Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 25th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview II. e-Government Author(s) Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia Title Citizen Use of Government eServices: Comparing Use, Governance and Cooperation Models in Estonia and Georgia File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen Abstract Recent literature reviews highlight a limited understanding of technology use in public service delivery and the role played by governance, inter-governmental decision making and cooperation when introducing ICT solutions and online services to citizens. By comparison, public sector use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Estonia and Georgia is regularly highlighted as an innovative model worth emulating. Despite this, research into the two countries governance and inter-governmental cooperation model is limited in the Estonian case (most being 5-10 years old), while practically non-existent for Georgia. As part of a larger qualitative, multi-country comparison, this article compares the Estonian and Georgian approaches to electronic governance (eGovernance) and inter-governmental cooperation. The analysis finds that the two cases support academic arguments in favour of a strong eGovernance model and a high level of inter-governmental cooperation and decision making. Indeed, initial findings highlight the strength of a politically driven and motivated public sector modernisation, a consensus seeking and an inter-governmental approach to eGovernment, trust between actors, the role of informal networks, and the cooperation with the private sector. While successful in relation to ICT infrastructure, standards, roll-out to key enablers and eServices, the article identifies risks to be addressed in both countries to progress further, including the potential benefits of formalising informal networks and streamlining the governance model to minimize the risk of failure if consensus cannot be reached, or if personal and institutional contacts and capacities does not exist.
