Digitalization of public administration: e-democracy vs e-government

Abstract

Today, the concept of public administration continues to develop actively. At present, its evolution is largely determined by the increasing level of technical innovations and changing socio-political conditions. From the point of view of technological innovation, the concept is evolving towards the idea of the state as a digital platform, which is focused not only on the provision of services, but also on ensuring the participation of citizens in the decision-making process. And in social terms, the emphasis is on a new format of interaction between citizens and the state: dialogue and partnership. But such a transition faces a certain public opinion. The purpose of the study was to study the opinion of the population and experts on the digitalization of public administration in the context of e-government and e-democracy. It should be noted that the expert definition of these concepts is different: e-government is the provision of a high level of transparency of power and the free exchange of information between the state and society, and edemocracy is the interaction of citizens, authorities, public organizations on electronic platforms. Support for the promotion of E-Democracy and E-Government among experts and the population in Russia is not absolute. Most experts and the population believe that "Electronic Democracy" will contribute to obtaining information on the decisions taken by the authorities, conducting polls and votes on current problems, submitting collective appeals, petitions. At the same time, e-Government will help to obtain information about the activities of the authorities, simplify complaints about the actions/omissions of the authorities, and increase citizens' control over the quality of services. This demonstrates the similarity of these projects with regard to the transparency of the State. It should be noted that the experts called the insufficient activity of the population, the lack of interest on its part as an obstacle to the development of the concept of a platform state. Data on the use of electronic platforms implementing the functionality of "electronic democracy" and "electronic government" show a greater penetration of the second project into the digital network space.