What Role for Government in E-Government?

The past evolution and the future of e-Government services are discussed in the context of both changing government and changing technology and the role of government will and shall play in e-government is explored.

Abstract

In this paper I will discuss the past evolution and the future of e-Government services in the context of both changing government and changing technology. It will explore, in particular, which role government will and shall play in e-government. I will do so by putting eGovernment into the broader context of evolving state institutions as well as into the context of evolving technology, as, both combined, they are leading to changes in public services as well as in public service delivery. The evolution of the infrastructures – communications, transport and energy – during the past 30 years will serve as an illustration of the way some public services have changed. I will thus extrapolate from the evolving infrastructures to the not yet liberalized public services and conclude that the remaining public services will undergo similar changes as the infrastructure services with government reduced to playing essentially a regulatory role in future e-Government services. The paper is structured as follows: in a first section, I will present the transformation of the infrastructures and by doing so introduce the conceptual framework within which to analyze the broader transformation of the public services. In a second section, I will then recall the transformation that has already occurred in the public services. In particular, I will show that egovernment is actually a continuation of this transformation, but that e-government is not a stable model and that the transformation is likely to continue. In a third section, I will analyze the very nature of e-government services by distinguishing three key functions that must be ensured for e-government services to be delivered. This will lead me in the fourth section to crystallize the role of government in e-Government, which will in essence a regulatory role. All in all, I extrapolate the current evolution of both government and technology and define what this means for the way government services will be delivered in the future, electronically or not.