Public Administration: Concepts and Cases - Essay Example

In the year 2004, the government announced its intentions of building a Municipal Wireless Network in order to meet the need for the internet services in the city. Governments have always been the catalyst in the bringing in of innovations and ensuring that such innovations are implemented for the benefit of the local citizens (Stillman, 2010). The case of the “Government as a catalyst” contradicts the arguments of Thompson-Perry since the government has been viewed as ineffective in providing services to the people.

Thompson-Perry views that the development of the internet access in Philadelphia should have been left to the private entities instead of monopolizing it. The Philadelphia case study offers some of the most important insights in to the dangers and risks of concentrating on the digital divide since the provision of the internet services usually require a champion who can handle the various stakeholder views and is able to strike a balance between the private and the public sector (Morrison, 2005).

Thompson-Perry’s argument is that there is a failure in the initiatives that are generated by the government and the existing fiscal debt makes the government unable to complete its projects. He argues that there is a potential for the market based mechanisms that help in ensuring that the projects are completed and that it can stimulate economic growth as well as raising the living standards of the citizens. It is of paramount importance for government to intervene in the provision of services rather than making it a monopoly (Morrison, 2005).

The various stakeholders came together and discussed about the government’s intention of providing the MWN. Some of the stakeholders view that it was important that the government be the only player in the provision of the internet while other stakeholders were for the view that the MWN should be owned by the private sector. Some stakeholders argued that the low-income citizens should be allowed to access the internet services for free (Stillman, 2010). The collaboration process can be defined as a process in which autonomous actors interact through formal and informal negotiations, jointly creating rules and structures governing their relationships and ways to act or decide on the issues that brought them together, thus the process of collaboration involve shared norms and the mutually beneficial interactions (Stillman, 2010).

The main actors in the case of Philadelphia were the government, the local citizens and other private practitioners. This collaboration could ensure that the projects are implemented effectively and the various stakeholders would help in incorporating the necessary innovation into the system thus the production if internet services that are effective to the users. In 2004, the state of Philadelphia was struggling with the state policy on whether the state should be allowed to install the MWN.

In March, 2004, the Supreme Court made a ruling that supported the involvement of the Municipal in MWN. The project in Philadelphia was one of the biggest in the world and the government’s intervention to provide a low cost internet service was a great step in making