How E-Government Interacts With Its Citizens
By James X. Dempsey

E-government is the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to transform
government by making it more accessible to citizens, more effective, and more accountable. According to this definition e-government does not mean putting more computers on the desks of government officials. Rather, it concerns the relationship between government officials and citizens.

The relationship between e-government and citizens includes the following:

• Providing greater access to government information by making laws, draft laws, regulations, forms, and economic or scientific data collected by the government accessible online

• Promoting civic engagement by enabling the public to interact more conveniently with government officials, for instance, by obtaining permits or filing required documents electronically

• Increasing government accountability by making its operations more transparent, thereby reducing opportunities for corruption

• Supporting development goals by lessening the time and expense small businesses expend in their dealings with the government and by providing rural and traditionally underserved communities with information and communications capabilities.

E-government is not a phenomenon limited to the richer countries. Indeed, some of the most innovative uses of the Internet in governance are appearing in the developing world as ICT is increasingly being used to streamline government and connect it more closely with the people it is intended to serve.

Recently, the World Bank’s infoDev program supported the Center for Democracy and Technology in compiling an e-government handbook. The goal of this undertaking was to offer concrete guidance to government officials and others, presenting for the first time a comprehensive index of e-government models and resources based on success stories from transition and developing countries. The handbook presents a compilation of roadmaps for policymakers considering e-government as a mechanism for reform. It is available from the web site: http://www.cdt.org/egov/handbook/.

E-government does not materialize simply because a government buys more computers and puts up a web site, nor is it sufficient merely to automate administrative practices from the paper world. Rather, e-government is a process of transforming government. As such it requires planning, political will, and sustained dedication of resources. Note that neither the purchase of more advanced technology nor the automation of complex procedures can bring about greater effectiveness in government or increased rates of civic participation. Technological innovations will not change the mentality of bureaucrats who do not view the citizen as a customer of government or a participant in decision making.

The Three Phases of E-Government

The process of e-government may be divided into three phases. These phases are not dependent on each other, and one phase does not have to be completed before another can begin; however, they offer a conceptual framework for thinking about the goals of e-government.

• Phase 1—Publish. Use ICT to expand access to government information. Governments generate a large volume of information that is important for both individuals and businesses. The Internet and other advanced communications technologies can bring this information quickly and more directly to citizens. Strategies for implementing the publish phase of e-government diverge widely in design and content, but generally transition and developing nations can initiate the process of e-government by publishing government information online, beginning with laws, rules, and regulations; documents; forms; and statistics and economic data. Enabling citizens and businesses to readily access government information without having to travel to government offices, stand in long lines, or pay bribes can be a revolutionary advance for nations wracked by inefficient bureaucracy and corruption. One element of the publish phase may be the creation of a government portal, such as that of the Mexican government that offers one-stop access to various web sites and information resources.

• Phase 2—Interact. Broaden civic participation in government. Published sites, however rich in content, are just a first step. E-government has the potential to involve citizens in the governance process by engaging them with policymakers throughout the policy cycle and at all levels of government. Strengthening civic engagement contributes to building public trust in government. Interactive e-government involves two-way communication, starting with basic functions like offering e-mail contact information for government officials or feedback forms that allow users to submit comments on legislative or policy proposals. One such web site is maintained by the Namibian parliament, which allows citizens to submit their feedback about legislative proposals. This phase of e-government may also include the creation of citizen-government forums, such as the one set up by the Armenian government, where people can exchange ideas, further their awareness of issues, and establish opportunities for activism while not constrained by distance.

• Phase 3—Transact. Offer government services online. Governments can extend their e-government presence further by establishing web sites that allow users to conduct transactions online. Just as the private sector in developing countries is using the Internet to conduct e-commerce, so governments can conduct transactions online. The benefits of such arrangements include long-term cost savings, preservation of accountability through information logs, and improvements in productivity. In the past government services such as registering land or renewing a driver’s license required long waits, confrontation with stifling bureaucracy, and the occasional bribe. Innovations in accessibility, as embodied in the citizen service kiosks located in shopping centers in Brazil or the portable government computers that are carried into rural areas of India, bring e-government to the most isolated corners of developing nations.

Perhaps the biggest incentive for governments to use ICT in providing services is the streamlining of bureaucratic and labor-intensive procedures, which can save money and increase productivity over the long term. Furthermore, by automating and revamping procedures and processes, especially in such revenue-generating areas of government as tax and fine collection, governments can stem corruption and greatly increase revenues while at the same time elevating trust in government. A prime example of this effort is the online permit system in Seoul, South Korea, which allows citizens to apply for various permits online and track the progress of their applications, thereby cutting down on trips to government offices and decreasing the opportunity for government bureaucrats to extract bribes.

Transforming Government

E-government is about transforming the way government interacts with the governed. The process is neither quick nor simple. It requires a coherent strategy, beginning with an examination of the nation’s regulatory environment and the population’s ability to make use of planned technologies.

The primary motivation for e-government reforms should not be the potential they offer to save money or cut staff. While this can often be a valuable outcome, the savings incurred from e-government initiatives most often benefit the businesses and citizens using the improved system more than the government agencies that invested in it to begin with. To realize the benefits of transformation, governments must develop a citizen-centered model involving key stakeholders outside the government: businesses, trade associations, scientists, academics, and NGOs. Without their input, even e-government projects that focus on internal government processes may not prove successful because citizens are unlikely to use a system that does not correspond to their needs.

While there is no "one size fits all" strategy for implementing e-government, the transformation process involves the following five essential elements:

• Process reform. Critical to the success of e-government transformation is the understanding that e-government is not just about automating existing processes and inefficiencies. Rather, it is about creating new processes and new relationships between the governed and the governor. The use of ICT is not merely a cost- or labor-saving tool to be put to use by simply allotting government officials computers or automating manual records. If conceived and designed correctly, e-government can genuinely revolutionize the process of government itself. Therefore government leaders planning e-government projects should first examine the function or operation to which they want to apply ICT. For instance, if the subject of an e-government project is procurement, government officials and their corporate business partners should first examine the entire process by which the government publishes solicitations, qualifies bidders, and sets the requirements for filing bids.

• Leadership. E-government requires strong political leadership. To achieve the e-government transformation, elected and appointed officials at all levels of government must understand the technology and the associated policy goals and be motivated to push reforms. Strong leadership can ensure the long-term commitment of resources and expertise as well as the cooperation of disparate factions. Leadership can also articulate a unifying theme that can propel the e-government initiative through all the steps that will be necessary. For example, by declaring Internet access a human right, the Estonian leadership created strong national support for the implementation of the Tiger Leap Forward Initiative, a multisectoral program with the eventual goal of creating a completely e-literate society. While it is not essential that governments declare Internet access a human right, leaders do need to understand that results will be most likely if they elevate the public profile of their vision and press for its implementation by tying it to broader human development and democratization goals.

• Strategic investment. In view of tightly limited resources, governments will need to prioritize some programs over others to maximize the availability of funds. This will necessitate the enumeration of clear objectives for e-government programs and the designation of a clear route for fulfilling those objectives. Transition and developing nations must choose projects carefully to optimize their investment of time and resources. Projects should have clear value in terms of enhancing transparency, increasing citizen participation in the governance process, cutting bureaucratic red tape, or saving money. Standards and benchmarks must be established to measure the relative success of these projects (as proved by the Gujarat, India project, see page 36).

• Collaboration. Governments will have to explore new relationships among government agencies as well as partnerships with the private sector and NGOs to ensure the quality and accessibility of e-government. Agencies may have to overcome traditional reluctance to work with each other to maximize benefits of scale in e-government projects. Collaboration among government entities, private enterprises, and NGOs can help policymakers craft meaningful reforms and can expedite the implementation of e-government. The private sector may have considerable expertise that can help meet the challenges of increasing efficiency, capacity, and consumer satisfaction, and private sector experts in e-commerce, information technology, marketing, management, and so on can advise government policymakers.

• Civic engagement. The success of e-government initiatives depends on an engaged citizenry. To that end, efforts to foster civic engagement are critical. The concept of e-government centers around the citizen. E-government is not just a cost-cutting or efficiency-enhancing mechanism, but an initiative directed at bettering the lives of ordinary people. To develop this citizen-focused vision, policymakers must keep the ordinary citizen in mind when designing projects. If at all possible, policymakers and designers should encourage stakeholders—both government and nongovernment—to participate in defining what their shared vision of e-government should accomplish, and once that vision has been clearly defined, leaders must communicate it across all sectors, not just to those who will implement it.

Conclusion

Once governments commit to strategies to transform the governance process, they must prepare to meet the significant challenges and opportunities that will arise during implementation. In our work on the e-government handbook we identified 16 considerations that the e-government initiatives of developing nations should address. These include infrastructure development, law and public policy, e-literacy, accessibility, privacy, security, and work force issues. Many developing countries, even if possessing the will, do not have the infrastructure necessary to immediately deploy e-government services throughout their territory. These governments must include in their e-government strategies efforts to build up their ICT infrastructure, developing novel approaches to solving the problem of remote connectivity in order to support e-government efforts. Education and outreach programs will be needed.

Successful projects will also require good marketing to encourage citizens to make use of them.

Among the many promises of the digital revolution is its potential to strengthen democracy and make governments more responsive to the needs of their citizens. E-government is not a panacea. While it can facilitate change and create new, more efficient administrative processes, e-government will not solve all the problems of corruption and inefficiency; however, examples from around the globe now demonstrate that the use of ICT has the potential to revolutionize the way people interact with governments and each other.

The author is deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based NGO promoting democratic values and human rights in the field of digital communications technologies. He is also policy director for the Global Internet Policy Initiative, a joint project of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Internews active in developing and transition nations. He can be reached at jdempsey@cdt.org.