E-Governance and E-Democracy: Questioning Technology-Centered Categories

This article comments on the assumption that e-governance and e-democracy are essentially policy decisions made by governments to improve governance practices and revitalize democracy, and that these projects materialize by implementing new information and communication technology (ICT). It investigates the social and political context within which these projects emerge, and evaluates the role of technology discourse in the legitimation of a given political culture and a given constellation of power. The article proposes an alternative model which sees e-governance and e-democracy as contradictory trends, and explains that a project of egovernance might actually exacerbate the democratic deficit which e-democracy is set to solve.