Article Preview
Top2. E-Government And E-Rulemaking
The majority of governments have stimulated or are stimulating initiatives that provide public services online for both citizens and businesses (e-government). Governments usually begin their e-government development path by providing information online and then evolve by providing ever more sophisticated services, as illustrated by different maturity models presented in the literature (Andersen & Henriksen, 2006; Irani, Al-Sebie, & Elliman, 2006; Kašubienė & Vanagas, 2007; Layne & Lee, 2001; Sá, Rocha, & Cota, 2016). However, for the true potential of e-government can be achieved, it is necessary to restructure and transform the bureaucratic administrative processes that are long rooted (Palvia & Sharma, 2007) and, at the top of those maturity models, we sometimes find Digital Democracy and Joint Rule (Almarabeh & AbuAli, 2010).
The processes of rulemaking are intended to develop rules or regulations, allowing the participation of citizens in this process, through the collection of suggestions and contributions, in general in the form of comments. Whereas that rules and state legislation plays a vital role in almost all aspects of social and economic life, any innovation that improves how new rules are drawn up is susceptible of having public benefits. Despite this, and due to institutional, legal and organizational challenges, many government agencies remain resistant to adopt practices of public deliberation (Stromer-Galley, Webb, & Muhlberger, 2012). E-rulemaking is not mainly about voting on a finalized rule, but instead it concerns the opportunity for stakeholders and interested members of the public to contribute in a constructive manner to a rule that is going to implement a law (Carlitz & Gunn, 2005).