The Digital World of Local Government: A Comparative Analysis of the United States and Germany

Innovations in information communication technologies have contributed to new forms of interaction between governments and citizens in many industrialized democracies. The adoption of these technologies at different levels of government has contributed to the emergence of electronic government, or e-government, designed to communicate information, deliver services, and offer additional avenues for citizen interaction with and participation in government. Based on a detailed content analysis of government Web sites and survey research, this study assesses and explains the current state of e-government sophistication and the perceived effects of the Internet in local government in the federal republics of the United States and Germany. The study argues that local egovernment sophistication in the United States is more advanced than in Germany, while the presence of local e-government is more advanced in Germany compared with the United States. Furthermore, factors such as professional management, socioeconomic characteristics, region, and population are important determinants of local e-government sophistication. While the analysis mostly supports the hypotheses and reveals that the use of the Internet in local government has made a positive difference in certain areas according to public officials, the findings also illustrate that local governments in both countries have not fully embraced the practical applications of egovernment.