Vision of Electronic Government implementation in Kurdistan region of Iraq

With the majority of countries in the globe having embraced new technologies and having connections to the internet and the world wide web, more and more governments nowadays (be national or local in scale) look to engaging these technologies in an effort to improve the way they offer services to citizens. Some do so in order to the channels through which they communicate and interact with their citizens, while others look forward to improving the efficiency of delivery of services and consequently introduce savings in the utilization of resources that could be diverted in creating additional value adding initiatives. Over the latter half of the current decade, many developing countries have been attempting to imitate the western models and introduce e-government services in their portfolio expecting savings, efficiency and a drive for modernization across their states. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of initiating an enhanced programme of delivering government services through a multitude of channels that embrace electronic communication media, in a developing country. In particular the paper discusses the case of the regional government of Kurdistan in the federated state of Iraq. The authors explore the potential of any e-government implementation through the study of the status of technological infrastructure, the levels of available skills and more importantly the desires and expectations of citizens as well as government employees. Through an extensive questionnaire survey the views of all representatives groups of stakeholders are captured and this first phase of results is critically analyzed against potential drawbacks and constraints in development. Issues of cultural differences, technical competences, education and trust are also considered before a first level recommendation as to the best avenue to pursue is identified and put forward in the concluding section of this work.

Citation:
Shareef, S., Pimenidis, E., Arreymbi, J., Jahankhani, H. (2010) ‘Vision of Electronic Government implementation in Kurdistan region of Iraq’ 10th European Conference on e-Government ECEG 2010, National Centre for Taxation Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland 17-18 June 2010. Reading: Academic Conferences Limited. pp. 575-584..