E-Government and government transformation: technical interactivity, political influence and citizen return

E-Government services have been the subject of theoretical elaboration and regular evaluation surveys since around 2000. It is argued in this chapter that the theoretical paradigms used for methodology design in these surveys (and, therefore, their main results too) tend to neglect political influence as an analytic dimension and consider citizen return as resulting from technical interactivity. A critique is carried out of the assumptions underlying this paradigm and a complementary criterion is offered for the analysis of E-Government services. Available results from existing surveys are re-examined in light of this reflection. Findings reveal an indisputable growth in coverage (i.e. a larger percentage of services are available online) and in technical interactivity of government services online. However, a more careful look at the same surveys also supports the hypothesis that their results should not be taken as automatically meaning an increase in citizen engagement or that services are being developed from a starting point of the user's needs and expectations. On the contrary, data suggests that sophistication is increasing faster in the technical interactivity dimension than in citizen participation features. Simultaneously, services more closely related with the extractive activity of the state (e.g. that imply revenue or income generation) are placed online sooner and with more technical sophistication than services in other areas. Some data also suggests that these trends are not imperceptible to citizens. According to one survey, citizens expect from E-Government more consequences in state efficiency and cost reduction than in government transparency or accountability.