Abstract—This paper deals with e-government issues at several levels. Initially we look at the concept of e-government itself in order to give it a sound framework. Than we look at the e-government issues at three levels, first we analyse it at the global level, second we analyse it at the level of transition economies, and finally we take a closer look on developments in Croatia. The analysis includes actual progress being made in selected transition economies given the Euro area averages, along with e-government potential in future demanding period. Keywords—Central and Eastern Europe, Croatia, e-Government, ICT. I. INTRODUCTION HE government concept was virtually unknown a decade ago. This is not a surprising fact given available technology at the time. Now, however, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have gone forward giving the ability of e-government implementation. The term, as an identified activity and as a research topic has grown dramatically. Even though research on this topic has expanded considerably, Heeks and Bailur [1] point out to a poor state of the research: “…viewed as the offspring of information systems and public administration – accused at times of philosophical, theoretical, methodological, and practical shortcomings – and shows all signs of having inherited the expected ‘generic’ profile”. However, ICTs were recognized to have tremendous ‘administrative’ potential. For example, ICTs may help create a networked structure for interconnectivity [2], service delivery [3], efficiency and effectiveness [4], interactivity [5], decentralization, transparency [6], and accountability [7]. Electronic government (e-government) cover all these functions and, generally speaking, refers to the intensive use of ICT in providing the citizens an improved access to information related to public administrations as well as in providing them superb service quality. E-government transformation is one of the biggest M. Spremić is with the Universtiy of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb Croatia. He is now with the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Economy and Business (phone: +385-238-3278; fax: +385-233-5633; e-mail: mspremic@efzg.hr). J. Šimurina. is with the Universtiy of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb Croatia. He is now with the Department of Macroeconomics, Faculty of Economy and Business (e-mail: jsimurina@efzg.hr). B. Jaković is with the the Universtiy of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb Croatia. He is now with the Department of Informatics, Faculty of Business and Economy (e-mail: bjakovic@efzg.hr). M. Ivanov is with the the Universtiy of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb Croatia. She is now with the Department of Finance, Faculty of Economy and Business (e- mail: mivanov@efzg.hr). challenges within the IT-related sector from the perspective of scale and complexity. The main objective is to adapt existing e-government to new computing requirements based on the citizens’ new service concept. [8] In the following section we give a framework of e- government, and in subsequent sections we analyse world development, selected transition economies and finally Croatia. II. BACKGROUND FRAMEWORK Authors dealing with e-government issues have come up with several definitions and scopes for e-government. For the Gartner Group e-government encompasses the multi- dimensional nature of the concept, referring to “information and communication technologies to optimize government service delivery, constituency participation and internal government processes”. Global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton cites that the term “e-government”, like “e- commerce” or “e-learning”, is associated with the dot-com revolution of the start of the decade and has historically focused on use of the Internet to conduct business between government and citizens, government and businesses or between different parts of government itself. Basu [9] states that “e-government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies … that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses and other arms of government”. In terms of actually using these technologies following are some ends, better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with businesses and industries, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. Benefits resulting from these activities could be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth and cost reductions. Singla [10] also distinguishes imperatives of e-governance as being anticipation, transparency and accountability. It is further argued that the interaction among different players in society should not only be every four or five years when elections are held. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have a potential to shift command and control mechanisms both at the policy and implementation levels. The Economist [11] predicted the next Internet revolution (after e-commerce and e-business) to be e-government revolution. Contrary to such optimistic expectations regarding e-government, a disappointment on how the situation evolved in following years followed. The Gartner Group [12] in 2004 brought analysis of e-government hype cycle in world (Fig. E-Government in Transition Economies Mario Spremić, Jurica Šimurina, Božidar Jaković, and Marijana Ivanov T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Vol:3, No:5, 2009 417 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 3(5) 2009 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/7690 International Science Index, Humanities and Social Sciences Vol:3, No:5, 2009 waset.org/Publication/7690