Advances in e‐democracy: overview

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the theme of this special issue, “Advances in e‐democracy: engaging citizens and electorates”. Design/methodology/approach – An overview is provided of developments in e‐government before providing a summary discussion of the papers that are presented in this issue. Findings – While governments around the world, not least in the UK, have been enthusiastic about the use of information and communication technologies to provide better citizen access to government and public services, there is still much to be learned about how these online services can be effectively implemented and will be taken up. Originality/value – This paper provides a primer for the remainder of this issue which combines research reports from academics working in the e‐democracy field and from practitioners in government and commercial service suppliers.