Mete Yildiz

E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward

Abstract This article claims to be both a review and an agenda-setting piece. It is argued that e-government research suffers from definitional vagueness of the e-government concept, oversimplification of the e-government development processes within complex political and institutional environments, and various methodological limitations. In order to address these issues, the article reviews the limitations in the e-government literature, and it suggests ways forward. To do so, the study critically analyzes the development and various definitions of the e-government concept. After discussing the limitations of the concept, methodological and conceptual remedies such as (i) better examining and explaining the processes of – and participation patterns in – e-government projects within complex political environments, (ii) addressing the problem of under-specification in the e-government literature by the production of more grounded, empirical studies that would create new theoretical arguments and provide new concepts and categories so as to enhance our understanding of e-government policy processes and actors, and (iii) tying the subject of e-government strongly to mainstream public administration research are suggested in the final part of the analysis.

E-government discourses: An inductive analysis

Abstract This article offers a new perspective on e-government by documenting the categories of e-government discourses, and evaluating them within a public value framework. Understanding e-government discourses is significant, since these discourses represent contested visions of e-government, and one can derive a feel for public sentiment about e-government from the discourses used in the media. The findings are accumulated through an inductive analysis of 85 newspaper articles, published during the year of 2010, in three top-selling, ideologically different, nationally circulating Turkish newspapers. In these 85 articles, 98 discourses presented by 90 policy actors are found. Five positive and four negative discourse categories and their relationships emerged from the analysis of the data. The results show that, government reform efforts shaped by the New Public Management movement and Turkeys harmonization efforts with the global political system in general, and with the European Union in particular, are influential in the presentation of e-government projects to the Turkish public through newspapers.

Teaching Public Policy to Undergraduate Students: Issues, Experiences, and Lessons in Turkey

Abstract The study of public policy is getting increasingly important around the world in the field of public administration. As an assessment of this development by examining undergraduate courses in Turkey, this article shows the historical development and current status of undergraduate-level public policy courses in Turkey. To this end, data were collected by content analysis of public policy course syllabi and by evaluation of the archival documents regarding the teaching of public policy in Turkey. Finally, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the past and current instructors of the public policy courses. This article discusses the Turkish public administration system in general as well as the future prospects of public policy teaching in Turkey, including the improvement of the existing courses and the discussion of the relevance and impact of such courses on the students and faculty of the public departments.

Big questions of e-government research

An international panel of scholars presents and explains questions they view as central to the development of e-government research, theory, and practice.

E-Government Education in Turkish Public Administration Graduate Programs: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract The study of e-government is becoming increasingly important around the world in the field of public administration. This article examines the historical development, current status, and future prospects of graduate e-government courses in Turkish public administration programs. To that end, we performed content analysis of e-government course syllabi and evaluated relevant archival documents. We then conducted semistructured surveys of past and current instructors of graduate e-government courses. The article concludes by discussing the future prospects of e-government education in Turkey, including the problems that instructors need to solve in order to improve instruction and the relevance and impact of such courses on students and faculty of public administration programs in Turkey and elsewhere.

E-government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

This chapter describes the process of e-government application and defines the barriers to and outcomes of e-government adoption in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Archival document analysis, analyses of Northern Cyprus government Websites, analyses of governmental statistics and e-government-related laws and regulations are utilized for this study. The main findings of the study are that (i) e-government applications are still in their infancy, i.e. in the cataloguing, and to a lesser extent in transaction level; (ii) there is a lack of an adequate IT infrastructure, qualified IT personnel and meaningful and useful content on government Websites; (iii) digital divide is a serious problem that hinders e-government development; and (iv) a new organizational structure that can plan and coordinate the implementation of e-government applications has to be established. The lessons derived from this case study may benefit efforts to understand the adoption of e-government, especially in small countries in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere.