E-government and moral citizenship: the case of Estonia

Abstract

The present article concerns Estonian e-government, that is, the digitalization of government and public administration, and the way e-government produces a moral citizen. Although several case studies on e-government exist, they have seldom been sensitive to the local conditions shaping the functions and social meaning of digitalization. E-government involves producing knowledge, and the present article draws on a theoretical perspective that stresses the tight relationship between knowledge and power. In Estonia, the power–knowledge regime is characterized by centralization. Centralization is the condition for a firm national e-government policy, and within this policy, an image of the unique Estonian citizenry is produced. The Estonian moral citizen who emerges out of e-government is de-politicized and detached from a social context, on the one hand, and strongly politicized and attached to a specific ethno-national community, on the other.

Keywords:

• Moral citizenship
• power–knowledge regime
• Estonia
• e-government
• post-communist conditions

Notes

1. It is reasonable to differentiate, as some scholars do, between e-government, on the one hand, and e-governance, on the other. The former specifically concerns policy implementation, that is, public administration, while the latter refers to public participation in political processes. Still a number of scholars and practitioners have failed to make this distinction (Kitsing 2010, 1). For the sake of simplicity, I will primarily refer to e-government, including both the political and administrative aspects.