Different definitions of e-government agree that it involves the use of information and communication technologies in governmental operations. One of the long-term intentions of e-government is to improve the transparency of the government processes and to allow simpler participation of citizens. The characteristics of contemporary e-government include provision of one-stop-shop services following the once-only principle, use of social media with the goal of including citizens in government processes, open government and the exploitation of big data to increase the transparency of government processes. Contemporary developments in e-government have a potential to increase participation of the citizens in the democratic processes and to eliminate corruption because they create an environment with increased levels of transparency.
This thesis reports upon an empirical study of e-government in five countries of Denmark, Estonia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The goal of the study is to analyze the development of e-government of these five countries in relation to the level of corruption and the political participation of their citizens. The relation is analyzed using linear regression as a central methodological tool as well as data from years 2003, 2010 and 2016. The results of the analysis show that the higher level of corruption is highly related with less developed e-government. The results on the degree of political participation indicate the absence of relation with the development of e-government.
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