FROM TRADITIONAL BUREAUCRACY TO SMART GOVERNANCE: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PERSPECTIVES FOR UKRAINE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2616-9193.2025/21-10/11Keywords:
Smart Governance, rational bureaucracy, digital transformation, public administration, e-governance, civic engagement.Abstract
Background. The article explores the challenges related to improving Ukraine's public administration system amidst globalization and digitalization processes. The relevance of the research stems from the necessity to address the limitations of the traditional bureaucratic governance model characterized by centralization, rigid hierarchy, and insufficient transparency. Contemporary challenges posed by the information society demand the introduction of innovative approaches involving the extensive application of digital technologies. The purpose of the study is to analyze theoretical and practical aspects of transforming traditional bureaucracy into a modern Smart Governance model, and to identify mechanisms for its effective adaptation in Ukraine.
Methods. The research employs a variety of methodological approaches, including system analysis and a comparative method to examine Max Weber's classical bureaucratic model in relation to the contemporary Smart Governance concept. A case-study method was utilized to investigate the international experience of implementing digital technologies in public administration, focusing on successful examples from countries such as Estonia, Denmark, France, and Singapore. Furthermore, methods of generalization and synthesis were applied for a comprehensive evaluation of results and formulation of recommendations, along with inductive-deductive reasoning for transitioning from general theoretical insights to practical suggestions.
Results. The research identifies that classical bureaucracy no longer meets contemporary demands characterized by rapidly evolving socio-economic conditions, mainly due to its rigid hierarchical structure and excessive formalization of administrative procedures. In contrast, the Smart Governance model offers flexible network structures, decentralization, and extensive use of digital tools such as e-government, Big Data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies. Analysis of international experiences demonstrates the effectiveness of digital platforms, including Estonia's X-Road, Denmark's Borger.dk, and France's service-public.fr portal, enhancing transparency, responsiveness, and civic engagement in governance processes.
Conclusions. The study confirms the necessity of comprehensive transformation of Ukraine's public administration system by adopting the Smart Governance framework. The author provides practical recommendations regarding regulatory and legal frameworks to support digitalization, infrastructure improvements, enhancing digital literacy among citizens and civil servants, and strengthening cybersecurity mechanisms. It is established that the successful implementation of Smart Governance will not only optimize administrative processes but also significantly increase public trust in government institutions, which is critically important given the current challenges and global transformations.
References
Вебер, М. (1998). Соціологія. Загальноісторичні аналізи. Політика. Основи. http://litopys.org.ua/weber/wbs.htm
Єсімов, С. (2024). Зарубіжний досвід цифровізації державних послуг. Аналітично-порівняльне правознавство, 1, 386–390. https://doi.org/10.24144/2788-6018.2024.01.68
Кундаков, К., & Надюк, З. (2015). Розвиток електронного урядування у Франції і можливість використання цього досвіду в Україні. Молодий вчений, 3(18)), 180–183. http://molodyvcheny.in.ua/files/journal/2015/3/87.pdf
Куспляк, Г., Куспляк, І., & Серенок, А. (2023). Напрями вдосконалення надання адміністративних та публічних електронних послуг в умовах воєнного стану. Теоретичні та прикладні питання державотворення, 30, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.35432/tisb302023295150
Лєнь, О. О. (2022). Політика забезпечення кадрової безпеки в системі публічного управління: напрямки і пріоритети. Публічне урядування, 1(29), 79–85. https://doi.org/10.32689/2617-2224-2022-1(29)-11
Халецька, Л. П. (2017). Перспективи розвитку електронного урядування у Франції. У Інформація, комунікація, суспільство 2017: Матеріали VI Міжнародної наукової конференції ІКС-201 (с. 271–272). Видавництво Львівської політехніки. https://er.nau.edu.ua/items/57ff428bd8a2-42b9-a0eb-7c60ec5aed4a
Чукут, С. А., Загвойська, О. В., & Цимбаленко, Я. Ю. (2022). Основи електронного урядування. КПІ ім. Ігоря Сікорського. https://ela.kpi.ua/items/ab842173-d6da-430a-811e-b4923cbc5463
Дашко, І., & Михайліченко, Л. (2024). Динаміка розвитку цифрових державних послуг в констексті України та країн-членів ЄС. Європейський науковий журнал економічних та фінансових інновацій, 2(14), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.32750/2024-0201
Kattel, R., & Mergel, I. (2019). Estonia's digital transformation: Mission mystique and the hiding hand. У P. T. Hart & M. Compton (Ред.), Great policy successes (рр. 143–160). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198843719.003.0008
Kettl, D. F. (2021). Weberian bureaucracy and contemporary governance. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 5(2), 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvab026
Maynez, J., Narayan, S., Bohnet, B., & McDonald, R. (2020). On faithfulness and factuality in abstractive summarization. У D. Jurafsky, J. Chai, N. Schluter, J. Tetreault (Eds.), Proceedings of the 58th annual meeting of the association for computational linguistics (с. 1906–1919). Association for Computational Linguistics. https://aclanthology.org/2020.acl-main.173.pdf
Myeong, S. (2022). E-Government to smart e-governance: Korean experience and challenges. У A. Farazmand (Ed.), Global encyclopedia of public administration, public policy, and governance. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66252-3_3814
Newman, J., Mintrom, M., & O'Neill, D. (2022). Digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and bureaucratic transformation. Futures, 136, Article 102886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102886
Razaghi, M., & Finger, M. (2018). Smart governance for smart cities. Proceedings of the IEEE, 106(4), 680–689. https://doi.org/10.1109/jproc.2018.2807784
Scholl, H. J., & Scholl, M. C. (2014, March 4–7). Smart governance: A roadmap for research and practice. У Breaking down walls. Culture – context – computing. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. https://doi.org/10.9776/14060
Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2024). The ideational robustness of bureaucracy. Policy and Society, 43(2), 141–158. https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae015
Srihith, I. V. D., Kumar, I. V. S., Varaprasad, R., Mohan, Y. R., Srinivas, T. A. S., & Sravanthi, Y. (2022). Future of smart cities: The role of machine learning and artificial intelligence. South Asian Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 4(5), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.36346/sarjet.2022.v04i05.005
Willke, H. (2007). Smart governance: Governing the global knowledge society. Campus.
Wirtz, B. W., Weyerer, J. C., & Geyer, C. (2018). Artificial intelligence and the public sector–applications and challenges. International Journal of Public Administration, 42(7), 596–615. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2018.1498103
Ye, Y., Pandey, A., Bawden, C., Sumsuzzman, D. Md., Rajput, R., Shoukat, A., Singer, B. H., Moghadas, S. M., & Galvani, A. P. (2025). Integrating artificial intelligence with mechanistic epidemiological modeling: A scoping review of opportunities and challenges. Nature Communications, 16, Article 581. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55461-x
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Be sure to check the conditions by the link bellow: https://gov.bulletin.knu.ua/7
