From Websites to e-Government in Germany

Abstract

European neighbors wondered at Germanys relatively slow start into Electronic Government. With a certain anxiety they had looked at this nation of eighty millions with its five million of public employees — the level of entire countries like Norway, Finland or Denmark. Consequently Europe was not surprised that Germany in 1997 took over a pole position presenting the first law on digital signature, an important element for Electronic Government purposes. But it turned out that this early law meant only a pre-dawn. It turned out that Germany — as it is undoubtedly big — needed much time and energy to get itself in motion. The presumed “giant” evolved to be a specter of mostly isolated actions and projects. Since two years — beginning with a memorandum on Electronic Government triggered by the two major IT associations — there are more and more actors striving for joint action. German Federal Government set up the program “BundOnline2005” putting comprehensive targets and respectable money into the necessary transformation of government processes, aiming at — as Chancellor Schroeder stated — “not citizens but data have to run”. A public-private initiative “D21” is backing jointly strategies. Germany now appears to reach necessary pace to play the expected visionary role as well as to overcome the obstacles every innovative infrastructure at the beginning is confronted with.