A majority of eGovernment initiatives have been far from successful in realizing the promised outcomes of eGovernment. In the Arab states, eGovernment advocates have tempered many of their expectations, mainly because of repeated disappointments in eGovernment initiatives worldwide. There is still a wide consensus, however, that eGovernment could still deliver on all of its promises, but the full potential of eGovernment will only be realized if the barriers to eGovernment are better understood and eventually overcome.

According to research conducted by the Dubai School of Government, the common challenges faced by eGovernment practitioners in the Arab countries can be categorized into the following nine areas:

1. Capacity Deficit
A large share of civil servants in the Arab countries lack the knowledge required for successful eGovernment adoption at a national level. Despite the broad realization of the importance of capacity building in the public sector, resistance to change is a common problem that hinders such efforts. “Brain drain” is another related constraint to most Arab governments.

2. Digital Divide
Arab states suffer from low Internet and personal computer (PC) penetration rates. UNDESA estimates the number of Arab Internet users at 10 million, while the Madar Research Group puts the number at around 26.3 million, with an 8.5 percent penetration rate in 2005.

3. Technical Infrastructure
Most Arab countries suffer from inadequate ICT infrastructure within their public sector agencies. Furthermore, most governments in the region are facing major barriers to developing a collaborative approach for facilitating interoperable ICT infrastructure among government departments.

4. Funding Shortages
Financial restrictions have usually pushed countries to prioritize their eGovernment projects, focusing on projects mainly designed for cost cutting. Some Arab countries are heavily dependent on external loans and grants from international bodies for eGovernment projects. International aid is often fragmented and heavily politicized by international powers. As a result, many funding initiatives in Arab countries have not been successful in driving eGovernment development, primarily because they tend to dictate eGovernment “best practices” from developed countries, ignoring the specific context of Arab states.

5. Institutional Frameworks
eGovernment development in most Arab states has so far been largely project-based. The lack of appropriate eGovernment institutional structure, coupled with inadequate financial resources, construct a major barrier to eGovernment development in the region.

6. Development Strategies
The unbefitting positioning of eGovernment initiatives in national reform plan is a primary barrier to eGovernment development in the Arab states. Many Arab countries hastily developed their national eGovernment strategies earlier this decade. Several countries have revised and re-launched them over the last few years. Two main factors contribute to these revisions:

• Lack of eGovernment authority: In earlier plans, several governments placed the eGovernment portfolio in the hands of a single ministry or government department that lacks the overall authority required for national level eGovernment development.

• Single-sided view of eGovernment: Initially, eGovernment was merely perceived as a “technological mission.” This contributed to many earlier, unrealistic eGovernment plans being deemed “null and void.”

In contrast to initial plans, many of the new plans realize the socio-technical nature of eGovernment and view it as a policy tool for advancing efficiency of the public sector. These plans establish the missing link between the eGovernment national plan and the overall public sector modernization and reform plan.

7. Legislative Frameworks
Replacing paper-based processes with their legally accepted electronic counterparts (electronic payments, signatures and other government transactions) is still in its early stages in most Arab countries. Inappropriate or non-existent legal frameworks have slowed down the provision of many electronic government services.

8. Government Instability
eGovernment is viewed by several Arab governments as a complimentary governance trend rather than an essential public sector reform approach. Some governments even adopt eGovernment as a cosmetic response to international pressure. It is these views of eGovernment that make it one of the first government projects to be “sacrificed” when major security or financial threats hit the government.

9. Take-up Of Services
Increasing public awareness and trust of e-services and changing public perceptions of the value of eGovernment is a key challenge in Arab states. An eGovernment project cannot be considered a success unless it achieves a certain utilization level that would indicate that a specific return on investment is achieved.

Learning From Failures
In the rapidly developing eGovernment field, where failures are more probable, a culture of learning from failure should be promoted instead of the common face-saving efforts that usually prevail. It is this culture of failure intolerance that turns partial failures into more damaging final outcomes in the complex area of eGovernment.

Arab governments in general tend to follow a high uncertainty-avoidance culture. In such cultures, critical changes (such as the changes introduced by eGovernment) tend to be interpreted as threats rather than opportunities. Risk management approaches that consider this cultural feature would be better equipped for limiting future failures in eGovernment projects in the Arab states.

Conclusion
In Arab countries, which share many similarities on the social, political and cultural levels, eGovernment barriers are commonly shared as well. Despite these similarities though, each state has its unique combination of political, regulatory, economic and social constraints that affect the eGovernment development efforts differently. eGovernment projects would be better equipped for avoiding repeated failures if the “right fit” is achieved between leadership commitment, clear cross-government vision, appropriate planning, rational investment strategy, suitable regulatory frameworks, practical awareness campaigns and rigorous capacity building for the public administrators and society at large. This “right fit” is very much contextual and will differ from one country to another. Accepting the notion that there is no single correct approach to eGovernment is critical to avoiding common failures.

Fadi Salem is a Research Associate at the Dubai School of Government, where his research focuses on eGovernment and ICT for development and public sector reform. Please send comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .