The obstacles and guidelines of establishing e-government in Iran: case study: Ministry of Commerce

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2007:052

M A S T E R ' S T H E S I S

The Obstacles and Guidelines of Establishing E-government in Iran

Case Study: Ministry of Commerce

Mahsa Fallahi

Luleå University of Technology Master Thesis, Continuation Courses

Marketing and e-commerce

Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce

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The Obstacles and Guidelines of Establishing E-government in Iran

(Case Study: Ministry of Commerce)

Supervisors:

Dr. Gholamali Montazer

Referee:

Dr. Lennart Persson

Prepared by:

Mahsa Fallahi

Tarbiat Modares University Faculty of Engineering

Department Industrial Engineering Lule University of Technology Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences

Division of Industrial Marketing and E-Commerce

MSc PROGRAM IN MARKETING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Joint

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I dedicate this thesis to my lovely husband Dr. Ali Fallahi, who has been my best friend; his love has been a tremendous source of pleasure, and relief.

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Abstract

Like the developing and developed countries in the world, Iran also has been embracing and processing the various aspects of e-government particularly in its affiliated ministries as well as Ministry of Commerce. However, in order to improve governmental services, increasing accountability, accurate and effective delivery of services, reducing administrative cost and time, capacity for planning management and increasing governmental staff productivity, Iran has faced with some obstacles. The purpose of this thesis is to distinguish the main obstacles for implementing e-government in the Ministry of Commerce. In this study, based on the literature review, different multi-stage models for implementation of e-government and various e-readiness models are discussed, and also according to the comparative studies and e-government architecture framework, an e-government readiness model is proposed. Based on the proposed model, I provided a questionnaire and then distributed among the managers and staff in the Ministry of Commerce who were familiar with IT and e-government .after the statistical analysis, the main obstacles became clear as: IT infrastructure obstacles, Social and cultural obstacles, Lack of IT skills, Legal obstacles and security obstacles. With regard to the obstacles, a few guidelines and also a Model for implementing e-government within the Ministry of Commerce of Iran can be proposed.

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Acknowledgements

I have learned a lot and really enjoyed while working on this master thesis. I would like to sincerely thank all those who helped me with their valuable support during the entire process of this thesis.

I am deeply indebted to my supervisors Dr.GholamAli Montazer from Tarbiat Modarres University for his valuable guidance, stimulating suggestions, patience and for encouraging me to go ahead with my thesis.

I also thank Prof. Lennart Persson at Lulea University of Technology in Sweden.

I would like to express my gratitude to my parents for the love, affection and support;

they have extended me every step for my life.

Special thanks for my kind husband for making this study possible.

Mahsa Fallahi.

April 2007.

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Table of Contents

Abstract... i

Acknowledgements... ii

Table of Contents ... iii

Chapter1 ...1

INTRODUCTION...1

1. Introduction... 1

1.1 Background... 1

1.2 Research Problem ... 2

1.3 Research Questions ... 3

1.4 Hypotheses ... 3

1.5 Disposition of the Study ... 3

Chapter 2 ...5

LITERATURE REVIEW... 5

2. Literature Review... 5

2.1 The Concepts of State and Government ... 5

2.1.1 State... 5

2.1.2 Government... 6

2.1.3 Reasons for government... 8

2.2 Definition of E-Government... 9

2.3 The Advantages of E-Government ... 12

2.3.1 Creating a better business environment ... 12

2.3.2 Strengthening good governance and broadening public participation ... 13

2.3.3 Improving the productivity and efficiency of government agencies... 13

2.3.4 Improving the quality of life ... 13

2.4 Models of the Stages of E-Government Implementation... 14

2.4.1 Howard's Model ... 15

2.4.2 Chandler and Emanuel s Model... 15

2.4.3 Layne and Lee's Model ... 15

2.4.4 United Nations DPEPA Model ... 17

2.4.5 Deloitte's Model ... 17

2.5 E-Readiness... 20

2.5.1 Defining E-Readiness... 21

2.5.2 E-Readiness Objective ... 22

2.5.3 Components of E-Readiness/Choice of Indicators ... 22

2.6 Comparative Studies ... 26

2.6.1 E-Government in Cyprus ... 26

2.6.2 E-Government in the United Kingdom...28

2.6.3 E-Government in Sweden ... 31

2.6.4 E-Government in Italy... 33

2.7 E-government Architecture Framework ... 35

2.7.1 Access Layer ... 36

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2.7.2 E-government Layer... 38

2.7.3 E-business Layer ... 38

2.7.4 Infrastructure Layer... 40

2.8 Proposed E-Government Readiness Model ... 42

2.8.1 Basic infrastructure and technology (IT Infrastructure)... 42

2.8.2 Skills and human resources (ICT education) ... 42

2.8.3 Security infrastructure ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.8.4 Legal and regulatory Environment... 42

2.8.5 Social and cultural Infrastructure ... 43

Chapter 3 ...44

Methodology... 44

3. Literature Review... 44

3.1 Research Process and Design ... 44

3.2 Research Purpose ... 45

3.3 Research Philosophy ... 46

3.4 Research Approach ... 47

3.4.1 Quantitative Approach ... 47

3.4.2. Qualitative Approach ... 47

3.5 Research Strategy... 48

3.6 Time Horizon ... 48

3.7 The Sample Design Process ... 49

3.7.1 Define the population ... 49

3.7.2 Determine the sampling frame ... 49

3.7.3 Select a Sampling Technique ... 49

3.7.4 Determining the sample size ... 49

3.8 Data Collection ... 50

3.8.1 Classification of Data & Data Collection Method ... 50

3.8.2 Collecting primary data using questionnaire... 53

3.9 Brief History of Ministry of Commerce ... 53

3.10 Issues regarding Validity and Reliability... 54

3.10.1 Reliability ... 55

3.10.2 Validity... 56

Chapter 4 ...57

Data Analysis & Result... 57

4. Data Analysis & Result... 57

4.1 Analysis ... 57

4.2 Descriptive analysis with usage of Frequency distribution and Binomial test for IT Infrastructural obstacles ... 58

4.2 Descriptive analysis with usage of Frequency distribution and Binomial test for Lack of IT skills obstacles... 73

4.3 Descriptive analysis with usage of Frequency distribution and Binomial test for Legal obstacles... 82

4.4 Descriptive analysis with usage of Frequency distribution and Binomial test for Security obstacles ... 96

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4.5 Descriptive analysis with usage of Frequency distribution and Binomial test

for Social and culture obstacles... 102

4.6 Conclusion... 112

4.6.1 The main IT infrastructural obstacles... 112

4.6.2 The main Social and culture obstacles ... 113

4.6.3 The main Lack of IT skills obstacles ... 113

4.6.4 The main Legal obstacles... 113

4.6.5 The main Security obstacles... 113

Chapter 5 ...114

Conclusion and Recommendations... 114

5. Conclusion and Recommendations... 114

5.1 Discussion and Conclusion ... 114

5.1.1 Respondents Specifications ... 115

5.2 The First round of Delphi for providing e-government solutions/guidelines 115 5.2.1 IT infrastructure guidelines ... 116

5.2.2 Social and cultural guidelines ... 116

5.2.3 IT skills shortage guidelines... 116

5.2.4 Legal and regulatory guidelines ... 117

5.2.5 Security guidelines ... 117

5.3 The Second round of Delphi for implementing e-government Framework .. 117

5.4 Proposed Model for implementing e-government within the Ministry of Commerce of Iran ... 118

References ...121

Appendixes...126

Appendix A... 126

Appendix B... 132

Appendix C... 133

Appendix D... 134

Descriptive Statistics... 134

Appendix E... 136

Persian Questionnaire... 136

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List of Tables

Table 2.1 Different classifications of the stages of e-government implementation ..19 Table 2.2 The focus of area in e-readiness model ...24

Table 3.1 Survey Techniques 52

Table 3.2 Reliability of the questionnaire . 55

Table 4.1 Descriptive analysis for Non accessibility to Internet Connection ...58

Table 4.2 Binomial test for Q1 ..59

Table 4.3 Descriptive analysis for Insufficiency of computers in an organization .. .59

Table 4.5 Descriptive analysis for the shortage or being inactive of informatics sector of

the organization ... ....61

Table 4.6 Binomial test for Q3 .. 61

Table 4.7 Descriptive analysis for Unavailability Website ... 62

Table 4.8 Binomial test for Q4 ...62

Table 4.9 Descriptive analysis for insufficient accessibility of users to Internet network63

Table 4.10 Binomial test for Q5 ....63

Table 4.11 Descriptive analysis for Low speed of network ... ...64

Table 4.12 Binomial test for Q6 64

Table 4.13 Descriptive analysis for Unavailability to the e-mail in the organization ...65

Table 4.15 Descriptive analysis for Lacking adequate system for responding to the users

who contact through e-mail . .66

Table 4.17 Descriptive analysis for Non probability of exchanging information through

internal network (Intranet) .. . ...67

Table4.19 Descriptive analysis for Lacking wireless communication in the

organization .. 69

Table 4.21 Descriptive analysis for Divergence of internal networks between different

units of organization .. . .70

Table 4.22 Binomial test for Q11 . .70

Table4.23 Descriptive analysis for The low level of network

security .. ...71

Table 4.25 Descriptive analysis for Lack of efficient banking system for e-

payment .. .. 72

Table4.27 Descriptive analysis for Shortage of literacy among the

staff ... .73

Table 4.29 Descriptive analysis for Shortage of literacy among the

user ... . .74

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Table 4.31 Descriptive analysis for The lack of IT educational programmes for the state-

owned sector ..76

Table 4.32 Binomial test for Q16 ... .76

Table 4.33 Descriptive analysis for The low level of senior official IT

knowledge ..77

Table 4.35 Descriptive analysis for Inaccessibility to the human resources having high

skills in the English language ... .78

Table 4.37 Descriptive analysis for Inaccessibility to the IT motivated forces in the

organization 79

Table 4.39 Descriptive analysis for Inadequate understanding of employee in the

organization of advantages and usage of e-

government 80

Table4.41 Descriptive analysis for Lacking security policies and

laws ... ... ..82

Table 4.43 Descriptive analysis for No protect by state and cultural makers of community

of e-government . .. ..83

Table 4.45 Descriptive analysis for the lack of a strategic plan for implementation of e-

government ... .85

Table 4.47 Descriptive analysis for Non grand and investment for making telecommunication and technical infrastructure ... .86

Table 4.48 Binomial test for Q24 ... ..87

Table 4.49 Descriptive analysis for Non-allocation of budget for meeting the expenses of commissioning and the purchase of hardware and software to the

organizations ..87

Table 4.51 Descriptive analysis for Non allocation of budget for meeting the expenses of connection to the internet network in the international

organizations . .89

Table 4.52 Binomial test for Q26 .89

Table 4.53 Descriptive analysis for Financial weakness for holding training courses for

the employees of organizations ..90

Table 4.55 Descriptive analysis for Lack of law for respecting human

rights ..91

Table 4.57 Descriptive analysis for Uncertainty of e-government incumbent ..93

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Table 4.59 Descriptive analysis for Unavailability of people to the credit

cards .. .94

Table 4.61 Descriptive analysis for Lack of co-ordination between different

organizations . .95

Table 4.63 Descriptive analysis for Non Security feeling towards personal data in e-

government ....96

Table 4.65 Descriptive analysis for Lack of codification of information and using digital

signature . 98

Table 4.67 Descriptive analysis for Non-Utilization of different security facilities including filtering, logging and authentication . .99

Table 4.69 Descriptive analysis for Non-Utilization of the softwares for fighting the

viruses ..100

Table 4.71 Descriptive analysis for Lack of acquaintance of technical employees of the organization with the issues concerning network security .. 102

Table 4.72 Binomial test for Q36 . ... 102

Table 4.73 Descriptive analysis for Lack of people s confidence in transaction in

electronic environment ... ..103

Table 4.74 Binomial test for Q37 ... 103

Table 4.75 Descriptive analysis for Inadequate apprehension of high and middle ranking

managers of e-government . ... ..104

Table 4.77 Q39: Unwillingness of supreme management to accept new initiatives

particularly to e-government .. . .105

Table 4.78 Binomial test for Q39 .. ..106

Table 4.79 Descriptive analysis for Lack of attempt of high and middle ranking managers for making an adequate atmosphere for implementing e-

government ... ...106

Table4.80Binomial test for Q40 ..107

Table 4.81 Descriptive analysis for Resistance against changes by senior

managers . .108

Table 4.82 Binomial test for Q41 .. ..108

Table 4.83 Descriptive analysis for The resistance of the employees of organization

against the changes and new concepts .109

Table 4.84 Binomial test for Q42 ....109

Table 4.85 Descriptive analysis for The high speed of IT changes and inability of

organization in accompanying it ..110

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Table 4.87 Descriptive analysis for The feeling of employees of organization regarding acquisition of processes and unwilling to the transparency of processes

and trends .111

Table 5.1 Respondents Specifications . 115

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Table of Figures

Figure 1.1 Disposition of the Study ....9

Figure 2.1 Mapping technologies to e-government stages (Layne and Lee, 2001) ...16

Figure 2.2 Framework of e-government architecture ....37

Figure 3.1: Phase of Research Process: (Zikmund, 2000) .45

Figure 4.1: Bar chart of Non accessibility to Internet Connection ..59 Figure 4.2 Bar chart of Insufficiency of computers in an organization .60 Figure 4.3 Bar chart of the shortage or being inactive of informatics sector of the

organization 61

Figure 4.5: Bar chart of insufficient accessibility of users to Internet network .63

Figure 4.6 Bar chart of Low speed of network ..64

Figure 4.7 Bar chart of Unavailability to the e-mail in the organization ... 65 Figure 4.8 Bar chart of lacking adequate system for responding to the users who contact

through e-mail .. ..66

Figure 4.9 Bar chart of Non probability of exchanging information through internal

network (Intranet) ...68

Figure 4.10 Bar chart of lacking wireless communication in the organization .69 Figure 4.11 Bar chart of Divergence of internal networks between different units of

organization .. ..70

Figure 4.13 Bar chart of Lack of efficient banking system for e-payment ....72 Figure 4.14 Bar chart of Shortage of literacy among the staff ..74 Figure 4.15 Bar chart of Shortage of literacy among the user ...75 Figure 4.16 Bar chart of the lack of IT educational programmes for the state-owned

sector ..76

Figure 4.17 Bar chart of the low level of senior official IT knowledge ....77 Figure 4.18 Bar chart of Inaccessibility to the human resources having high skills in the

English language ... .78

Figure 4.19 Bar chart of Inaccessibility to the IT motivated forces in the

organization 79

Figure 4.20 Bar chart of Inadequate understanding of employee in the organization of

advantages and usage of e-government . 81

Figure 4.21 Bar chart of lacking security policies and laws .. 82 Figure 4.22 Bar chart of No protect by state and cultural makers of community of e-

government 84

Figure 4.23 Bar chart of the lack of a strategic plan for implementation of e-

government ... .85

Figure 4.24 Bar chart of Non grand and investment for making telecommunication and

technical infrastructure ... 86

Figure 4.25 Bar chart of Non-allocation of budget for meeting the expenses of commissioning and the purchase of hardware and software to the

organizations . .88

Figure 4.26 Bar chart of Non allocation of budget for meeting the expenses of connection to the internet network in the international organizations .89 Figure 4.27 Bar chart of financial weakness for holding training courses for the

employees of organizations 90

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Figure 4.29 Bar chart of Uncertainty of e-government incumbent 93 Figure 4.30 Bar chart of Unavailability of people to the credit cards 94 Figure 4.31 Bar chart of Lack of co-ordination between different organizations ...95 Figure 4.32 Non Security feeling towards personal data in e-government 97 Figure 4.33 Lack of codification of information and using digital signature 98 Figure 4.34 Non-Utilization of different security facilities including filtering, logging and

authentication .99

Figure 4.35 Non-Utilization of the softwares for fighting the viruses . 101 Figure 4.36 Lack of acquaintance of technical employees of the organization with the

issues concerning network security .102

Figure 4.37 Lack of people s confidence in transaction in electronic

environment .103

Figure 4.38 Inadequate apprehensions of high and middle ranking managers of e-

government .. 104

Figure 4.39 Unwillingness of supreme management to accept new initiatives particularly

to e-government .. .105

Figure 4.40 Lack of attempt of high and middle ranking managers for making an adequate atmosphere for implementing e-government 107 Figure 4.41 Resistance against changes by senior managers . ..108 Figure 4.42 The resistance of the employees of organization against the changes and new

concepts ... ..109

Figure 4.43 The high speed of IT changes and inability of organization in accompanying

it .. .110

Figure 4.44 The feeling of employees of organization regarding acquisition of processes and unwilling to the transparency of processes and trends ..112 Figure 5.1 The five stages proposed framework for Iran .118

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Chapter1

INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction

The purpose with this chapter is to present the problem area. Initially, an introduction, and a background is provided in order to motivate the importance of the subject. Next, the problem discussion is included, which result in a formulation of the research problem and research question. Finally, a disposition of this study is provided to guide the reader through the rest of the report.

1.1 Background

During the last decade a revolution in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is being witnessed. This revolution is not only changing the daily life of people but also changing characteristics of the interaction between the governments and their citizens. These changes, in turn, are rapidly being transformed into new forms of government, namely, E-Government.

E-government is defined as the use of technology, particularly the Internet, as a means to deliver services to citizens, businesses, and other entities. Operational benefits from the introduction of Internet-based e-commerce, for government and public sector companies, include the reduction in paperwork, the provision of continuous service availability to customers, a reduction in response time, and a reduction in error rate. All of these factors contribute to the general increase in the efficiency of government business. E-government encapsulates a wide variety of meanings ranging from policies that foster the development of information infrastructures to particular measures for combating the digital divide. It also involves a series of measures to improve the operation of the state s administrative functions. E-government is often now seen as a synonym, or a condition for good governance, which has been linked to the presence of democratic institutions and participation of its citizens.

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Though e-government has clear benefits for businesses and government themselves, citizens actually receive the widest array of benefits from e-government. For the citizens, e-government can offer a huge range of information and services including information for research, government forms and services, public policy information, employment and business opportunities, voting information, tax filing, license registration or renewal, payment of fines, and submission of comments to government officials. This means that the key to making e-government work is not technology but the citizens as there are still many people who do not or cannot access to computers and Internet. This is due to the gap between citizens attributes including gender, education, income, age, households, business, and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels with regard to both their opportunities to access ICTs and their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities (Jaeger, 2002).

Among the potential benefits of e-government are savings in money and time for the government, citizens, and businesses. Moreover, users of governmental information services will benefit by greater 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access to higher quality services. Most importantly, the relationship between government and citizens can evolve from its traditional hierarchical one to a more reciprocal one where citizens are genuine stakeholders in their government. Although the use of these technologies is rapidly growing in the economic and production systems of the world, they are not available "off the shelf ". They have to be understood, absorbed, and mastered (Schware and Deane ,2003).

1.2 Research Problem

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are playing an increasingly vital role in the daily lives of people, revolutionizing work and leisure and changing the rules of doing business. In the realm of government, ICT applications are promising to enhance the delivery of public goods and services to citizens not only by improving the process and management of government, but also by redefining the traditional concepts of citizenship and democracy.

Although E-government promises some striking opportunities to improve the business of any government, but this vision is not without a series of serious obstacles. Hurdles such as citizen awareness of electronic services and information, the digital divide and an exodus of skilled workers must be overcome to get from where we are today to the vision of e-government. Also, the multidimensionality and complexity of e-government initiatives implies the existence of a wide variety of challenges and barriers to its implementation and management.

Nowadays, governments around the world are embracing electronic government. In every region of the globe, from developing countries to industrialized ones, national and local governments are putting critical information online, automating cumbersome processes and interacting electronically with their citizens. Also, Iran as a developing country has been embracing e-government to meet the mentioned aims.

However, there are obstacles against establishing e-government in our country. Since the topic of my thesis is: The Obstacles and Guidelines of establishing e-government in the Ministry of Commerce, so it is tried to distinguish the existing obstacles in order to make a better environment for implementation of e-government.

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1.3 Research Questions

To fulfill the purpose of this research questions shall be addressed,

What are the main obstacles of implementing e-government in the Iranian Ministry of Commerce?

Which obstacles have the most effect on implementing e-government in the Iranian Ministry of Commerce?

What solutions or guidelines could be offered for the Iranian Ministry of Commerce?

1.4 Hypotheses

H1= There are some obstacles for implementing e-government in the Iranian Ministry of Commerce.

1.5 Disposition of the Study

In the first chapter a broader problem has been narrowed down to research problem and main hypotheses. The literature review in chapter two, will give the reader an overall review of different models connected to the hypotheses. Based on the literature review a frame of reference is presented where the theoretical framework is selected to assist the data collection. In chapter three the methodology of this study is presented. Chapter four presents the data analysis and results draw from the study and finally chapter five indicated discussion, conclusions. A visualization of the disposition of this study is showed in figure 1.1

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Chapter 3 Methodology

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Chapter 4

Data Analysis & Results

Chapter 5 Conclusion

Figure 1.1 Disposition of the Study

Chapter 1 Introduction

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Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2. Literature Review

This chapter will have a review on literature and related models to the research problem. In this chapter we will introduce the concepts of government, state, e- government and models for implementing e-government e-readiness and comparative studies, in order to give a clear idea about the research area.

2.1 The Concepts of State and Government

2.1.1 State

A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, which successfully claims the monopoly of the use of force. It may or may not have an organized government to exist. Several states have had episodes were two or more groups dispute control of the government, but they never lost their state quality. Thus, a government is not necessary for a state to be a state as long as its existence is recognized by the international community (Huggins, 1997). The scope of state is much more beyond its structure.In general state consists of four elements (Held,1998):

i. Territory: Territory is an area of land under the jurisdiction of a governmental authority. Territory can, though, include any geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign and does not have a political division status. The remainder of this article deals with political territories.

ii. Authority: Authority is often used interchangeably with the term power. However, their meanings differ. Power refers to the ability to achieve

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certain ends, authority refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power.

iii. Population: Population is the collection of people, or organisms of a particular species, living in a given geographic area, or space, usually by census.

iv. Government: Government is a body that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, or other organization or group. However, these are not physical laws. In its broadest sense, "to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over a state, a set group of people, or a collection of assets.

From another point of view, state differs from government by nature.As a matter of fact the nature of state is permanently, but the nature of government is temporarrily (Plano and Olton, 1998).As a whole, we should make a difference between the form of government and form of state.The form of government is so-called political regime.Of course,we face to some countries with the same form but different political regimes.For instance Sweden and Italy are unitary states,but the former has royal regime and the latter, republic.

A useful way to understand the current debates in political science is following Stephen Krasner explanation. According to him, political scientists go around four different

conceptions of the state (Krasner, 1973):

The state is government or as an actor on its own right. In some of these approaches the state is a self contained unitary actor in which the state interacts with others to maximize their interests.

The state is a public bureaucracy and institutionalized legal order. The pluralist theories of the state assumed that the state was composed of different political actors and that the well-being of the state depended on allocating power to the most representative groups or individuals.

1. The state is ruling class (Marxist theories of the state). In this view the state is a distortion of social life as it serves the interest of the ruling class, perpetuating the exploitation of humans against humans.

2. The state is normative order (symbolic and cultural theories of the state). In general, these views spouse the idea that the state is the resultant symbolic, normative, cultural and moral expression of social life.

2.1.2 Government

A government is the body that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws within an organization or group. In its broadest sense," to govern" means to administer or supervise, whether over an area of land, a set group of people, or a collection of assets.

We often use the term "government" to mean everything connected with running a country, including the people or parties in power and their laws, customs, and institutions. In fact, that is what we mean when we talk about "levels of government" or a "system of government" (Lockard, 1995).

Two taxonomies are recognized for the categorization of government types. In the first governments are described by who gets to rule. Monarchies have hereditary rules, less chosen than nurtured into the post. Oligarchies are governed by a few wealthy members of the community, democracies are governed by the governed, and anarchies are

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regulated by no one. A more useful taxonomy examines the concentration of power. A continuum of government types may include a limited monarchy (post Runnymede England), a constitutional monarchy, a representative democracy (The United States), and direct democracy (Stewart and Stoker, 1995).

As mentioned before, effective governments possess two attributes: authority and legitimacy. Authority is the ability to compel obedience. Authority can be derived from naked force or terror as was the cases in Stalinist Russia or Baathist Iraq or from a social contract between governed and government as is the case in many western democracies.

Legitimacy is the attribute of a government that prompts the governed to acquiesce willingly to its authority. Legitimacy is gained through the acquisition and application of power in accordance with recognized or accepted standards or principles. That is to say that a legitimate government will "do the right thing" and therefore deserves to be respected and obeyed. Authority can be upheld through violent means while legitimacy must be earned. As legitimacy is challenged the use of violence to maintain authority increases.

From another point of view, governments perform three functions: They enforce the rules, the executive function, and the judicial function wherein the rules are interpreted.

Government concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as trade, education, medicine, entertainment, and war. However, there are two main areas of concern (Blondel, 1969):

Enforcement of Power: Government use a variety of methods to maintain the established order, such as secrecy, police and military forces, making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state, Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the infrastructure for administration, justice, transport, communication, social welfare etc. Claiming support from deities, providing benefits to elites, holding elections for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through laws and constitutions and appealing to nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should or should not do.

Territory: The modern standard unit of territory is a country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory, sub national entities may have local governments which don't have the full power of a national government (for example, they will generally lack the authority to declare war or carry out diplomatic negotiations).

Government concern themselves with regulating and administering many areas of human activity, such as trade, education, or medicine. Government also employ different methods to maintain the established other, such as secrecy, police and military forces, making agreements with other states, and maintaining support within the state. Typical methods of maintaining support and legitimacy include providing the infrastructure for administration, justice, transport, communication, social welfare etc. Providing benefits to elites, providing shops for important posts within the state, limiting the power of the state through laws and constitutions and appealing to nationalism. Different political ideologies hold different ideas on what the government should not do. The modern standard unit of territory is a country. In addition to the meaning used above, the word

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state can refer either to a government or to its territory. Within a territory, sub national entities may have local governments which do not have the full power of a national government.

2.1.3 Reasons for government

There are a wide range of theories about the reasons for establishing governments. The four major ones are briefly described below. Note that they don't always fully oppose each other; it is possible for a person to subscribe to a combination of ideas from two or more of these theories (Blondel, 1969).

2.1.3.1 Greed and oppression

Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as Anarchism, and to a lesser extent Marxism), as well as others, emphasize the historical roots of governments. The fact that governments originated from the authority of warlords and petty despots who took, by force, certain patches of land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus it is argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak (Crewe and Harrrop, 1986).

2.1.3.2 Order and tradition

The various forms of conservatism, by contrast, generally see the government as a positive force that brings order out of chaos, establishes laws to end the "war of all against all" encourage moral virtue while punishing vice, and respects tradition.

Sometimes, in this view, the government is seen as something ordained by a higher power, as in the divine right of kings, which human beings have a duty to obey (Aberbach et al. 1981).

2.1.3.3 Natural rights

Natural rights are the basis for the theory of government shared by most branches of liberalism (including libertarianism). In this view, human beings are born with certain natural rights, and governments are established strictly for the purpose of protecting those rights. What the natural rights actually are is a matter of dispute among liberals-both in the sense of a definition of "rights", and in the sense of listing which rights are natural.

Indeed, each branch of liberalism has its own set of rights that it considers to be natural, and these rights are sometimes mutually exclusive with the rights supported by other liberals (Allett, 1982)

2.1.3.4 Social content

One of the most influential theories of government in the past two hundred years has been the social contract, on which modern democracy and most forms of socialism are founded. The social contract theory holds that governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safely form crime, poverty, illiteracy) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a ser of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may

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change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession (Bahro, 1995).

2.2 Definition of E-Government

E-governance, however, is a term which is used much less often and for which there are fewer definitions. This is rather odd, given that the topic of governances has been very topical for over a decade and many OECD governments have incorporated governance issues in their reform programmes (Khosrowpour, 2005).

Richard Heeks propose that the term "e-governance" should be seen to encompass all ICTs, but the key innovation is that of computer networks, from intranets to the Internet, which have created a wealth of new digital connections:

Connections within government, permitting "joined-up thinking."

Connections between government and NGO/citizens, strengthening accountability.

Connections between government and business/citizens, transforming service delivery.

Connections within and between NGOs, supporting learning and concerted action.

Connections within and between communities, building social and economic development.

As a result, Heeks suggests, the focus of e-governance shifts from just parts of e- administration, in the case e-government, to also encompass e-citizens, e-services and e- society.

The joint UNESCO-COMNET-IT study of e-governance defines governance as "the process by which society steers itself." It goes on to state that :" in this process, the interactions between the state, private enterprise and civil society are being increasingly conditioned and modified through the influence of ICTs" (Aicholzer and Schmutzer, 2000) Examples of these shifts in dynamics are exemplified by:

Use of the Internet by civil society, NGOs and professional associations to mobilize opinion and influence decision-making processes that affect them;

Increasing electronic delivery of government and commercial services and information;

Electronic publication of draft legislation and statement of direction for public feedback;

On the infrastructure side, the increased adoption of e-enabled community centers, the liberalization of telecommunication markets and trends towards web-enabled mobile telephony and digital television are facilitating this evolution.

Jim Melitski describes the "e-governance journey" as a continuum which begins with information provision when organizations and public agencies publish statistic information to the Internet, but then moves on as public organizations become more advanced and are able to provide more dynamic, transactional services. Ultimately the continuum leads to organizational transformation, the transparency of public agencies,

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government is at one end of government, and facilitation of democratic processes. Kei Ho claims that the early 1990s was the starting point of the concept of e-government. The reason for this was the use of electronic mail, list-servers and the World Wide Web to deliver services and information to its citizens. By the end of the 1990s, governments worldwide were pursuing e-government projects to provide information and services to citizens and businesses electronically (Kei Ho, 2002).

Since these early implementations of e-government, successive governments have increasingly recognized the problems of successfully developing ICT systems that are significant when set against the backdrop of funding allocated to e-government project.

The terms used to define e-government are nebulous and it means many things to different stakeholder groups. However, in extrapolating common strands from the taxonomies proposed by Al-Sebie and in the various definitions that have been proposed the following key issues feature prominently (Al-Sebie and Irani, 2003):

Technology to deliver government services electronically.

Transaction processes and the transformation of e-Government services.

Benefit portfolio for delivery of government services electronically to the public.

Citizens as the central focus of service delivery.

Delivery of government services through a single online point of access.

E-government is a concept that is in a seemingly constant state of development. Given the diversity of concepts of e-government around the world, creating a workable definition of e-government is becoming very difficult. A simple definition of electronic government is considering as such every governmental action that is based on the use of computer networks. On this basis, different types of interactions can be distinguished:

G2C (Government to Citizen), G2B (Government to Business), G2G (Government to Government) and, recently, G2NGO (Government to Non-Governmental Organizations) and G2NPO (Government to Non-Profit Organizations).

Different countries have perceived the meaning and content of e-government differently, which is related to their specific political systems. The New Zealand government suggests that e-government is a way for governments to use the new technologies to provide people with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve the quality of the services and to provide greater opportunities to participate in our democratic institutions and processes. The Italian government uses the term e- government to refer to the use of modern ICTs in the processes of modernizing the administration of the state and suggests that it comprises the following categories of activity:

1.Direct provision of information for improving the internal operating efficiency of administrative units;

2.Activities which lead directly to the information of the delivery of services to citizens and companies, which often implies the integration of services provided by several administrative units;

3.Activities which lead directly to providing end users with electronic access to public services and to all relevant information about them.

The OECD states that the term e-government focuses on the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by governments as applied to the full range of government functions. In particular, the networking potential offered by the Internet and

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related technologies has the potential to transform the structures and operation of government.

These definitions have strong parallels with the definition adopted by some individual OECD member governments. The Cabinet Office in the UK, for example, suggests that e-government focuses on better services for citizens and businesses and more effective use of the Government's information resources. The UK also make it clear that transactions may be included in e-government, if certain conditions are met. Specifically, it suggests that electronic service delivery means delivery through Internet protocols and other ICT methods and includes delivery by telephone if the transaction carried out is electronically enabled.

Academics have suggested various definitions for e-government. For Lenk and Traunmuller, it can be seen as a guiding vision that includes all proposals for modernization and reorganization of public administration (Montagna, 2005). Whitson and Davis have defined e-government as implementing cost-effective models for citizens, industry, federal employees, and other stakeholders to conduct business transactions online. Tapscott has defined e-governments as an inter-networked government, and Nadler and Tushman emphasized that technology is only one of the structural materials.

Sprecher considers e-government as a technology to help simplify and automate transactions between governments and constituents, businesses, or other governments.

Burn and Robins explain e-government as governments' efforts to provide citizens with the information and services they need, using a range of information and communication technologies. Luling defines e-government as online government services, that is, any interaction one might have with any government body or agency, using the Internet (Whitson and Davis, 2001). In a wide interpretation of this term, many authors include projects related to e-Democracy, e-Voting, e-Assistance, e-Health ware, etc. In a more delimited definition that is developed in this article, it refers just to the administrative processes related to what is called e-Administration.

Due to these views, definitions of e-government range from the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems to the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees . The common theme behind these definitions is that e-government involves the automation or computerization of existing paper-based procedures that will prompt new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding strategies, new ways of transacting business, new ways of listening to citizens and communities, and new ways of organizing and delivering information (Patricia, 2003).

In other cases, we come to the concept of e-government starting from e-commerce since in both cases the same infrastructure, hardware and, sometimes, software are used. The Internet has had great influence creating e-services. Boyer et al. define them as comprising all interactive services that are delivered on the Internet using advanced telecommunications, information and multimedia technologies (Fountain, 2001) .Also, some recent definitions see e-government as the various ways government uses information and communication technologies to remain relevant in the knowledge society. It may be concluded that the generic and broad term e-government includes many various problems ranging from technical aspects to a series of organizational and management problems: implementation, organizational change and behavior,

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bureaucracy, etc. It is an environment that is not completely defined from the academic point of view and that has been attacked both from the theoretical point of view by specialists in political sciences, sociology and economics, and from the practical point of view by disciplines such as public politics and management, organizational behavior, etc.

2.3 The Advantages of E-Government

E-government, if implemented properly, can improve current government services, increase accountability, result in more accurate and efficient delivery of services, reduce administrative costs and time spent on repetitive tasks for government employees, facilitate greater transparency in the administration of government, and allow greater access to services due to the around the clock availability of the Internet. E-government also allows governments to offer enhanced services by creating new ways to interact with the government, such as email, online meetings and forums for voicing opinion, online transactions, and online voting. A positive relationship has been identified between engagement on the Internet and participation in civic and political issues. By creating a viable Internet presence, a government can generate interest in the political process among young citizens who frequently use the Internet (MacIntosh et al., 2003). E- government is even used in some locations as a method to reduce corruption in government functions, as a computer will not likely ask for a bribe to do its job. More important, it aims to help strengthen government s drive toward effective governance and increased transparency to better manage a country s social and economic resources for development.

The Working Group on E-Government in the Developing World has identified four broad categories of goals commonly pursued for e-government. E-government is a means to accomplish these broader social goals, goals that move beyond mere efficiency of government processes to that of overall reform and development. The existence goals of e-government are not listed in any particular order of importance, as each country must determine its priorities in e-government:

2.3.1 Creating a better business environment

Technology is a proven catalyst in increasing productivity and economic growth, especially in rural and underserved communities. The use of ICTs in government and the establishment of an e-government infrastructure help create a business-friendly environment by streamlining the interaction and improving the interface between government and business, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). By cutting out redundancies in procedures and emphasizing immediate and efficient delivery of services, e-government creates the conditions that attract investors and investment.

This goal is highly dependent on the country, its industry strengths and its global competitive advantage. Once identified, these should be incorporated in the country s e- government strategy, with agencies, the bureaucracy and public services aligned towards promoting these sectors. E-procurement, for example, can open new markets to local businesses by opening up the government procurement process, making it more competitive, fair, effective and efficient.