Using E-Government to Reinforce Government—Citizen Relationships

A comparison of the United States and China shows that electronic government (e-government) can be used to enhance citizens' access to government as much as government's access to citizens. Both countries are using e-government initiatives as vehicles to improve internal efficiencies and provide better services to their citizens. However, in the case of the United States, e-government also represents an opportunity to infuse business principles into the government— citizen relationship (results-oriented government). In the case of China, e-government represents a means to bring subnational levels of government under greater scrutiny and control of the central government, as it reinforces monopoly control over the government—citizen relationship (transparency with security). Further comparative analysis along three dimensions suggests that although technology can play an important role in fostering the redistribution of power and encouraging interactions between governments and citizens, the notion of government reform carries many different connotations.