On Dec 12th, the 22nd lecture of Fudan - LSE lecture series was held in Room 401, West Sub Building, Guanghua Tower. Assistant Professor Danuvas Sagarik delivered a lecture entitled “E-government 4.0 in Thailand: The role of central agencies”. This lecture was chaired by Ying Li, Assistant Professor at School of International Relations and Public Affairs. 

Danuvas Sagarik is Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Graduate School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration in Bangkok, Thailand. He received his BSc (Hons) in Economics from University of Essex and MSc in Economics, Finance, and Management from University of Bristol, UK. He was awarded Graduate Exchange Fellowship from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), Indiana University Bloomington, USA, and then received his PhD in Development Administration from National Institute of Development Administration. His research interest is on Thai public policy, fiscal policy, digital economy, and digital government.

This lecture shed light on the important elements of public sector transformation in Thailand towards a digital government and addresses the key reform challenges. First of all, Assistant Professor Danuvas Sagarik introduced Thailand's e-government program. E-government is a key step in bridging the development gap. Digital government strategy has become one of the major policies in Southeast Asian countries, and the Thai government has developed many initiatives in this regard. The E-government 4.0 is closely linked to Thailand's economic and social development plans, targeting the middle-income trap, uneven economic growth and social inequality, and promoting a sustainable, technology-intensive and knowledge-intensive economic transformation that seeks to bring economic growth to all people. 

Later, Danuvas Sagarik explained the three contexts of E-government 4.0 in Thailand . First, Thailand has a strong tradition of centralization, extending from the central government in Bangkok to local governments; second, the Thai executive, legislature and judiciary need to strengthen their legitimacy; third, the social well-being and civic centrism in “E-government 4.0” is not only derived from Western experience, but also from the Thai Buddhist culture's notion that happiness comes from within the individual rather than from external environmental influences. 

In addition, Assistant Professor Danuvas Sagarik discussed the limitations and major challenges of “E-government 4.0 in Thailand”, including administrative challenges, legislative action, technical challenges, performance challenges, and societal challenges. Among them, administrative challenges mainly refer to leadership, organizational culture and staff capacity; legislative challenges mainly refer to how to improve the supporting regulations; technical challenges are related to the operability of infrastructure and technology platforms; performance challenges are rooted in monitoring and evaluation; and social challenges refers to the existence of digital penetration differences.

Finally, Danuvas Sagarik concluded that in Thailand, the central agency is critical to the formation and implementation of the country's e-government program. E-government in Thailand has progressed through various policy frameworks since the 1990s, and the current military government is implementing an E-government 4.0 digital transformation strategy. Thailand's central agencies have long played an important role in providing political support for the E-government vision and strategy, providing leadership in coordination at all levels, and, especially in recent years, playing an important role in enhancing e-government horizontal integration and de-routing. However, “E-government 4.0 in Thailand” is currently facing many problems, such as lack of organizational management capacity, lack of sound regulation, operational problems with the technology platform, and disparities in digital penetration in society. According to Assistant Professor Danuvas Sagarik, a stronger central agency is needed to facilitate the development of E-government in Thailand.