The Paradigm of E-Commerce in E-Government and E-Democracy

Electronic Markets, 2006

For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their respective sectors, private and public. Some time ago, we presented early insights from a comparative study of the two phenomena. This paper reports on more robust findings from an ongoing empirical investigation and deepens our understanding of similarities and differences between e-Commerce and e-Government. The findings show that despite major similarities the two phenomena follow quite separate and distinct trajectories.

At first man was illiterate; long thereafter, but before the invention of paper, he became literate. In recent times man has become e-literate. The electronic revolution has transformed the way man does business and has brought about a great transformation in the law. This transformation has given birth to what we call ‘e-commerce’ and ‘e-governance’. In Sri Lanka, the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Act of 2006 has facilitated to a great extent the transformation from traditional modes of commerce to what we now call “e-commerce”, and more recently, from traditional modes of government to e-governance. Of course this transformation is an on-going process, which is both fascinating and challenging. This article, which was published in the Bar Association Law Journal at [2007] BALJ Vol. XIII at page 1, focuses on some pertinent issues that arise in the context of the transformation from a paper based world to a paper-less society.

For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their respective sectors, private and public. Some time ago, we presented early insights from a comparative study of the two phenomena. This paper reports on more robust findings from an ongoing empirical investigation and deepens our understanding of similarities and differences between e-Commerce and e-Government. The findings show that despite major similarities the two phenomena follow quite separate and distinct trajectories.

This paper discusses one aspect of the relationship that the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in business has with the use of ICT in government and administration. It argues that democracies rely on their ethical legitimacy and that framing e-Government and e-Democracy in commercial terms can jeopardise this legitimacy. For this purpose the paper distinguishes between e-Government as service delivery and e-Democracy as the more radical use of ICT for democratic deliberation and policy formulation. It argues that the commercial paradigm can support some of the moral values underpinning democracy but it can also have a negative effect on them by equating customers and citizens, by likening the political and the economic system and by promoting hidden agendas and ideologies. The conclusion argues that democratic decision makers need to pay attention to these relationships. Otherwise they not only endanger the success of e-Government and e-Democracy but may even thr...

e-Government, 2001

Inevitably, the boom in technology and informational technology have had an impact on the business world since the late '80s, when the Internet began to penetrate the lives of millions of users around the globe. Currently, concepts such as e-business or e-commerce have found their place and applicability inside the global economy with ease, knowing it promoted models exhibiting an accelerated rate of development, well above the usual average growing rate of the traditional economy. Although the industry (especially the American one) saw a critical moment in the early 2000s, the obstacles have been overcome, confirming a continuous rise of electronic commerce in the last twenty years. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the characteristics of electronic commerce, the global implementation stage, reviewing in the process the main steps taken in this area up to the present and last but not least to identify possible development trends for the future.

2015

During the last decade computerised technology and advanced information systems in public administration has increased. Today these implementations in public sector are often part of the overarching idea of e-government. Included in the e-government concept there is also an expectation of an organizational redesign and a rethinking of public administration work in general. Lenk & Traunmuller (2000) points out that if the guiding vision ‘e-government’ should be realised, the public administration has to go through an institutional change. This is, as many researchers (Fountain 2001, Lin & Conford 2000, and Lenk & Traunmuller 2000) have noticed, not something that happens automatically. The public sector has a long institutional memory with ingrained habits which are embedded in routines, norms and bureaucratic politics. These institutional settings are carried by both individuals, cultures and structures within the organization and will absTRaCT

Every nation, organizations, business houses are trying to find the ways that will reduce their resource consumption meanwhile maximize the benefits to their citizens, clients, customers and others stakeholders. Use of information and technology has helped us to make our personal and professional life comfortable. Many countries, having accepted the capacity of IT in transforming the systems of governance and have adopted e-governance as the preferred model for delivering services to their citizens. Information Technology (IT) has become an obligatory part of our daily lives and we continue to rely on it increasingly as it takes a central space in both our personal and public sphere.