[2] Structural reforms performed within public administrations during the past decades have introduced this new methodology which aims to reflect individual government’s global policy and priorities through the improvement and coordination of services.
Another outgrowth of WGA is the Whole-of-Nation approach (WNA), which is gaining ascendancy as a holistic theory of public administration in helping to tackle key national and global issues.
These issues show a growing complexity of social problems and demand meaningful experiences in diverse areas, reflective knowledge and strategic answers to provide solutions.
b) Internal issues: Aligning common interests, avoiding task duplications, reducing costs, increasing productivity and achieving a coherent line of action, in order to provide desired results, are some elements that stimulate the improvement of vertical and horizontal coordination of different government departments and public institutions.
[17] These studies focus on the non-technical elements ranging from the strategic management, planning, and business process realignment as well as coordination efforts towards the establishment of integrated services.
[21] Meanwhile, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has outlined WoG characteristics as the key contributors to E-government development.
This has been the case of public administrations in Canada, where horizontal collaboration has been encouraged through internal communication of “Best Practices” and “Lessons Learned” of selected projects.
[24] Nevertheless, in order to achieve a successful WGA, results are also necessary on the vertical array, where voluntary collaboration is constrained as each actor is part of a definite hierarchical configuration.
The methodology of the Australian Government, to perform projects with a WGA, builds within a simple framework of a shared definition of top-down goals, in order to align the interests of the various departments involved.
A growing international concern towards terrorism and other security issues after the attacks on September 11 and the military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, together with reiterative downfalls of some unstable states that where left alone to providence, have led into unexpected consequences within the international arena: Research conducted in this direction highlights the contributions that WGA can bring, towards the achievement of long term development and stability to fragile states at a lower cost.