Emerging Electronic Infrastructures

Abstract

The concepts of electronic government and electronic democracy have common roots in that electronic government must rest on, and support, democratic principles. This article discusses how the components of a democratic society are treated as they are built into the emerging electronic infrastructures, dealing with services and dialogues pertinent to the functioning of the public sector, and tries to find emerging patterns. This article opens a discussion on the nature of the emerging infrastructures by reviewing four implementations of local e-democracy and putting them into the context of global e-government development, in particular the European Union’s development of “eEurope.” It is found that the cases represent different models of democracy, models that are only partially explicit. The development is governed more by gradual implementation of information and communication technology than a general political agenda. This means local actors have great influence, and hence, e-democracy is not deterministic; it can come in many shapes.