E-GOVERNANCE IN ARAB COUNTRIES: STATUS AND CHALLENGES

The objective of E-governance is to support and simplify governance for government, citizens and businesses. The achievement of this goal depends on the cooperation of government as well as citizens and other stakeholders. This paper reviews data published by Division of Public Economics & Public Administration of the United Nations to assess Arab countries global ranking on two dimensions: Online Service Index (OSI) and E-participation Index (EPI) of e-governance. We analyze data obtained from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 60 participants on challenges faced by Arab countries. The data reveals discrepancies in performance among Arab countries on the two indices used in this study. On both indices, with exception of countries from GCC, including Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the performance of Arab countries is below the satisfactory level. The average OSI score is less than 0.3500 out of perfect score of 1.0000. On the e-participation index, with exception of a few countries such as Bahrain, Egypt and UAE, the average score is only 0.10 out of the maximum score of 1.0000. The low score in e-participation reflects a gap in the mindset of policy makers and stakeholders as well as the absence of effective application of the principles of good governance. The study further finds that different human, organizational and technical challenges faced by these countries require focused attention from policy makers to address. The interviewees identified the most critical factors affecting the likely adoption of good e-governance practices.