A lot has been said about e-government, or "e-gov," and many efforts have been made to sell government on its benefits. However, there does not seem to be a good, widely shared definition of what e-gov is, or more important what it can be. A workable definition should encompass the variety of information and telecommunication technologies through which a government can connect directly with its citizens and enhance service delivery, provide sustainable economic development, and safeguard democracy.The service-delivery (and to a lesser degree economic-development) dimensions of e-gov have already been much discussed. The ability to pay a parking ticket or taxes on line, register for a variety of governmental programs, and link to an institution that is far away are all within the reach of governments and the information technology (IT) community today. But the democracy aspects of e-gov are more obscure and difficult to pinpoint. These aspects are the topic of this article.The United States is a representative democracy (if one discounts the voices of despair that criticize the slippery slope of "democracy by referendum" so active in the Western states of the country). Still, the ability to establish oneto-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many communication paths may engender forms of direct, participatory democracy that could ultimately marginalize or even replace the elected official. Although only an extrapolation from present capabilities, nevertheless this possibility should encourage us to be mindful of both the public' s frustration with traditional models of involvement and the potential of e-gov to provide alternative, more effective approaches.Whatever the ultimate effect on our form of government, one thing seems likely: the comparative ease with which e-gov makes it possible for a citizen to contact a government official will result in profuse expression of opinion and concern.The existing governmental system is not set up to manage the potential for conflict in this situation or to find ways to absorb the potential enthusiasm NATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW, vol. 90, no. 3, Fall 2001
Costis Toregas is the president of Public Technology, Inc. He holds Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in environmental and electrical engineering. His articles on technology-based local government innovations and public enterprise include "Technology: A Bridge to the States: Intergovernmental Opportunities of Devolution (1996); Out with the Old, In with Re-engineering (1993); New Technologies and Management of the Public Sector (1992) and numerous others.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.