E-GOVERNMENT VERSUS SMART GOVERNMENT: JORDAN VERSUS THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to examine the differences between e-government and smart government and how will smart governments benefit modern public administrations and service delivery. It seeks to compare and contrast between smart government and e-government. In addition, it compares the application of smart government and e-government in the United States and Jordan. The research idea is based on the observation that the concept of e-government is relatively new in the modern world. Nevertheless, it has, in the last few decades, enabled governments to serve citizens using the internet technology. In addition, technology has allowed governments to obtain, process, manipulate, store, retrieve and report data on an efficient and reliable manner. The term ‘e-government’ refers to the development, adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the service delivery and activities of the public sector. Although there are many definitions of the term, it is generally agreed that the use of internet-enabled application to allow interactions between the government and outside groups are the key aspects of e-Government. An in-depth research method is based on the qualitative search of information from 13 credible sources. The study finds that the domain of E-Administration involves the initiatives that deal with improving internal working in the public sector. Further, it finds several differences and similarities between Jordan’s E-government model and that adopted from the US. It finds that America has a longer history of using digital systems in public service provision. Also, United States is already moving from e-government to Smart Government System. Jordan’s new system is still an e-government establishment rather than a Smart Government system, despite the fact that both systems have related objectives.