The Digital Citizen

E-Government, or the introduction, management and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the public sector, has the ability to transform relationships between governments and citizens. In the digital age, policy makers and government officials have acknowledged that e-government is crucial to achieving important policy aims such as more effective and cost-efficient government, enhanced public participation and trust, and good governance. E-Government can enable governments to fundamentally redesign their relationships with citizens and adopt a 'citizen-centric' rather than agency-centred approach. This applies not only to technical or organisational design issues, but also to the protection of democratic citizen rights like equality, privacy, security and political participation in emerging e-government relationships. In this timely and important book, Miriam Lips presents the first systematic study on the citizen's perspective of its emerging ICT-facilitated relationships with government agencies, and their implications.
She explores the needs in governance and democratic design of e-government relationships not only from the e-government user's perspective but, more powerfully, from a perspective of the 'whole citizen'.