign debt crisis may be a sufficient enough opportunity for these ways of thinking to be overturned remains to be seen.
Using a network management agenda To shape the management agenda Of a organizational network unde... more Using a network management agenda To shape the management agenda Of a organizational network under development
The stagnation of reforms and the problematic implementation of austerity measures in Greece reve... more The stagnation of reforms and the problematic implementation of austerity measures in Greece revealed a rather painful reality. The Greek government apparatus is not operating properly. Thus, the country is facing a double problem; the political system is reluctant to assume the cost of radical reform while public administration is incapable of implementing and monitoring the necessary policies. However, aphorisms on the backwardness of the Greek public sector need to give their place in a systematic analysis of the process which led to the current situation. The major manifestations of public sector inefficiency – overreliance to a legalistic paradigm of action, absence of standardisation in administrative procedures, inability to set, monitor and evaluate the implementation of specific policies – did not occur overnight. They are the outcomes of the gradual domination of an autonomous state apparatus by heavily politicised practices which eventually came to substitute core bureauc...
The paper examines how specific properties of the Greek political system such as legalism, client... more The paper examines how specific properties of the Greek political system such as legalism, clientelism and an authoritarian notion of accountability influence the deployment of information and communication technologies in the public sector. The paper argues that the reasons for this should be traced in the way bureaucratic clientelism deploys ex-ante accountability combined with procedural ambiguity within public organisations as a mechanism for the solidification of patron-client relationships both at the top and the bottom of the administrative echelon. As such, findings fill a lacuna in existing literature by showing how the practices and operations of Greek public administration condition ICT implementations in ways that are not conducive to actual reform. Thus, research in Greek public administration moves from traditional issues of clientelism and corruption to examine the underlying paradigm of action and the repercussions of the absence of a solid techno-scientific rational...
The rapid technological developments in domains involving multiple technologies, like ICT, compel... more The rapid technological developments in domains involving multiple technologies, like ICT, compel firms to enter into inter-firm arrangements to facilitate access to extramural resources. However, participation in strategic technology alliances often requires an updated management practice that can cope with the complexities of interfirm collaboration. When ventures reach the commercialisation stage, the alliance of firms supporting them often lacks the necessary inter-firm arrangements required for sustainability. This paper presents and discusses such a case, namely the commercialisation process of an innovative service developed in the context of a strategic technology alliance. We identify changes in the alliance management agenda which are substantiated using a life cycle perspective. The initiation and configuration stages of this life cycle are further analysed and a new informed management practice for alliance partners is outlined.
In recent years, we have witnessed a rapid spread of biometric technologies from the security dom... more In recent years, we have witnessed a rapid spread of biometric technologies from the security domain to commercial and social media applications. In this article, we critically explore the repercussions of this diffusion of face recognition to everyday contexts with an in-depth analysis of Facebook’s “tag suggestions” tool which first introduced the technology to on-line social networks. We use Nissenbaum’s framework of contextual integrity to show how the informational norms associated with biometrics in security and policing - their contexts of emergence - are grafted on-line social networks onto their context of iteration. Our analysis reveals a process that has inadvertently influenced the way users understand face recognition, precluding critical questioning of its wider use. It provides an important deepening of contextually-driven approaches to privacy by showing the process through which contexts are co-constitutive of informational norms. Citizens are also offered a critica...
This paper examines how biometrics have been constituted as a technological object in government ... more This paper examines how biometrics have been constituted as a technological object in government and industry discourses. The growing importance of identity management, both in real-life and in digital ecosystems, is significantly boosting the use of biometrics. In addition to traditional uses for border control and policing, biometrics are now entering the realm of everyday life through a variety of devices ranging from laptops, cars and potentially kitchen appliances. This shift in the use of a predominantly government technology raises significant issues concerning citizens’ active engagement with technological issues in democratic societies. The main question is: can citizens challenge current framings of biometrics and shape an informed understanding of the technological and political implications of the changes underway? To answer it, it is necessary to understand the trajectory of biometrics from technologies of control to gadgets. Biometric technologies for identification en...
Chapter 10 Unraveling the Virtual University The case ofeMaster Postgraduate programme Elpida Pra... more Chapter 10 Unraveling the Virtual University The case ofeMaster Postgraduate programme Elpida Prasopoulou, Angeliki Poulymenakou and Nancy Pouloudi Athens University of Economics and Business Abstract: This chapter critically explores the vision of a university" without walls" ...
The Greek political system increasingly resembles something that is deemed dead yet still animate... more The Greek political system increasingly resembles something that is deemed dead yet still animated: a zombie. The sovereign debt crisis has been considered by many a fatal blow to the Greek political system. The country in order to secure the much needed economic growth would have to abandon its state-centred model of economic governance. As a result, many predicted, the Greek political system firmly intertwined with the state would not survive the shock. This is hardly the case
Despite its controversial history and significant diffusion of biometrics from institutional sett... more Despite its controversial history and significant diffusion of biometrics from institutional settings such as border control and policing to everyday use in commerce and personal devices, biometrics is now being re-positioned as a neutral means to safeguard identity in the digital world. Given this proliferation of uses, we argue that understanding perceptions of biometrics among ordinary citizens is necessary and long overdue. Situating our analysis in the wider context of the views of government and biometric industry experts, we deploy Q-methodology in combination with political discourse analysis to examine the range of positions that have crystallized in ordinary discourse on issues arising from the use of biometrics for identification. Our analysis uncovers four distinctive configurations that put into question a simplistic trade-off between security and privacy that dominates government and industry discourse and underlines the importance of going beyond a narrow view of tech...
The notion of initial conditions, empirically grounded by Doz (1996), provides a rich explanation... more The notion of initial conditions, empirically grounded by Doz (1996), provides a rich explanation of alliance evolution, stressing the need for learning about the environment and the partners as a prerequisite for tie stabilization. However, how initial conditions affect the stabilization mechanisms used by strategic alliances is not fully understood. Through a longitudinal case study of a global educational alliance, we examine the role of IT as stabilization mechanism. IT is documented as a social relations tool that can support the bonding of alliance partners. However, our empirical findings show that endogenous incompatibility of the four initial conditions can inhibit the use of IT for this purpose. Incorporation of IT in common tasks needs to be supported by common routines and frequent interface. Otherwise, failed expectations cause internal tensions in the alliance and partners tend to retreat in their own practices and abandon any common efforts.
Why has Greece been consistently unable to implement a coherent austerity plan? While many commen... more Why has Greece been consistently unable to implement a coherent austerity plan? While many commentators attribute this to the corruption of Greece’s political elites, Elpida Prasopoulou looks closely at Greece’s political discourse of the past four decades, and finds that it has been dominated by a populist version of social democracy that has positioned its people as the centre of all state activity, with any resistance to this economic order being seen as unpatriotic. Whether or not the sovereign debt crisis may be a sufficient enough opportunity for these ways of thinking to be overturned remains to be seen.
Using a network management agenda To shape the management agenda Of a organizational network unde... more Using a network management agenda To shape the management agenda Of a organizational network under development
The stagnation of reforms and the problematic implementation of austerity measures in Greece reve... more The stagnation of reforms and the problematic implementation of austerity measures in Greece revealed a rather painful reality. The Greek government apparatus is not operating properly. Thus, the country is facing a double problem; the political system is reluctant to assume the cost of radical reform while public administration is incapable of implementing and monitoring the necessary policies. However, aphorisms on the backwardness of the Greek public sector need to give their place in a systematic analysis of the process which led to the current situation. The major manifestations of public sector inefficiency – overreliance to a legalistic paradigm of action, absence of standardisation in administrative procedures, inability to set, monitor and evaluate the implementation of specific policies – did not occur overnight. They are the outcomes of the gradual domination of an autonomous state apparatus by heavily politicised practices which eventually came to substitute core bureauc...
The paper examines how specific properties of the Greek political system such as legalism, client... more The paper examines how specific properties of the Greek political system such as legalism, clientelism and an authoritarian notion of accountability influence the deployment of information and communication technologies in the public sector. The paper argues that the reasons for this should be traced in the way bureaucratic clientelism deploys ex-ante accountability combined with procedural ambiguity within public organisations as a mechanism for the solidification of patron-client relationships both at the top and the bottom of the administrative echelon. As such, findings fill a lacuna in existing literature by showing how the practices and operations of Greek public administration condition ICT implementations in ways that are not conducive to actual reform. Thus, research in Greek public administration moves from traditional issues of clientelism and corruption to examine the underlying paradigm of action and the repercussions of the absence of a solid techno-scientific rational...
The rapid technological developments in domains involving multiple technologies, like ICT, compel... more The rapid technological developments in domains involving multiple technologies, like ICT, compel firms to enter into inter-firm arrangements to facilitate access to extramural resources. However, participation in strategic technology alliances often requires an updated management practice that can cope with the complexities of interfirm collaboration. When ventures reach the commercialisation stage, the alliance of firms supporting them often lacks the necessary inter-firm arrangements required for sustainability. This paper presents and discusses such a case, namely the commercialisation process of an innovative service developed in the context of a strategic technology alliance. We identify changes in the alliance management agenda which are substantiated using a life cycle perspective. The initiation and configuration stages of this life cycle are further analysed and a new informed management practice for alliance partners is outlined.
In recent years, we have witnessed a rapid spread of biometric technologies from the security dom... more In recent years, we have witnessed a rapid spread of biometric technologies from the security domain to commercial and social media applications. In this article, we critically explore the repercussions of this diffusion of face recognition to everyday contexts with an in-depth analysis of Facebook’s “tag suggestions” tool which first introduced the technology to on-line social networks. We use Nissenbaum’s framework of contextual integrity to show how the informational norms associated with biometrics in security and policing - their contexts of emergence - are grafted on-line social networks onto their context of iteration. Our analysis reveals a process that has inadvertently influenced the way users understand face recognition, precluding critical questioning of its wider use. It provides an important deepening of contextually-driven approaches to privacy by showing the process through which contexts are co-constitutive of informational norms. Citizens are also offered a critica...
This paper examines how biometrics have been constituted as a technological object in government ... more This paper examines how biometrics have been constituted as a technological object in government and industry discourses. The growing importance of identity management, both in real-life and in digital ecosystems, is significantly boosting the use of biometrics. In addition to traditional uses for border control and policing, biometrics are now entering the realm of everyday life through a variety of devices ranging from laptops, cars and potentially kitchen appliances. This shift in the use of a predominantly government technology raises significant issues concerning citizens’ active engagement with technological issues in democratic societies. The main question is: can citizens challenge current framings of biometrics and shape an informed understanding of the technological and political implications of the changes underway? To answer it, it is necessary to understand the trajectory of biometrics from technologies of control to gadgets. Biometric technologies for identification en...
Chapter 10 Unraveling the Virtual University The case ofeMaster Postgraduate programme Elpida Pra... more Chapter 10 Unraveling the Virtual University The case ofeMaster Postgraduate programme Elpida Prasopoulou, Angeliki Poulymenakou and Nancy Pouloudi Athens University of Economics and Business Abstract: This chapter critically explores the vision of a university" without walls" ...
The Greek political system increasingly resembles something that is deemed dead yet still animate... more The Greek political system increasingly resembles something that is deemed dead yet still animated: a zombie. The sovereign debt crisis has been considered by many a fatal blow to the Greek political system. The country in order to secure the much needed economic growth would have to abandon its state-centred model of economic governance. As a result, many predicted, the Greek political system firmly intertwined with the state would not survive the shock. This is hardly the case
Despite its controversial history and significant diffusion of biometrics from institutional sett... more Despite its controversial history and significant diffusion of biometrics from institutional settings such as border control and policing to everyday use in commerce and personal devices, biometrics is now being re-positioned as a neutral means to safeguard identity in the digital world. Given this proliferation of uses, we argue that understanding perceptions of biometrics among ordinary citizens is necessary and long overdue. Situating our analysis in the wider context of the views of government and biometric industry experts, we deploy Q-methodology in combination with political discourse analysis to examine the range of positions that have crystallized in ordinary discourse on issues arising from the use of biometrics for identification. Our analysis uncovers four distinctive configurations that put into question a simplistic trade-off between security and privacy that dominates government and industry discourse and underlines the importance of going beyond a narrow view of tech...
The notion of initial conditions, empirically grounded by Doz (1996), provides a rich explanation... more The notion of initial conditions, empirically grounded by Doz (1996), provides a rich explanation of alliance evolution, stressing the need for learning about the environment and the partners as a prerequisite for tie stabilization. However, how initial conditions affect the stabilization mechanisms used by strategic alliances is not fully understood. Through a longitudinal case study of a global educational alliance, we examine the role of IT as stabilization mechanism. IT is documented as a social relations tool that can support the bonding of alliance partners. However, our empirical findings show that endogenous incompatibility of the four initial conditions can inhibit the use of IT for this purpose. Incorporation of IT in common tasks needs to be supported by common routines and frequent interface. Otherwise, failed expectations cause internal tensions in the alliance and partners tend to retreat in their own practices and abandon any common efforts.
This thesis examines the joint articulation of ICT innovation and state modernization in the publ... more This thesis examines the joint articulation of ICT innovation and state modernization in the public sector of late-development countries. These countries embark on ICT innovation projects in an effort to keep pace with the advances in early developers and improve their position on the development spectrum. The deployment of ICTs, as a trigger for deep changes in the institutional fabric of the government apparatus, places emphasis on the role of socio-economic context during the unraveling of ICT innovation. Moreover, it invites the examination of ICT innovation as a socio-technical phenomenon spanning multiple social orders. This approach has been used in the study of TAXIS, the first large-scale information system to be fully operational in the Greek public administration. TAXIS’ implementation coincides with, eksynchronismos (i.e. modernization), an historical circumstance conducive of state reform and modernization. Thus, it provides an interesting juncture of ICT innovation, state modernization and socio-political transformations redirecting the development path of Greece.
The specific socio-historical circumstances in tandem with the detours, negotiations and mechanisms deployed by political parties, as macro-actors, irreversibly shaped the way ICT innovation is perceived in the Greek administrative tradition. TAXIS became aligned with the modernization rhetoric to attract the necessary support for its successful implementation. At the same time, the government enrolled TAXIS, and subsequently ICT innovation, to its eksynchronismos project to stress its willingness to introduce change within the state apparatus. The alignment of TAXIS with the gist of modernization ensured the necessary political support for its successful implementation. TAXIS’s rollout has been inextricably linked to the country’s effort to meet the Maastricht criteria and join the European Monetary Union. This new understanding of ICT innovation attracted the interest of political parties, as dominant macro-actors in the Greek administrative tradition. Political parties rhetorically endorsed ICT innovation as a vehicle for tax reform. In parallel, however, they worked towards the preservation of their dominant role which could be potentially harmed by the new material practices and assumptions carried by ICT innovation. A close observation of parliamentary discussions shows that political parties never tackled the precise way tax policy would be formulated in the aftermath of ICT innovation. Following the separation of administrative and legal reform in the Napoleonic tradition, political parties perceived these issues as technical ones tackled at the project level. Moreover, political parties considered that their role, as dominant collective actors, in the process of ICT innovation, was to monitor the system’s progress and ensure the necessary resources for its implementation. Upon system delivery, and once financial data would be available in digital format, the Ministry would have a clear and concise picture of state finances to proceed with changes at the legal framework. This process precluded the possibility for a new approach on the matter. The outcome was a concoction of novel practices and old visions which led to the equaling of ICT innovation with pre-existing legal concerns.
Thus, TAXIS success was a micro-event. Its implementation managed to impose order over obsolete administrative operations. Nevertheless, the reduction of the administrative burden and the imposition of operational order were not the final objectives of TAXIS’ implementation. Rationalization of state finances, through ICT innovation, was seen as the preamble for tax reform which ought to emanate out of the new, modern and technologically advanced processes of TAXIS. The Greek administrative tradition perceived state modernization as a two-stage project entailing, first, rationalization of administrative practices and, then, reform which remained a legal exercise. ICT innovation, in this sense, was perceived as the vehicle to pave the way for legal reform.
These insights showcase the composite nature of ICT innovation, as well as the existence of dominant institutional actors that may neutralize ICT innovation by engulfing it in the maze of material practices that constitute the government apparatus. Thus, this thesis advocates for a layered view of ICT innovation which brings to the fore the reflexive nature of IT implementation as the negotiation space for local and imported practices and imageries. The thesis contributes to the study of ICT innovation by establishing a theoretical perspective that bridges micro-actions with macro-phenomena during ICT innovation. The concept of administrative tradition is introduced, as a theoretical framework, allowing for the joint articulation of the micro and macro levels of analysis and the identification of macro actors implicated in the clash of new and local institutions during ICT innovation. The thesis also proposes a critical examination of the constituent parts of ICT innovation. Late-developing countries, by whole-heartedly accepting ICT innovation, also accept a specific developmental path. Therefore, absence of critical discussion on ICT innovation essentially signifies uncritical acceptance of developmental choices that may not be appropriate for a country’s specific needs.
Uploads
The specific socio-historical circumstances in tandem with the detours, negotiations and mechanisms deployed by political parties, as macro-actors, irreversibly shaped the way ICT innovation is perceived in the Greek administrative tradition. TAXIS became aligned with the modernization rhetoric to attract the necessary support for its successful implementation. At the same time, the government enrolled TAXIS, and subsequently ICT innovation, to its eksynchronismos project to stress its willingness to introduce change within the state apparatus. The alignment of TAXIS with the gist of modernization ensured the necessary political support for its successful implementation. TAXIS’s rollout has been inextricably linked to the country’s effort to meet the Maastricht criteria and join the European Monetary Union. This new understanding of ICT innovation attracted the interest of political parties, as dominant macro-actors in the Greek administrative tradition. Political parties rhetorically endorsed ICT innovation as a vehicle for tax reform. In parallel, however, they worked towards the preservation of their dominant role which could be potentially harmed by the new material practices and assumptions carried by ICT innovation. A close observation of parliamentary discussions shows that political parties never tackled the precise way tax policy would be formulated in the aftermath of ICT innovation. Following the separation of administrative and legal reform in the Napoleonic tradition, political parties perceived these issues as technical ones tackled at the project level. Moreover, political parties considered that their role, as dominant collective actors, in the process of ICT innovation, was to monitor the system’s progress and ensure the necessary resources for its implementation. Upon system delivery, and once financial data would be available in digital format, the Ministry would have a clear and concise picture of state finances to proceed with changes at the legal framework. This process precluded the possibility for a new approach on the matter. The outcome was a concoction of novel practices and old visions which led to the equaling of ICT innovation with pre-existing legal concerns.
Thus, TAXIS success was a micro-event. Its implementation managed to impose order over obsolete administrative operations. Nevertheless, the reduction of the administrative burden and the imposition of operational order were not the final objectives of TAXIS’ implementation. Rationalization of state finances, through ICT innovation, was seen as the preamble for tax reform which ought to emanate out of the new, modern and technologically advanced processes of TAXIS. The Greek administrative tradition perceived state modernization as a two-stage project entailing, first, rationalization of administrative practices and, then, reform which remained a legal exercise. ICT innovation, in this sense, was perceived as the vehicle to pave the way for legal reform.
These insights showcase the composite nature of ICT innovation, as well as the existence of dominant institutional actors that may neutralize ICT innovation by engulfing it in the maze of material practices that constitute the government apparatus. Thus, this thesis advocates for a layered view of ICT innovation which brings to the fore the reflexive nature of IT implementation as the negotiation space for local and imported practices and imageries. The thesis contributes to the study of ICT innovation by establishing a theoretical perspective that bridges micro-actions with macro-phenomena during ICT innovation. The concept of administrative tradition is introduced, as a theoretical framework, allowing for the joint articulation of the micro and macro levels of analysis and the identification of macro actors implicated in the clash of new and local institutions during ICT innovation. The thesis also proposes a critical examination of the constituent parts of ICT innovation. Late-developing countries, by whole-heartedly accepting ICT innovation, also accept a specific developmental path. Therefore, absence of critical discussion on ICT innovation essentially signifies uncritical acceptance of developmental choices that may not be appropriate for a country’s specific needs.