e-Participation in israeli local governments: A comparative analysis

Israel is a member of the group of 25 top countries in the United Nations Global E-Government Readiness Report 2005. In 2005 about thirty percent of the total export of Israel was Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products. The national government website was launched in the late 90'sand was accompanied with a strategic computerization program for all government institutions. Since then it has been upgraded and online services have been added with considerable public relations efforts. In 2005 access portal services grew to a maximum of 700,000 unique users per month, and over 3.5 million unique users per month in to all government websites. Yet most government services are provided by local governments, and therefore it should be asked whether there is a strong relationship between the expansion of national governmental ICT services and those in local governments. The present paper describes and analyzes e-government components that were incorporated in seven major municipalities. It also reports the summaries of personal in-depth interviews that were conducted with decision-makers and web services operators. The most striking finding is the absence of a strategic long-term plan to implement e-government. Moreover, only few changes occurred in the organizational behaviour of the municipalities. Most local government websites provide useful information, but only minimal online services, mostly bi-monthly payment of bills and registration to public schools. The readiness for the next level of e-government that is, edemocracy and e-participation, is very low. The main reasons for this state of affairs are related to Israel's governance crisis.