The Technology Trap and the Role of Political and Cultural Variables: A Critical Analysis of the E-Government Policies

More than a decade after the first introduction of the e-government policies, early enthusiasms on its immediate benefits on the quality of democracy have undergone critical review. E-government implementation worldwide has proved that technology alone does not necessarily provide more access and more participation. Massive technological intervention is not enough for reinventing government online. Hence, other variables should be taken into consideration. Factors concerning political culture, cognitive frames and mentality, administrative traditions, as well as the country-specific peculiarities play a relevant role in determining if and how e-gov initiatives can succeed or fail. In this article, it will be argued that any opportunity and push for change and actual influence on administrations, governments, and societies, prompted by the new technologies, should endure important variables of political, social, and cultural nature. The political and socio-cultural variables then overcome the technological one and we can state that politics (still) determines (e-)policy. Copyright 2007 by The Policy Studies Organization.