E-Government Fundamentals

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most important characteristics of our age and every new development changes our lives to some extent. Its evolution has dramatically changed how citizens interact with their government, creating an important development in their expectations (Dodd, 2000). Following e-commerce’s evolution in the private sector, electronic government (e-government) seems to be the next generation of the development in the public sector. More and more governments around the world are introducing e-government as a means of reducing costs, improving services for citizens and increasing effectiveness and efficiency at national, regional and local levels of the public sector. 179 out of 192 UN members reported that they developed strategies to implement e-government systems and therefore e-government has been identified as one of the top priorities for governments across the world (UN, 2008). The main concepts of e-government will be discussed in following sections.