Legal Issues for E-Government in Developing Countries

Abstract

The development of government online should be seen as an evolutionary process (Morison, 2003). The rate of evolution depends on complex factors (Morison, 2003), including perceived incompatibilities between cultures and technologies, an idealistic preference for self-reliance, and a simple lack of economic or human resources to acquire and utilise the technology. Notwithstanding these causes, effective use of ICTs is biased by race, gender, and location. However, the technologies have been developed to a large extent in and for the cultural and social norms of a small number of developed countries. Although there are global flows of knowledge, skills, and artefacts from the epicenters of e-government in the industrialised world to transitional and developing economies, these flows are more unidirectional transfers than bidirectional exchanges (Minogue, 2001). This article attempts to provide a cognitive map of two of the major issues. First, it provides an overview of the legal issues related to e-government from the perspective of developing countries, and second, it critically examines how far technology leapfrogging could serve as an alternative pathway toward development of e-government in developing countries.