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Towards E-participation in the Middle East and Northern Europe

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Comparative E-Government

Part of the book series: Integrated Series in Information Systems ((ISIS,volume 25))

Abstract

E-governance is important for enabling governments to communicate with and serve their citizens. In this chapter, we determine critical success factors for and obstacles to effective e-governance in two very different regions of the world, namely, the Middle East and Northern Europe. Specifically, we explore e-participation in Bahrain, Egypt, Estonia, and Finland. These four countries are interesting cases because they have quite different types of government, yet, according to recent United Nations data, each has succeeded in their development of e-government capabilities. However, the degree to which this development has translated into effective e-participation varies significantly between these countries. We propose a framework for assessing the strategy, policies, and context within which e-governance is being developed and apply this framework to examine e-participation in each country. Using this framework, we show that an administrative culture of high-quality governance is critical to the success of e-participation initiatives. Our research also suggests that factors which promote online citizen participation in the political process include a government commitment to e-government, policies that encourage e-participation, and investment in e-governance and information and communication technology (ICT) development. Sometimes these conditions are satisfied but e-participation falls short of expectations. We present evidence that this short-fall often reflects problems in the offline relationship between governments and their citizens.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bentley University, Waltham, MA, 02452, USA

    Girish J. “Jeff” Gulati & David J. Yates

  2. Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, F24 3AA, UK

    Anas Tawileh

Authors
  1. Girish J. “Jeff” Gulati
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  2. David J. Yates
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  3. Anas Tawileh
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Girish J. “Jeff” Gulati , David J. Yates or Anas Tawileh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Public Administration, University of Texas, San Antonio, W. Durango Blvd. 501, San Antonio, 78207, USA

    Christopher G. Reddick

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Gulati, G.J.“., Yates, D.J., Tawileh, A. (2010). Towards E-participation in the Middle East and Northern Europe. In: Reddick, C. (eds) Comparative E-Government. Integrated Series in Information Systems, vol 25. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6536-3_4

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