American Government 3.0: Wither Governance?

Before the election of Barack Obama and the global financial crisis that soon followed, many pundits, scholars, and practitioners believed that the era of big government was over. Government was becoming smaller, more nimble, and less hierarchical. It was oriented toward efficient and effective service provision, market-based approaches, performance management, and evidence-based policy. It increasingly employed outsourcing, partnerships, collaboration, deregulation, and citizen engagement. It relied more on IT solutions such as e-government and knowledge management. In short, we were witnessing an evolution into American Governance 2.0.