E-Government 3.0: An AI Model to Use for Enhanced Local Democracies

While e-government (referring here to the first generation of e-government) was just the simple manner of delivering public services via electronic means, e-gov 2.0 refers to the use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies in government operations and public service delivery. However, the use of the term ‘e-government 2.0’ is becoming less common as the focus shifts towards broader digital transformation initiatives that may include AI technologies, among others, such as blockchain, virtual reality, and augmented reality. In this study, we present the relatively new concept of e-government 3.0, which is built upon the principles of e-government 2.0 but refers to the use of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence) to transform the delivery of public services and improve governance. The study objective is to explore the potential of e-government 3.0 to enhance citizen participation, improve public service delivery, and increase responsiveness and compliance of administrative systems in relation to citizens by integrating emerging technologies into government operations using as a background the evolution of e-government over time. The paper analyzes the challenges faced by municipalities in responding to citizen petitions, which are a core application of local democracies. The author starts by presenting an example of an e-petition system (as in use today) and analyses anonymized data of a text corpus of petitions directed to one of the Romania municipalities. He will propose an AI model able to deal faster and more accurately with the increased number of inputs, trying to promote it to municipalities who, for some reason, are still reluctant to implement AI in their operations. The conclusions will suggest that it may be more effective to focus on improving new algorithms rather than solely on ‘old’ technologies.