E-Government and E-Democracy

Abstract

E-government can make government institutions more transparent, help citizens to obtain access to public information and broaden their participation in the democratic processes. But it is doubtful that all these possibilities can be fully realized today or in the very near future, because only a small proportion of the world population has access to the Internet. This article analyses the possibilities and obstacles to using the Internet to promote democracy in different regions. It compares the situation of e-government and democracy in the North and South. The article focuses in particular on South Africa's experience, as a country which lives in both the developed and developing world at the same time.