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This article constructs explanatory theory on trust in e-voting, a term that refers to the use of stand-alone IT artefacts in voting stations. We study e-voting as a techno-organisational arrangement embedded in the process of elections and the broader socio-economic context of a country. Following a critical realist approach, we apply retroduction and retrodiction principles to build theory by complementing existing studies of e-voting with insights from an in-depth case study of elections in India. First, we seek evidence of trust in e-voting in the responses of the public to the announcement of election results. Then we derive the following four mechanisms of trust creation or loss: the association of e-voting with the production of positive democratic effects; the making of e-voting part of the mission and identity of electoral authorities; the cultivation of a positive public attitude to IT with policies for IT-driven socio-economic development; and, in countries with turbulent political cultures, a clear distinction between the experience of voting as orderly and experiences of malpractice in other election tasks. We suggest that these mechanisms explain the different experience with e-voting of different countries. Attention to them helps in assessing the potential of electoral technologies in countries that are currently adopting them, especially fragile democracies embarking upon e-voting.

AbstractThe link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is being computerized in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A state-level information system was devised to ensure transparency of transactions, and hence combat the illicit diversion of the programme’s funds to non-entitled recipients. But while doing so, the system carries a policy of centralization, which concentrates decision-making power in the hands of a limited set of actors rather than distributing it across the programme’s stakeholders. In particular the Field Assistants, appointed officials responsible for the village-level management of the scheme, have direct control on the information inputted in the system, which reinforces their position of authority rather than challenging it in favour of greater empowerment of wageseekers. Furthermore, wage payments are traced by the information system till they reach the disbursement agencies, but are prone to capture in the ‘last mile’ where workers collect their salaries, which results in greater vulnerability for them. As a result, MGNREGA workers are constructed by the new information system as sheer beneficiariesrather than active participantsin the programme, which concurs to crystallizing existing power structures rather than resulting in wageseekers’ empowerment. Lessons are drawn for other states currently computerizing their social safety nets.

Introduction:Limited studies investigated whether orthodontic movement should be performed in patients with periodontal disease and severe intrabony defects. The purpose of this study is to assess the stability of the periodontal complex combining regeneration treatment with enamel matrix derivative (EMD) and collagen bovine mineral bone, followed by early orthodontic movement. Case Series:In a prospective case series, 10 patients with radiographic vertical defects with probing depths (PDs) ≥6 mm and pathologic tooth migration were enrolled. Each patient contributed one infrabony defect treated with a combination of EMD and collagen bovine mineral bone. All patients started the alignment stage 1 month after periodontal surgery with 0.014 nickel–titanium wires, and the treatment lasted a mean time of 9 ± 3.2 months. Clinical measurements (PD, clinical attachment level [CAL], and gingival recession) were calculated from baseline to the end of orthodontic treatment. Mean PD reduction was 3.7 ± 1.77 mm, with an average residual PD of 4 ± 1.05 mm; mean CAL gain was 4.4 ± 1.71 mm, with a residual CAL of 5.5 ± 1.72 mm. Both differences are statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusions:A reconstructive procedure that combines EMD and collagen bovine mineral bone as a periodontal preorthodontic procedure seem to provide excellent clinical results. In this clinical case series, early orthodontic movement, even if it takes place in immature bone during the healing time, has not adversely affected the maturation process of the entire periodontal apparatus.