Institutional approaches and strategies of control and collaboration

Open governance is often idealized as a bottom-up approach of empowered citizens to get more involved. However, in practical terms, major changes and reforms end up being the result of coordinated efforts from multiple organizations of the organized. The degree of control exercised over such organisational networks and the potential of openness and collaboration is the object of this study. In the public sector context of transition economies the sustainability of reforms emerges as an important value by which the two approaches will be measured. Rational action institutionalism and discursive institutionalism in conjunction with project management methodologies are proposed as theoretical lenses for analyzing strategic innovation and change in e-government project practices.