Building e-government in East and Southeast Asia: Regional rhetoric and national (in)action

Abstract

Among many regional policy initiatives taken by states in East and Southeast Asia in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis, one central project launched by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and taken up by its dialogue partners in East Asia, was promotion of information and communication technology. While part of ASEAN's 1999-2004 action plan focused on services for business, another part sought to put public sectors online, and to promote electronic government, or e-government. Taking the 16 states and quasi-states of East and Southeast Asia, this article evaluates progress at the action plan's mid-point in January 2002. It begins by defining e-government and reviewing three academic literatures on the information age, developmental states, and Confucian societies. It then describes the major policy initiatives taken by ASEAN and its partner states, and surveys implementation progress through an analysis of government homepages and sites. Its main finding is that e-government activity in East and Southeast Asia is highly diverse, reflecting national strengths and weaknesses rather than regional capacity for policy change. The article argues for increased attention to national implementation strategies. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.