Utopia or dystopia: a review of E-government influence on Chinas authoritarian and Estonias democratic consolidation.

Abstract

Information and communication technologies’ (ICTs’) use for public purposes has been a topic of interest for a long time. Most theories dealing with the influence of the internet on democracy argue that this technology can potentially enhance democracy and freedom (Kobayashi 2006; Kaye and Johnson 2002; Deibert 2000; Coleman and Gøtze 2002 as cited in Margolis, 2009); also, empirical research has shown that countries with high internet usage are statistically more likely to be democratic (Best & Wade, 2007; Best & Wade, 2009; Seo & Thorson, 2017). In sum, the evidence presented above will allow us to propose that the growth of internet users in many countries leads to the likelihood of deepening democratic processes. However, other studies have shown that the above results are not globally consistent. For instance, Best, et. al (2009) claim that “some regions do not enjoy a positive Internet/democracy correlation, suggesting that the Internet can be used both as a tool for democratization as well as an instrument for authoritarianism".(Best & Wade, 2009, p.255). These phenomena are very important to examine because they provide proof that the mere existence of the internet is not sufficient to cause democratization and “it (the Internet) can be customized to serve the goals of authoritarian regimes” (Stier, 2015, p.273). As discussed above, the internet is a tool used to achieve different political goals, and can be applied in various ways, and its applications have increased over time. Hence, there are different uses of the internet. For instance, ICT’s public uses can be divided into four different fields: education, information diffusion, political mobilization and public sector modernization. This research will focus on E-government, which is the use of ICTs by public entities to increase overall public sector performance. This choice is due to the following reasons. First, public sector modernization “is no longer an option, but a necessity. It will help governments respond to changing societal needs and maintain competitiveness in an uncertain international environment” (OECD, 2005). Thus, tools for achieving public sector modernization through the introduction of ICTs are optimal for increasing efficiency.