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FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
Department of Electronics and Informatics (ETRO)
Best-Practice Framework for
Developing and Implementing
e-Government
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Doctor in de ingenieurswetenschappen (Doctor in Engineering) by
Abdelbaset Rabaiah
June 2009
Advisor(s): Prof. Dr. Eddy Vandijck
Prof. Dr. Farouk Musa

Print: DCL Print & Sign, Zelzate
© 2009 Abdelbaset Rabaiah
2009 Uitgeverij VUBPRESS Brussels University Press
VUBPRESS is an imprint of ASP nv (Academic and Scientific Publishers nv)
Ravensteingalerij 28
B-1000 Brussels
Tel. ++32 (0)2 289 26 50
Fax ++32 (0)2 289 26 59
E-mail info@vubpress.be
www.vubpress.be
ISBN 978 90 5487 000 5
Legal Deposit D/2009/11.161/053
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the author.

III
ABSTRACT
Governments struggle to implement electronic government (e-government) seeking out
some potential values. Such values have internal as well as external benefits. On the
internal level, e-government promises better, faster and more convenient internal
operation. Better management of resources is likely to reduce costs and bureaucratic
burden causing a boast to internal efficiency. Citizens and businesses, as a result, will
receive better and faster response from the government. Service delivery is believed to
become more agile. Cost and time savings would also be felt by citizens and businesses.
The internal and external efficiencies would reflect on the society at large. Transparency,
accountability, social inclusion and political participation are highly likely to be enhanced.
Furthermore, the established technological infrastructure might accelerate the general
development within a country. Without legal, organisational and operational reforms e-
government is not likely to function properly to its full potential. This reform will surely
result in better overall governance and healthier society. On the global level, e-
government can provide cooperative tools to fight cybercrime and terrorism that know no
national borders. Cross-national electronic exchange of information assures better
response to pressing issues and global challenges.
The quest for e-government realisation is not all honey and roses. Major political, social,
legal, organisational, economic and technical challenges have to be overcome throughout
the process. Besides, e-government is still a work in progress. Governments worldwide
are piloting e-government initiatives. There is no common approach to tackle e-
government. Many countries have developed their own ways in developing and
implementing e-government. Aims, contents, focus…etc. can vary even for the same
domain. In this study, I have analysed the experiences of e-government implementation
across (21) countries. The intention was to see if there was a global convergence in the
basic concepts of e-government. I sought to measure to what degree there was a
consensus on every concept. I started from no presumed conclusion about the existence
or otherwise of such a global convergence. The structured case approach and comparison
analysis have let evidence immerge. In fact, the findings tell us that there is much in
common. The differences mentioned above do not dismiss the fact that governments,
worldwide, face similar challenges and that they tend to implement comparable solutions.
Concepts regarding service delivery, internal and external efficiency and government
networking were found to be very much in common across sample governments.
The convergence of evidence has gradually originated a best practice strategic
framework of e-government. This framework represents a missing link in all national
strategies of e-government. It is advocated to form the core of any national e-government
strategy. Besides, the analysis that led to the formulation of the framework has revealed a
lack in literature on this very important domain of e-government. The presence of such a
framework is shown to introduce a great value to e-government programmes. The
proposed framework incorporates very important elements and principles. It has desirable
characteristics and features that can add value to an e-government strategy. Unlike
previous studies, the proposed framework defines strategic building blocks of e-

IV
government based on real-life implementations of e-government of the countries
reviewed. This strategic framework possesses modular design. It is flexible, customisable
and extensible. In putting this framework together, I took into consideration
commonalities, trends, best practices in addition to relevant work of other scholars.
That framework was built for the strategic level of e-government. Nonetheless, it did not
answer many of the pressing questions of how to develop a sustainable e-government that
is flexible, interoperable and manageable. The next step on the agenda of my research
was to figure out a proper technical model that can underpins the framework. The
dissertation originates the federated model of e-government. This model was designed
from the start to achieve better manageability, flexibility, sustainability, cost reduction,
and security of e-government. Many studies have responded to technology platform
integration and standardization. In my view, this is most rewarding for governments that
do not have yet an IT infrastructure and that are only planning to establish one. Most
governments, however, already have disparate systems in place. Each of these systems is
usually built to serve a particular department that has predefined requirements. In most
cases, there is a lack of vision of integration as decisions upon technologies are taken by
the Local Governments (LGs). In firms, though, the decision is mostly central and any
new system or platform with a typical size is normally planned to be interoperable. In
democracies, LGs have autonomous status. Resistance to change can be more evident
than in businesses. There is also a tendency to keep information private. This hinders
much of the integration efforts. Also the cost for integration and rebuilding the IT
infrastructure with the new standards can be awfully far above the ground. That said; it
could be better and cheaper to adopt a different approach. “Encapsulation” of e-
government can face far less resistance and demand much lower costs. This idea has a lot
in common with Object-Oriented methodologies that are already applied in many
businesses. The objective was to introduce a model that materializes this idea of
encapsulation. The model, per se, is technology independent, yet the dissertation offers a
workable technical implementation. The model should be perceived as a managerial as
well as a technical tool that aims at the simplification of the implementation of e-
government programmes.
This dissertation does not end without the introduction of some opportunities for the Less
Developing Countries (LDCs). Such opportunities can be considered in order to effect
some efficiencies in their e-government programmes. The dissertation shows that a
learning and a considerate government should be motivated enough to spearhead the ICT
development through its e-government programme. Towards the end of the dissertation,
particular benefits of e-government for LDCs are highlighted. It clarifies how LDCs in
particular can utilise the developed strategic framework of e-government. It has also
introduced some simple and cheap yet sufficiently effective technologies that can
potentially enhance e-government in LDCs. Although many of the presented technologies
were not originally built for e-government, they can still be utilised to achieve more for
quite less. Governments in LDCs are urged to adopt and promote the use of these
technologies for more efficient governance. This part is not directly related to the major
contributions of this dissertation. Its presence, however, will add even more value to the
dissertation.

V
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At last, I have a sigh of relief to have come to this page. Upon finalising this dissertation,
I realised that writing a PhD thesis is quite demanding. Developing a sound argument to
promote my contributions was indeed challenging. Uncertainty about the outcome was
nerve breaking. Assessing pertinence of the different sections and the flow of ideas to
convey a stronger message was as hard. However, continuous support from people
around me has relieved much of my stresses and helped guide me through the process. I
feel very much indebted to the inspiration, support and patience of many people to whom
this thesis owes it existence.
First off, I would like to express my deep sense of indebtedness to my wife Abeer who
has supported me and has endured much with me during that last five years. Despite their
young age, my two sons Moh’d and Amre have had their share of endurance. Though
being so much far a way at home, my mother and father have kept inspiring me. I know
with absolute certainty that I would not have been so eager to finish my studies without
their inspiration and support.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Eddy Vandijck, the promoter
and the friend, for his continued support and active guidance during every stage of my
research. He brought me certainty when I was in doubt and provided me with fresh ideas
when there was an impasse. I highly appreciate his valuable comments, corrections,
suggestions and encouragement, which have made my contributions more solid and
professional.
Many thanks to Professor Edmond Torfs who has supported me at the earliest stages of
my PhD study at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). I also thank him for the valuable
suggestions that have enhanced the quality of this dissertation. In addition, I would like to
thank Professor Farouk Musa for his directions during my case study back home and for
all the efforts that he made to come to the VUB and participate in the defense. Many
thanks go to Mr. Peter Strickx from FEDICT who have provided me with valuable
insights and hands-on experience on technical implementations in e-government in
Belgium.
To Prof. Dr. Philippe Lataire, president of the jury, Prof. Dr. Rik Pintelon, the vice-
president, Prof. Dr. Jacques Tiberghien, and jury members Prof. Dr. Martin Timmerman,
Prof. Dr. François Heinderyckx, thank you all for dedicating the time to read the
dissertation and for the valuable comments you provided me with.
I would like to thank the Arab American University (AAU) for the financial and logistic
support they provided me with and the Erasmus Mundus project, later on, for their
scholarship.
Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank my colleagues and friends at both the
ETRO and MOSI research groups with whom I spent joyful and happy times.

VII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 0: Executive Summary................................................................................ 1
0.1 Scope and Problem Formulation......................................................................... 1
0.2 Research Questions............................................................................................. 2
0.3 Summary of Main Goals and Contributions....................................................... 3
0.4 Thesis Outline and Structural Organisation........................................................ 5
CHAPTER 1: Research Issues ..................................................................................... 13
1.1 Justification of the Research ............................................................................. 13
1.2 Why Best Practice?........................................................................................... 14
1.3 Importance ........................................................................................................ 14
1.4 Relative Neglect by Hitherto Research............................................................. 15
1.5 Impact ............................................................................................................... 17
1.6 Research Methodology ..................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 2: Challenges Facing e-Government Development .................................. 27
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 27
2.2 Sample Cases of Challenges from Practice ...................................................... 28
2.2.1 Political Challenges .................................................................................. 30
2.2.2 Social Challenges...................................................................................... 31
2.2.3 Legal Challenges....................................................................................... 33
2.2.4 Organisational Challenges ........................................................................ 34
2.2.5 Economic Challenges................................................................................ 34
2.2.6 Technical Challenges................................................................................ 34
CHAPTER 3: Literature Review.................................................................................. 37
3.1 What is e-Government? .................................................................................... 37
3.2 Governments’ Perception of “e-Government”.................................................. 43
3.3 e-Government’s Relationship with Other Initiatives in the Digital Era ........... 44
3.4 e-Government Research Agenda ...................................................................... 45
3.5 New Disciplines within e-Government............................................................. 50
3.5.1 M-Government.......................................................................................... 51
3.5.2 G-Government .......................................................................................... 52
3.5.3 U-Government .......................................................................................... 53
CHAPTER 4: Structuring the Strategic Framework of e-Government........................ 55
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 55
4.2 Best-Practice Based Methodology.................................................................... 56
4.3 Structure and Contents of e-Government Strategies......................................... 58
4.4 Vision................................................................................................................ 60
4.5 Strategic Objectives .......................................................................................... 63
4.5.1 The Ultimate Goal of e-Government ........................................................ 65
4.5.2 Drivers of e-Government .......................................................................... 72

VIII
4.6 Guiding Principles - Trends.............................................................................. 75
4.7 Focus Areas of e-Government .......................................................................... 78
4.8 Building Blocks of e-Government.................................................................... 82
4.9 Modularity......................................................................................................... 87
CHAPTER 5: The Strategic Framework of e-Government ......................................... 89
5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 89
5.2 Front Office Pane.............................................................................................. 92
5.2.1 Vision........................................................................................................ 92
5.2.2 Strategic Objectives .................................................................................. 93
5.2.3 Users ......................................................................................................... 93
5.2.4 Models....................................................................................................... 94
5.2.5 Guiding Principles .................................................................................... 94
5.2.6 Access Channels ....................................................................................... 94
5.3 Back Office Pane .............................................................................................. 95
5.3.1 Focus Areas............................................................................................... 95
5.3.2 Major Initiatives........................................................................................ 95
5.3.3 Infrastructure............................................................................................. 96
5.3.4 Organisation.............................................................................................. 97
5.3.5 Policies and Standards .............................................................................. 97
5.4 Applicability of the Framework........................................................................ 97
5.5 Limitations........................................................................................................ 99
5.6 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 100
CHAPTER 6: How to use the Strategic Framework of E-Government..................... 103
6.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 103
6.2 Key Symbols of the Framework ..................................................................... 103
6.3 Using the Strategic Framework of e-Government.......................................... 106
6.4 Prioritisation of Projects ................................................................................. 108
6.5 Users of the strategic framework of e-government......................................... 111
6.5.1 Administrators......................................................................................... 111
6.5.2 Professionals ........................................................................................... 112
6.5.3 Auditors................................................................................................... 112
6.5.4 Academicians.......................................................................................... 112
6.6 Initial Projects to Start With ........................................................................... 113
6.7 Alignment with e-Government Strategy and Joint Projects ........................... 114
6.8 Critical Success Factors.................................................................................. 115
6.9 Measurement and Benchmarking of e-Government....................................... 118
6.10 Characteristics of Success............................................................................... 124
6.11 Achieving Public Value.................................................................................. 126
CHAPTER 7: The Underlying Technical Architecture: The Federated Model of e-
Government 129
7.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 129
7.2 Can business Models be Applied to Governments? ....................................... 130
7.3 Structuring the Federated Model of e-Government........................................ 131
7.3.1 Abstraction of e-Government ................................................................. 131
7.3.2 Qualities of the Federated Model............................................................ 132
7.3.3 Components of the Federated Model...................................................... 133

IX
7.4 Implications of the Federated Model .............................................................. 137
7.5 Technical Implementation of the Model......................................................... 139
7.5.1 Service-oriented Architecture................................................................. 140
7.6 Rule-based Approach...................................................................................... 142
7.6.1 Are Changes to Process Logic in Governments Common?.................... 144
7.6.2 Process Development.............................................................................. 145
7.6.3 Business Process Modelling Tools ......................................................... 146
7.6.4 Logic and Knowledge Representation Systems...................................... 147
7.6.5 Complexity of Rules in Government Processes...................................... 148
7.6.6 The Proposed Approach.......................................................................... 149
7.6.7 Applicability of the Rule-based Approach ............................................. 150
7.6.8 Conclusions............................................................................................. 153
CHAPTER 8: Particular Opportunities for the Less Developed Countries ............... 155
8.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 155
8.2 The Learning Government.............................................................................. 156
8.3 Added Advantages of Using the Proposed Framework and its Underlying
Model 157
8.4 Recommendations........................................................................................... 158
8.4.1 E-Government as a Catalyst for Development ....................................... 158
8.4.2 Improving e-Government in LDCs......................................................... 159
8.4.3 Technology Leapfrogging....................................................................... 164
8.4.4 Wireless Access Opportunities ............................................................... 167
8.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 168
CHAPTER 9: Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................... 169
9.1 Summary......................................................................................................... 169
9.2 Contributions to the Body of Knowledge....................................................... 170
9.3 Potential Implications ..................................................................................... 171
9.3.1 Implications for Theory .......................................................................... 171
9.3.2 Implications for Policy Makers and Practice.......................................... 171
9.4 Further Research ............................................................................................. 173
9.5 Concluding Remarks and Recommendations................................................. 173
Appendices 177
APPENDIX A: List of Abbreviations .......................................................................... 179
APPENDIX B: Thesis Glossary................................................................................... 181
APPENDIX C: Initial Projects of e-Government to Start With................................... 185
Bibliography 195
Biography 217

X
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Overview of Chapter 1 ........................................................................................ 5
Figure 8: Overview of Chapter 8 ...................................................................................... 10
Figure 9: Overview of Chapter 9 ...................................................................................... 11
Figure 10: Qualitative vs. qualitative research methodologies (adapted from Holliday,
2002, Easterby-Smith et al, 1992)..................................................................................... 20
Figure 11: Research methodologies (developed from Myers, 1997; Silverman, 1993;
Denzin, & Lincoln, 1994)................................................................................................. 21
Figure 12: Emergence of constructs (based on Holliday, 2002; Van Mannen (1988) and
Glaser & Strauss (1967 ..................................................................................................... 22
Figure 13: Churning out of new e-government strategies (developed from Stone, 2001;
Janssen et al, 2004; Heeks, 2006b)................................................................................... 23
Figure 14: Overview of my research methodology .......................................................... 24
Figure 15: Governments’ perception of “e-Government” ................................................ 43
Figure 16: Abstraction of Society, government and business........................................... 45
Figure 17: Future directions of e-government as reported by the international survey
(Bicking et al, 2007) ......................................................................................................... 46
Figure 18: Current research activities: a global view ....................................................... 48
Figure 19: Recommended future research activities from a global perspective............... 48
Figure 20: Trends in e-government research .................................................................... 49
Figure 21: Extensions to e-government............................................................................ 51
Figure 22: e-Government strategy development based on my finings ............................. 59
Figure 23: Popularity of strategic objectives as evidenced in the e-government strategies
of the sample countries ..................................................................................................... 64
Figure 24: Maturity model of strategic objectives of e-government ................................ 69
Figure 25: The government is under political, organisational, social and economic
pressures that push for development of e-government ..................................................... 75
Figure 26: Major focus areas of e-government................................................................. 80
Figure 27: Guiding principles for each focus area of e-government ................................ 81
Figure 28: e-Government components cube..................................................................... 87
Figure 29: The proposed strategic framework of e-government ...................................... 91
Figure 30: The vision module........................................................................................... 92
Figure 31: The strategic objectives module...................................................................... 93
Figure 32: The users’ module ........................................................................................... 93
Figure 33: The models module ......................................................................................... 94
Figure 34: The guiding principles of e-government module ............................................ 94
Figure 35: The access channels module............................................................................ 94
Figure 36: The focus areas module................................................................................... 95
Figure 37: The major initiatives module........................................................................... 95

XI
Figure 38: A customised view of the focus areas and Major initiatives modules ............ 96
Figure 39: The infrastructure module ............................................................................... 96
Figure 40: The governance module .................................................................................. 97
Figure 41: The policies and standards module ................................................................. 97
Figure 42: Extensibility in an example module.............................................................. 106
Figure 43: Prioritisation of delivery channels................................................................. 107
Figure 44: Prioritisation of initiatives (adapted from Heeks, 2006a and practice)......... 109
Figure 45: Major phases of implementation as well as focus and challenge areas (adapted
from United Nations (2008)) .......................................................................................... 110
Figure 46: Pillars of e-government ................................................................................. 118
Figure 47: Framework of e-government measurement (Gupta & Jana, 2003)............... 121
Figure 48: New Zealand’s framework of e-government benchmarking (developed from
State Services Commission, 2006) ................................................................................. 121
Figure 49: US monitoring and benchmarking frame work of e-government (developed
from US Department of the Interior, 2007) .................................................................... 122
Figure 50: Canada’s Assessment framework of e-government (Source: Public Works and
Government Services Canada, 2005).............................................................................. 123
Figure 51: EU’s i2010 benchmarking framework (developed from Commission of the
European Communities, 2006) ....................................................................................... 123
Figure 52: Achieving public value.................................................................................. 127
Figure 53: The federated model of e-government .......................................................... 134
Figure 54: A detailed view a typical GE......................................................................... 135
Figure 55: Federated Enterprise Model—FEA, New Zealand ....................................... 136
Figure 56: Impact of the federated model on service maturity....................................... 138
Figure 57: Semantic Bridging (Barnickel et al, 2006).................................................... 145
Figure 58: Logic code snippets that capture some facts and rules from the inheritance
example........................................................................................................................... 149
Figure 59: Sample code of the Java programme with Amzi!Prolog extension .............. 152
Figure 60: Schematic representation of an example application of a rule based approach
......................................................................................................................................... 153

XII
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Presence of an e-government strategic framework in e-government strategies
(Compiled from national e-government strategies) .......................................................... 15
Table 2: Quantitative vs. Qualitative research methodologies (Source: Holliday, 2002) 20
Table 3: Characteristics of different definitions of e-government from literature (adapted
from Grant & Chau (2005) ............................................................................................... 38
Table 4: Governments’ definitions and perceptions of “e-government” (Compiled from
national e-government strategies)..................................................................................... 40
Table 5: Figuration of governments’ definitions of e-government................................... 40
Table 6: Comparison of e-government research: EU vs. US (Source: RTD2020 Project)50
Table 7: e-Government readiness index for sample countries (Source: UN E-Government
Survey, 2008).................................................................................................................... 56
Table 8: List of e-government visions per country as taken from the national e-
government strategies ....................................................................................................... 62
Table 9: Ultimate goals of e-government ......................................................................... 66
Table 10: Drivers of e-government (Compiled from national e-government strategies) . 74
Table 11: Domains of e-government drivers .................................................................... 74
Table 12: Common guiding principles of e-government by country (Developed from
national e-government strategies)..................................................................................... 77
Table 13: Focus areas of e-government (developed from national e-government
strategies).......................................................................................................................... 78
Table 14: Focus areas split into back office and front office domains ............................. 79
Table 15: Basic components of e-government.................................................................. 82
Table 16: Key symbols used in the strategic framework of e-government .................... 105
Table 17: Strategic alignment assessment form.............................................................. 114
Table 18: Critical success factors of e-government ranked by occurrence across countries
(Developed from national e-government strategies)....................................................... 117
Table 19: Bottom-up vs. top-down benchmarking of e-government.............................. 119
Table 20: Public value measurement of e-government (eGEP, 2006)............................ 120
Table 21: Differences between government and business (adapted from Grönlund, 2005)
......................................................................................................................................... 131
Table 22: Proposed new standards for process development (adapted from Lonjon 2004)
......................................................................................................................................... 147

XIII
“There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of
success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a
new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would
profit by the preservation of the old system and merely
lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new one.”
(Machiavelli, 1513)

Best-Practice Framework for Developing and Implementing e-Government 1
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0.1 Scope and Problem Formulation
e-Government, in general, addresses performance problems that have long persisted in
government organisation and operation. e-Government has become an essential tool for
governance reform and modernisation. It also promises better quality and increased
efficiency of public services. This study has revealed that a “client-centric government”
has topped the list of strategic objectives of national e-government strategies. Putting
client needs at the centre of government operation is thus a core aim of e-government.
Redundant and overlapping activities of government agencies constitute major
impediments to this aim. In many cases, clients attempting to obtain a service from the
government could file a plethora of forms that request much of the same data. This is due
to the poor and inefficient organisation and lack of coordinated operation across
government agencies. One can thus imagine the redundant activities, reporting, processes,
efforts, man-hours, incurred costs and time consumed to provide services to clients. For
example nineteen government departments in the US operate the same (28) lines of
business (e-US government strategy, 2002). In another example, a client willing to open a
restaurant, bar or hotel in Amsterdam has to obtain licenses from more than eighteen
authorities (HoReCa1, 2007). The HoReCa1 project promises savings of € 30.1 million in
terms of administrative costs and burdens upon resolving these redundancies. e-
Government is therefore a powerful tool that can potentially introduce efficiencies and
cost savings. It utilises ICT channels to deliver low-coast services repetitively.
During the last decade, most world governments have been intensively involved in
developing their own e-government programmes. Countries have had mixed experiences.
Some governments were quite successful; others have faced major challenges that led to
setbacks. Each country has addressed e-government differently. This is because e-
government was and still is a work-in-progress. There is no well-established literature yet.
In fact, despite the many important scientific contributions, e-government is still more of
practice than theory. This lack of established common knowledge has resulted in many
efforts being replicated. There are neither proven best-practice guidelines nor any
reference frameworks that governments can fall back on in order to develop their e-
government programmes. Had a valid e-government framework existed, it would have
saved governments a lot of time, research, money and disappointments.
Nevertheless, important lessons have been learned during the last years of global
engagement in e-government programmes. Innovations and best practice cases have
surfaced. In addition, there have been numerous and insightful research contributions to
build upon. This dissertation summarises and presents the findings of more than four
years of research in best practice of e-government. The dissertation introduces a strategic
framework of e-government and an underlying model of e-government development. The
framework and its underlying model are flexible and generic to fit the different
governments of the world.

CHAPTER 0: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
0.2 Research Questions
The scope and problem background formulated in the previous section gave rise to some
important research questions. These questions are fundamental to this research as they
provide focus on how to get the problem solved. Answering these questions has guided
my research all through.
Several of the research questions were open-ended to some extent. This was necessary to
facilitate a broader exploration and to let the focus emerge during the course of this
extended study.
This research attempted to answer a fundamental question, was there a global
convergence in the planning and implementation of e-government? How does such a
possible convergence look like? In developing the generic strategic framework of e-
government, I had to look at the commonalities in e-government across a relatively large
group of countries. To make the framework even more representative, governments with
varied characteristics had to be considered. With all the differences, could it be possible
to still find commonalities among these countries? How can generalisability of the
framework be guaranteed?
As the title of this dissertation suggests the sought framework should be based on best
practice. I had to record and analyse numerous cases of best practice implementation in e-
government. The question was what exactly qualifies as best practice? Furthermore, what
does best practice really mean in the context of e-government?
Some relevant previous studies helped enhance the understanding of e-government as a
concept. Still though, a gap remained. As described in the scope of the problem, this
study is aimed at addressing this gap at the strategic level. Additionally, problem scope
was fairly broad. This called for pursuing an explorative research methodology. It was
challenging to choose a proper methodology that was not too subjective. What was,
objectively, the sort of things to look for in order to structure the framework? Are there
key trends that may help develop a common framework? Will evidence emerge out of the
numerous case studies?
Uncertainty of the outcomes has always blanketed the research. Starting with no clues
was generally a good strategy to achieve unbiased results. Yet it meant that more care had
to be taken in every step of the research. Detailed description of why a particular
methodology had to be chosen over another was crucial for automatic validation.
Questions such as, what should the framework include? How should it look like…and so
on had to be rationalised.
Similar research questions regarding the underlying e-government development model
had followed. What qualities should the model exhibit? How could such a model be
constructed? How could such a model live up to its promises?
Research questions regarding the methodology have been answered in Chapter 2. The
questions related to the development of the framework have been mostly answered in
Chapters 4 and 5 and the remaining ones were answered in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 answers

the research questions about the e-government development model “the federated model
of e-government”.
0.3 Summary of Main Goals and Contributions
Thanks to the nature of this research, there is a fairly wide range of contributions in this
dissertation. As mentioned above, this is an exploratory type of research. During the
quest for compiling relevant evidence, I have introduced new knowledge repeatedly. The
main contributions, however, can be summarised as follows:
Providing insight on the research problem
The dissertation explores the gap in hitherto research regarding the research problem. The
pertinent contributions of previous researchers are discussed as well. A distinction
between the contributions in this dissertation and previous ones is clarified. Furthermore,
the dissertation discusses and clarifies the different challenges that face the development
of e-government. It provides a detailed description of the potential opportunities offered
by the developed framework. It also discusses how this research distinguishes itself from
previous approaches.
As mentioned above, this study is based on numerous case studies. Reference to relevant
cases is made whenever necessary. Before new theories are introduced, available
pertinent research is called in to check contradiction or agreement. This continuous
linking between theory and practice provides more insight on the issues under discussion.
In developing the framework, a holistic approach was followed. Qualitative data are
channeled into themes to build the basic concepts of the framework. The multi-
dimensional exploration of the basic components (Chapter 5) from practice and theory
gives a better understanding of e-government as a notion.
All of these have contributed to a better understanding of the research issue.
Introducing the strategic framework of e-government
This is a core contribution of this dissertation. The strategic framework of e-government
is both novel and innovative. It is novel because it has never existed before neither in
literature nor in practice. It is innovative because of the methodology followed in
structuring it and the characteristics it exhibits. The dissertation discusses the likely
benefits of the inclusion of such a framework in an e-government strategy. Notably, the
title of the thesis reflects the fact that this framework is a core contribution.
Abstraction of e-government
To simplify development of e-government a special methodology was followed. This
methodology calls for the abstraction of e-government. The discussion explores the fit
between this methodology and the requirements of e-government development. The
thesis concludes the nice fit between the two.

Introducing the federated model of e-government
The federated model of e-government is another major contribution of the dissertation.
The model was based on the abstraction concept mentioned above. The technical
implementation of the model is described in detail to prove the workability of the model.
A similar case from practice is provided for validation and to confirm applicability.
Other contributions
In addition to the major objectives and contributions described above, there are other
minor contributions. These contributions are byproducts of the explorative study. The
contributions are either amelioration of current theories in e-government or genuine ones.
These contributions include the following:
• Government officials perception of “e-government”. The study draws a
generalised understanding of e-government. This understanding has taken into
account the different individual perceptions of the sample governments.
Formulating such a perception is extremely important as it describes clearly
how world governments perceive “e-government”. Future studies may address
shortcomings in this perception and introduce more elaborated understandings,
for example.
• Strategic objectives maturity model. There are a number of models that
describe e-government maturity based on integration level (e.g. Layne & Lee,
2001; Bhatnagar, 2004). In contrast, the developed maturity model is rather
based on the strategic objectives of e-government. Just by looking at these
objectives, one can decide which maturity level the government exhibits. The
model identifies four maturity levels. This tool can help governments assess
their position against other governments and figure out what objective(s) they
need to seek in order to move to a higher maturity level.
• Rule-based process design. The dissertation introduces a new approach for e-
government process implementation. It calls for a rule-based processes design.
The necessity for this approach is described and clarified. The dissertation
verifies applicability with a practical example.
• Better understanding of the components of an e-government strategy. The
dissertation discusses in sufficient details the most prominent and common
contents of an e-government strategy. This discussion comes after a broad
study of the different versions of national strategies of e-government of some
(21) countries. Comparative analysis was used to draw out conclusions. The
dissertation originates a structure of a typical e-government strategy. The
findings were used inter alia to structure the strategic framework of e-
government. The structure of the generic strategy per se is still of great value
to say the least.
• Drivers of e-government. Part of this dissertation is dedicated to articulate the
real drivers behind e-government. These drivers are important to understand.
They explain why governments tend to incept e-government programmes. As

we shall see, part of these drivers was found to be coming from within
governments themselves. Many other drivers portray external pressures on the
government. The dissertation clarifies each of these external elements.
• Pillars of e-government. More attention is given to the critical success factors
of e-government. The most important factors identified as critical by both
practice and theory were considered to build a framework for the pillars of e-
government. They were referred to as pillars because any failure in any of
them may increase dramatically the chances of failure to the whole
government programme.
• Adding values to e-government. What is the value of e-government? How can
governments introduce value through e-government? What is the connection
between value and strategic objectives? How does public value relate to focus
areas and e-government? These questions are answered through a dedicated
part of the thesis.
• Particular opportunities for the Less Developed Countries (LDCs). The
dissertation argues the potential benefits of the developed strategic framework
of e-government for any government. There are, however, particular
opportunities for LDCs where e-government implementation is just starting. A
whole chapter is dedicated for the discussion of these opportunities.
0.4 Thesis Outline and Structural Organisation
This thesis is organised into nine chapters. This chapter (Chapter 0) serves as an
executive summary.
Figure 1: Overview of Chapter 1
Chapter 1 draws attention to some issues that are characteristic to this research. The
chapter provides a proper justification of this research. In addition, it shows the
importance of doing this particular research. Partly, it has to do with the relative neglect
of previous research in the problem domain. The chapter also argues the potential impact
of the outcomes. Finally, the chapter dedicates a large portion to describe the research
methodology followed in order to answer the previously raised research questions. Figure
1 above gives an overview of the chapter. A real-life taste of the challenges facing e-
government development is given in Chapter 2. Cases are pulled out from a number of
Justification Impact
Relative Neglect Methodology
Importance
RESEARCH
ISSUES
CH.
1
Discusses these issues
in the order shown

countries. The chapter reviews some previous research to provide further recounts on
these challenges. Adequate clarification of political, social, legal, organisational,
economic and technical challenges is provided to allow the reader to gain a better
understanding of the context of the research problem (Figure 2).
A broad overview of e-government is presented in Chapter 3 (Figure 3). This literature
review covers the perception of e-government and its relationships to other initiatives.
New Disciplines in e-
Government
m-Government
g-Government
u-Government
Perception of
e-Government
Global Research
Agenda
The Bigger
Context
LITERATURE
REVIEW
CH.
3
Case
Studies
Discusses Individual
Challenges
Literatur
e
Political
Social
Legal
Organisa-
tional
Economic
Technical
CH.
2
CHALLENGES
FACING
E-GOVERNMENT
DEVELOPMENT

The chapter portrays the trends in e-government research from a global perspective.
Newly emerging disciplines of e-government are also provided towards the end of the
chapter.
A core chapter in this dissertation is Chapter 4. This chapter takes the reader into the
systematic analysis that lead to structuring the strategic framework of e-government. In
the process, the chapter introduces many important concepts. In addition, the chapter
identifies best practice as a basis for the developed framework.
It then presents the findings of the structured-case analysis of e-government strategies.
The chapter conceptualises a generic abstraction of these strategies. It identifies the
components needed to structure the framework (Figure 4).
As Figure 5 below depicts, Chapter 5 culminates the findings presented in Chapter 4
with the introduction of the strategic framework of e-government. The chapter presents
the nitty-gritty details of the framework and explains its different elements it incorporates.
It also elucidates the layout and the general flow of the framework.
STRUCTURING
THE
FRAMEWORK
OF
E-GOVERNMENT
STRATEGY
ABSTRACTION
-Vision
-Strategic Objectives
-Principles
-Focus Areas
-Building Block
-Prioritised Initiatives
-Implementation Plan
Modularity
Literature
Best Practice
INPUT OUTPUT
Bricks & Mortar
Lead to
The
Strategic
Framework
of e-
Government
CH.
4

Explanation of how to use the framework is offered in Chapter 6. The chapter explains
the different symbols used in the framework (see Figure 6 below). Some of the symbols
have different forms depending on certain constraints. The chapter also refers to some
different possible implementations and customisations of the framework. Besides, the
chapter identifies the potential users of the framework and illustrates how each group of
users can utilise it. It also explores drivers and pillars of e-government. In addition, this
chapter identifies the critical success factors of e-government. Finally, the chapter
explains how to induce public value through the framework.
THE
STRATEGIC
FRAMEWORK
OF
E-GOVERNMENT
Presents the framework
Provides detailed description
for each module in the
framework
The Framework
CH.
5

Chapter 7 is another key chapter in the dissertation. It discusses development of e-
government from a practical point of view (Figure 7).
Components
Applicability of business
solution for e-government
Requirements
Abstraction Approach Lead to
The Federated Model of
e-Government
Technical Architecture
SOA Rule-based Approach
THE
UNDERLYING
TECHNICAL
ARCHITECTURE
THE
FEDERATED
MODEL
OF
E-GOVERNMENT
CH.
7
Types of Users
Administrators
Auditors
Professionals
Academicians
CSFs
Benchmarking
Value Creation
Explanation of Key Symbols
HOW
TO
USE
THE
STRATEGIC
FRAMEWORK
OF
E-GOVERNMENT
Success Characteristics
Usage Guidelines
CH.
6

This chapter introduces the second most important contribution in the dissertation. The
federated model of e-government is presented here. This model is advocated to bring
about a number of advantages. It addresses complexity, manageability, and risks
associated with the development of e-government. The chapter provides an elaborated
description of a technical implementation. Moreover, Chapter 7 gives further recounts on
process design in e-government. It highlights the differences between business processes
and government processes. Unfortunately, both types of processes have been addressed
the same way by some researchers. The chapter proposes a new approach for
implementing e-government. The new approach is based on rule-based programming.
This study presents new knowledge that is potentially beneficial for any government.
However, there are particular opportunities for LDCs whose e-government programmes
are just starting. Being from an LDC myself, I provided a discussion of the key
characteristics of LDCs in Chapter 8 (Figure 8). The chapter explicates how LDCs can
use affordable technologies to incur more efficiencies.
Recommendations
e-Government: a catalyst
for development
Affordable tech for
improvement
LDCs-specific Characteristics
PARTICULAR
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR
LESS
DEVELOPED
COUNTRIES
Added Advantages for LDCs
CH.
8
Leapfrogging
Benefits
Wireless
Opportunities

Finally, Chapter 9 concludes this thesis with a summary of the main findings and
contributions to the body of knowledge (Figure 9). It then comments on implications of
this research and the related findings for theory and practice. The chapter concludes with
some recommendations for prospective future research and ends with some final remarks.
Note: I have used “e-government” consistently to refer to “electronic government”
throughout this dissertation. Other abbreviations used to refer to electronic government
include eGovernment, e-gov and digital government.
Implications
For Theory
For Practice
Summary of Main Findings
CONCLUSIONS
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Major Contributions
CH.
8
Further Research Opportunities
Concluding Remarks

C
CH
HA
AP
PT
TE
ER
R 1
1:
: R
RE
ES
SE
EA
AR
RC
CH
H I
IS
SS
SU
UE
ES
S
1.1 Justification of the Research
World governments have achieved substantial progress in their e-government
programmes during the last decade. e-Government has become a world phenomenon
(Grant & Chau, 2005; Zhang, 2006; Mofleh & Wanous, 2008; Schuppan, 2009). Each
government has developed its own strategy to meet the challenge. Nonetheless, e-
government realisation in its full potential is still far from complete. Since it is still a
work in progress, e-government is constantly evolving. e-Government strategies are
updated fairly frequently. What was valid a few years ago may not be satisfactory today.
This is mainly due inter alia to rapid debuts of newer technologies and ideas. Since an e-
government strategy serves as a general guide to e-government realisation, it is absolutely
crucial to keep it clear and simple.
Apart from suggestions from some researcher, there are no commonly established
guidelines to write clear and simple strategies. Only few research studies (e.g. Heeks,
2006a) have provided guidelines for writing e-government strategies. Still though, no
previous studies have been recorded to attempt to conceptualise e-government strategies
in order to build a generic and structured one that incorporates the necessary basic
elements for a successful implementation. This research delves into an exploratory study
of real-life e-government strategies. It investigates the possibility of creating a typical e-
government strategy.
An e-government strategy is a ‘plan for e-government systems and their supporting
infrastructure which maximises the ability of management to achieve organisational
objectives’ (Heeks, 2006). This plan is described in a top-level document that addresses
strategic directions, goals, components, principles and implementation guidelines. The
strategy should be understandable without any ambiguities. Such a strategy is considered
a baseline and thus will be referred to quite often. Different versions of e-government
strategies of (21) countries, in addition to that of the European Union, have been the
subject of this study. These countries are Australia; Belgium; Denmark; Austria; Japan;
Finland; France; Canada; Germany; Korea; Palestine; Singapore; Jordan; Egypt; UK;
India; New Zealand; USA; Malaysia; Brazil and The Netherlands.
Choice of the list of countries was based on the availability of relevant published
documentations. The countries with best-practice records were among the list. Many of
the countries reviewed topped the score of e-government maturity. To make the list even
more representative, I added some of the developing countries. Geographic variation was
also taken into consideration. Thus, the list includes countries from all continents. This
diversity is meant to provide a generalised perspective of these strategies during the study.
The question is now, where should the analysis start? Of course, one should build on the
work of previous researchers. This is an essential requirement for valid scientific research.
We will come to that later. First, let us see what we should look for from practice. The

CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH ISSUES
following section discusses briefly the importance of studying best practice cases as an
essential part in the analysis.
1.2 Why Best Practice?
It is now universally acknowledged that best practice is a major learning tool that
accelerates progress (Undheim, 2008). Exchange of best practice has been systematically
used worldwide. For example, the United Nations has built an e-government Readiness
Knowledge Base. It incorporated best practice learning and knowledge sharing
components (UNKB, 2007).
Similarly, the European Commission has established the good practice framework in e-
government (European Commission, 2004). The objectives were to accelerate transfer of
experiences and to re-use proven e-government solutions and provide a shared learning
environment across Europe. The EC has recently established the ePractice.eu portal to
publish best practice cases from around the EU member states. The portal includes cases
in the fields of e-government, e-health and e-inclusion. It presents sixty best practice
cases on average each month.
During my research, I found that governments tend to learn from each other. They
introduce similar terminologies and principles in their national strategies. There have
been instances in national e-government strategies where references of efforts of other
governments have been made. For example, the u-Japanese strategy cited the Korean
efforts in u-government. In fact, many governments look for best practices first. If no best
practice in certain field is found then they innovate. This is wise enough not to recreate
the wheel.
Since this study is deeply connected to practice (as is e-government in general), it has
been natural to consult best practice before introducing new theories. Considering best
practice and contrasting with previous research in building argument should arguably
make the analysis more factual. Still though, will the findings be relevant to practice?
This is what we will see in the next section
1.3 Importance
As has been mentioned in Chapter 0, a primary aim of this dissertation is to construct a
strategic framework of e-government. This framework serves as a generic abstraction of
an e-government strategy. Table 1 below assesses the presence or otherwise of such a
framework in the national strategies of e-government of sample countries. Despite its
simplicity and necessity as we shall see shortly, a strategic framework of e-government is
missing from the majority of the reviewed e-government strategies. At lease, not in the
way this dissertation is advocating.

Country Presence Relevant Diagrams
EU
No
Australia
No A representation of a connected government from a citizen point of view
Belgium
No The elementary building blocks of FEDICT
Denmark
No
The E-Government Project Plan which categorises initiatives (sub-projects)
into areas and relating them to strategic objectives
Austria
No A collection of components of eGovernment
Japan
No
Outline of u-Japan Policy which sets current status, future vision, targets,
measures implement, Major Actions
Finland
No The vision and focus areas of the National Knowledge Society Strategy
France
No
The Vision of Development of Target System which depicts users, channels,
basic components, and services
Canada
No
A representation of the Government Online Initiative which disqualifies as a
strategic framework
Germany
No
There exists a figure which summarises fours areas of action: Portfolio,
Process Chains, Identification, Communication Infrastructure
Korea
No The e-Government Enterprise Architecture
Palestine
No
Labelled as Palestine E-Government Framework, it comprised: Vision,
Objectives, Expected Outcomes, Application and Solution Portfolios,
Enterprise Architecture, and Governance
Singapore
Yes * It incorporates: Vision, Strategic Thrusts, Sub-Strategies, and Key Enablers
Jordan
No E-GAF Architecture Building Blocks
Egypt
No Implementation Framework for the E-Government Program
UK
No
Architectural model of how individual departmental and sectoral initiatives
relate to the strategic framework and standards
India
No
New
Zealand No
USA
No
Integrated Business-Wide Government Architecture: Access Channels, Lines
of Business, Internal Operations/Infrastructure, Value Chains
Malaysia
No
Brazil
No
Structures and Relationships in the Field of Electronic Government: Users,
Applications, Services, and Organisation
Holland
No
There is an Administrative framework for e-Government and a Framework of
Basic technical Components
* Included strategic framework does not qualify as advocated
Table 1: Presence of an e-government strategic framework in e-government strategies (Compiled
from national e-government strategies)
From Table 1 above, we see that the majority of the e-government strategies of sample
countries are lacking a strategic framework. Some countries had included some relevant
diagrams but they do not qualify as strategic e-government frameworks based on our
description later on.
The presence of an e-government strategic framework could have certainly added value
to e-government strategies of these countries as will be demonstrated. However, before
going any further let us check any previous research that might have tackled the issue.
1.4 Relative Neglect by Hitherto Research
I have noticed a relative neglect of this strategic part of e-government despite its extreme
importance. Soundness of an e-government strategy can be the difference between

success and failure of the whole endeavour. Even in practice, many public authorities do
not have any e-government strategy at all (Heeks, 2006a).
There have been a number of studies related to e-government strategies (e.g. Aichholzer,
2004; Bhatnagar, 2004; Chen et al, 2006; Heeks, 2006a; Shahkooh & Abdollahi, 2007).
Most of these studies, however, shed some light on how e-government strategies should
be like or how to plan those (Heeks, 2006a). However, none has discussed the importance
of embedding a strategic framework. This is where my contribution fits. This study
comes in to fill a gap in literature concerning e-government strategies.
Some other contributions sought to produce frameworks aimed at a better understanding
of e-government as a concept. Each attempt tackled the complexity of e-government from
a certain perspective. Methodologies and basis for these studies also varied. Grant &
Chau (2006) and Wimmer (2002), for example, introduced frameworks to help
understand e-government in its entirety. The framework of Sharma & Gupta (2003) was
based on the work done be Heeks (2001), observation of few practical implementations
by some countries (exclusively: USA, Canada, Singapore and India), and their own
experience. The basic components of e-government Sharma & Gupta (2003) have stated
were actually based on maturity levels of e-government implementation. Others (e.g.
Miranda, 2000) thought of building blocks to be purely technical components (e.g. ERP,
CRM…etc).
Wimmer (2002) on the other hand, perceived her framework as hodgepodge of different
views of e-government, abstraction layers, and progress of public service. She argued that
these perspectives provide better understanding and visualisation of e-government. Grant
& Chau (2006) developed their e-government framework to help assess, categorise and
classify e-government efforts. They started from few workable definitions of e-
government to figure out the building blocks.
The drive behind developing e-government frameworks is the lack of mature
documentation in literature (Sharma & Gupta, 2003). This paper comes in to address the
lack of studies that advocate the inclusion of a strategic framework in e-government
strategies. The contribution here is to produce a strategic framework of e-government that
is both generic and best practice based. The word “strategic” in the title refers to the facts
that it stems from the e-government strategy. Hence, my approach is rather different. I
primarily relied on real-life strategies of e-government of many countries to produce the
proposed framework. Thus, the end-product merits as both generic and best practice. In
addition, I took relevant work of researchers mentioned above into consideration in
structuring the framework. It is true that e-government strategies are driven by vision,
political and economic factors and requirements of each individual country (Grant &
Chau, 2006) yet I found a lot in common in all these facets.
Having seen the relative neglect of this vital research on this strategic level let us see the
real impact of this contribution. The framework can have a strong impact on the validity
and quality of e-government strategies. The following section discusses this potential
impact.

1.5 Impact
Today, there is a lot of replication of efforts on the side of governments who look
forward to incept e-government programmes. A comprehensive, well-designed
framework and implementation methodology would save governments a lot of time,
research, money and disappointments.
Sometimes a picture can convey more information than many pages of text. An e-
government strategic framework is not meant to replace the detailed text of the e-
government strategy but rather to serve as a quick alternative. This framework gives a lot
of information at a glance, especially when it is drawn well to stress the main messages
of the strategy (e.g. vision, strategic objectives…etc).
This makes it a perfectly useful tool in the hands of decision-makers. It is more
convenient for politicians who are normally non-technical. It is always easier for them to
handle graphical representations than huge tables, lengthy texts…etc.
Furthermore, a strategic framework gives a simplified yet a comprehensive
conceptualisation of what the e-government strategy is all-about. It immediately shows
the trends in e-government realisation. This is particularly important during discussions
about e-government initiatives among stakeholders. Whenever the need arises to consult
the strategy it might just be satisfactory to consult the framework first. In case further
details are required then the complete strategy is always available. This can, in many
cases, save time and efforts of delving into the full text of the strategy.
Being a comprehensive abstraction of the strategy, a strategic framework shows how
different basic components fit together. It shows each component in relation to others.
This makes planning and foreseeing of discrepancies a lot easier. Contradictions,
misalignments, and inconsistencies with the general policies can be spotted easily.
For transparency reasons, people should know about their government initiatives and
intentions. It is also important for a government to publish its accomplishments. The
framework is easier to disseminate in brochures and handouts than the complete strategy.
This can also save publishing costs.
The e-government strategic framework should convey the main message of the strategy
(i.e. the strategic intent). The framework is very convenient for this purpose. This is
because it is top-level representation of the strategic orientation in graphical format.
Being a graphical visualisation, the strategic framework of e-government should neither
be cluttered nor too complicated. Simplicity and easy interpretation is the power behind
such a framework. Moving towards complexity decreases its usability and value. It is
important, though, that the framework highlights the most important aspects of the e-
government strategy. For example, it must include the government’s focus and basic
components of the e-government programme. The dissertation dedicates a large section to
describe the methodology followed to put the framework together.
An e-government strategic framework has a relatively long-term scope and validity. In
order to stay valid, it must respond to changes in the environment. Technology is ever

changing at an accelerating pace. It is also frequent that simplification of procedure
results in process re-engineering. Organisational structures within the government can
also take place. These and many other changes in the environment must not invalidate the
framework. It should be flexible enough to cope with them. One way to make a strategy
more responsive is to make it as technology neutral as possible.
The proposed framework is “customisable”. It is generic in nature and not constrained in
some country-specific characteristics. Any country can utilise the proposed framework by
populating it with its own visions, objective, initiatives…etc. Layout and the relationships
within and among its different components can also be customised. Thereby, individual
governments can still reflect their own focus and strategic agenda through local
customisation of the framework.
A Strategic framework should serve as the bridge between regional and local strategies.
In addition, it should also be extensible through detailed sub-strategies. For example,
there could be a dedicated strategy for client centricity (e.g. Citizen Centric Government:
Electronic Service Delivery Strategy for the Western Australian Public Sector…etc.)
Obviously all these requirements are challenging. Extra care will be taken to structure the
framework. A valid methodology for building the framework is a first requirement. This
is the subject of the next section.
1.6 Research Methodology
E-Government/e-Governance is a rapidly growing field, but one that is still
immature and in search of defining boundaries, core focus, methods, and
theories. There is a large and growing field of practice and a growing body of
research, but a lack of and a strong need for, rigor and focus without which
research cannot make a worthwhile contribution to practice.
E-Government Research Methods and Foundations Minitrack (Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences –HICSS 2006)
The lack of rigor and focus in e-government research is because e-government is a
relatively new concept. It is still more practice than theory. My mission in this research is
to explore the subject for purposes of putting together a framework that is generic and
best practice. The domain I was exploring is complex in the sense that it is not just about
one aspect (e.g. technology). It involves political, organisational, managerial, social, and
technological issues.
In search for a research methodology, I had to choose rationally one that fulfills some
basic requirements that are characteristic of this particular research problem. These
requirements include:
• Support for deep exploration of the problem scope (which is fairly broad in
this case)
• Allows to develop constructs and concepts from numerous cases of best
practice of mostly text-based data

• Provides flexible data collection methodologies
• Supports structured comparative analysis
Broadly speaking, there are basically two major research methodologies: the traditional
quantitative research and the less structured qualitative research.
Quantitative research stipulates that reality is not so problematic when conclusive results
are feasible (Holliday, 2002). It is more concerned with the precise relationships among
variables rather than exploring every possible variable (Easterby-Smith et al, 1992). Thus,
quantitative research is simply insufficient to rely on in order to understand the intricacy
of the current problem scope. Experience taught us that e-government failures are, in part,
due to such complexity.
A rather deeper research methodology was required to find out the qualities that draw the
main boundaries. Therefore, qualitative methodologies were followed to delve through
the subject in a holistic fashion. Table 2 compares quantitative and qualitative research
based on: activities; beliefs; steps; rigor; and declarations (Adapted from Holliday
(2002)).
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Activities
• Counts occurrences across a large
population
• Uses statistics and replication ability to
validate generalisation from survey
samples and experiments
• Attempts to reduce contaminating social
variables
• Looks deep into the quality of social life
• Locates the study within particular
settings which provide opportunities for
exploring all possible social variables;
and set manageable boundaries
• Initial foray into the social setting leads
to further and more informed
explorations as themes and focuses
emerge
Beliefs
• Conviction about what it is important to
look for
• Confidence in established research
instruments
• Reality is not so problematic if research
instruments are adequate or conclusive
results are feasible
• Conviction that what it is important to
look for will emerge
• Confidence in an ability to devise
research procedures to fit the situation
and the nature of the people in it as they
are revealed
• Reality contains mysteries to which the
researcher must submit and can do no
more than interpret
Steps
• Decide the focus first (e.g. testing a
specific hypothesis)
• Devise research instruments next
• And finally approach the subject
• Explore inmportance in the subject (per
se or because it represents an area of
interest)
• Explore the subject
• Allow focus and themes emerge
• Devise appropriate research instruments
during the process
Rigor
• Disciplined application of established
rules for statistics, experiment and
survey
• Principled development of research
strategy to suit the scenario being
studied as it is revealed
Declaration
• Details of the population in samples
• Questions in a survey questionnaire
• Which statistics
• Composition of groups in experiments
• Which variables are being included or
• Choice of social setting:
o how it represents the research
topic in its role in society
o how feasible (e.g. access)
o how substantial (e.g. duration,

Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
excluded
• What groups are exposed to in
experiments
depth, breadth)
• Choice of research activities:
o how they suit the social setting
o appropriateness to researcher
(subject relationships)
o how they form coherent strategy
• Choice of themes and focus
o how they emerged
o why they are significant
o how far they are representative
of the social setting
Table 2: Quantitative vs. Qualitative research methodologies (Source: Holliday, 2002)
As per the basic requirement for this research stated above, my research is primarily
exploratory in nature. There were no relevant theories in the literature or in common
practice that can be used as an initial starting point. Without such guidelines or
established theory, I had to fathom my way through. It was necessary to follow a flexible
methodology. Quantitative research is too structured to prove flexible to meet my
research requirements.
Unlike quantitative research, which tries to control variables in the environment, I sought
to explore all the variables in the domain. I started from an unbiased perspective. I did not
know in advance, what the framework would look like or what constructs it would
include. Qualitative research doctrine states that important variables will emerge as the
study progresses. As important variables emerge, research procedures can be devised to
fit the situation better. In quantitative research, on the other hand, the researcher has to set
forth in advance what variables are to be tested. The importance of variables is preset.
The most important ones are chosen. This was not an option for me as I wanted the focus
themes to surface.
Figure 10 summarises the differences between quantitative and qualitative research
methodologies.
Figure 10: Qualitative vs. qualitative research methodologies (adapted from Holliday, 2002,
Easterby-Smith et al, 1992)
Putting the two directions on balance and projecting them against the stated research
requirements, made it obvious that a qualitative research was the main methodology to
Count occurrences
Control variables
Relationships among variables
Initial focus
Established instruments
Testing existing ones
Direct clear and less time
Deeper Study
Capture all variables
What variables involved
Focus emerges
Tailored Methodologies
New understandings
Takes long time
Quantitative
Research
Qualitative
Research

follow. This diagram should not mean that these two types of research could not be
combined in one study. On the contrary, many studies have used both quantitative and
qualitative research.
Normally researchers use qualitative research to start exploring a relatively new field.
Once the basic constructs in this field become more obvious, they may use quantitative
methodologies to assess relationships amongst the constructs.
In search for qualitative data, the emphasis was on those that carry the “best practice” tag.
Naturally, the first place to look at was the best practice cases from around the world. In
fact, arriving at “best practice” requires learning from successful case studies (Cornford
& Smithson, 1996). Successful case studies yield critical learning, which can then be
incorporated as “best practice” (Sharma, 2007). Thus, the core data-collection
methodology in this research was case studies. A case study is ‘an empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the
boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident’ (Yin, 1994).
As Figure 11 shows case study is a valid methodology for both quantitative and
qualitative research. Comparison of results to find methodologies aided in producing the
sought generic framework. If two or more cases are shown to support the same theory,
replication may be claimed” (Yin, 1993). In my quest, I studied, deeply, cases from (22)
countries. I relied on convergence of evidence to produce the constructs that eventually
led to structuring the framework.
Figure 11: Research methodologies (developed from Myers, 1997; Silverman, 1993; Denzin, &
Lincoln, 1994)
I analyzed collectively and comparatively the e-government strategies from various
countries. In the process, I followed the structured case study research approach
suggested by Plummer (2001). Plummer (2001) suggested that structured case study
approach has the powers of interpretive (during data analysis) and positivist (through
conceptual framework) epistemologies. Riedl et al (2007) advocated and implemented
the structured case approach to build theory in e-government. They argued that this
methodology draws the linkage between data and conclusion. They concluded the
validity of the approach for theory and knowledge building. I estimated that this scientific
research methodology fits well the nature of our research. I overlapped data analysis with
data collection as Van Mannen (1988) and Glaser & Strauss (1967) suggested. This
allowed me to make adjustments during data collection process. The added flexibility of
Action Research
Ethnographic
Grounded theory
Design
Case
Study
Laboratory
Experiment
Field Experiment
Survey
Simulation
Ethnomethodology
Phenomenology

data collection was important since I was not sure what data collected will become
important in the course of my research. Figure 12 shows how important constructs have
emerged during data collection and analysis. I started with no preset constructs or
hypotheses. This was necessary to avoid any biased results.
Figure 12: Emergence of constructs (based on Holliday, 2002; Van Mannen (1988) and Glaser &
Strauss (1967
In building the e-government strategic framework, I have reviewed the available
strategies as mentioned above. Many countries have already developed different versions
of their strategies. New versions came out upon completion of a major phase of e-
government implementation and the beginning of another. They may come also as a
response to changes in the environment including government policies and new
innovative technologies as seen in Figure 13 . In the course of my research, I reviewed all
the different versions of the available e-government strategies.
As the figure shows, the policy cycle comprises six steps (Stone, 2001; Janssen et al,
2004; Heeks, 2006b). The first step is to add a response in the agenda (agenda setting)
upon a change in the environment. This is followed by internal preparations for decision
making which might involve many other steps including doing R&D for example. The
decision is then taken. At this point, a new strategy is churned out. Once the strategy is
prepared, it can then be implemented. Benchmarking implementation follows to measure
performance and in some cases, updates to the strategy might take place. Finally,
governments learn from their experience and lessons are documented.
Raw Data
Collection
Organising &
Analysing
Data
Focus Emergence
Study Each Focus
Characteristics
Construct
1
Construct
2
Construct
3
Construct
4
Construct
n
New
Perspectives
on
Data

Figure 13: Churning out of new e-government strategies (developed from Stone, 2001; Janssen et al,
2004; Heeks, 2006b)
Figure 14 below gives an overview of the research methodology followed during my
study. As the figure shows, I resorted to the structured case approach as mentioned above.
I was essentially building a framework out of basically textual data. In the process, I
conducted intensive and iterative cross case comparisons. Diversity among cases selected
should not produce variation. My selection is affected, however, by available data. The
goal behind selection of this particular group of countries was to replicate and extend the
emerging generic framework. This helped validate the framework for different
governments. I sought to enhance generalisability of the framework.
ENVIRONMENT
CHANGES
Technology
Politics
Phase
Completion
. . .
Policy Cycle
Benchmar-
king
Implemen-
tation
Learning
Awareness
Agenda
Setting
E-Government
Strategies
Decision
Preparati-
on
Decision
Making
New Strategy
Churn out

Figure 14: Overview of my research methodology
I did not set in advance the number of cases to consult. I added new cases whenever I was
in doubt about some construct or component in the framework. I kept adding cases until
the addition of a new case produced minimal effect on the emergent framework. In other
words, I stopped adding cases once I witnessed convergence of evidence. I tried to
balance the intensity of data collection of the case studies. Too much data collection and
variation could have led to a complex framework. Inadequate volume of data or sparse
variation on the other hand might have failed to capture the whole picture in its entirety. I
was a ware of these potential risks and worked to avoid them.
To counteract the effects of initial impressions on data collected I searched for cross-case
patterns. I used a mesh of (22) cells for each group of data to generate accurate and
reliable constructs. To have a better understanding during comparison analysis I fell back
on lens or keyhole comparisons (Walk, 1998). This comparison methodology has
produced new perspectives. It allowed me to gather quality data. This wasn’t easy,
however. I had to do keyhole comparisons not between two cases but rather among (22).
Cross-case
Comparisons
Resulted Framework
Convergence
of Evidence
New Case
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Overlap
Iteration
Multiple Cases
Literature
Contrasting
Formation of
Constructs
Evidence
Tabulation

Despite the argument about necessity to using qualitative methodologies, I used some
quantitative analysis. I collected some quantitative data to measure precisely some
constructs. For example, to determine the rankings of the top strategic objectives, I
employed some regression analysis to come up with a representative graph (see Chapter
4). This raised the validity of the emergent framework. It should be noted here that
despite considering constructs with higher replicability I did not ignore any of the ones
with no repetitions. I listed them all in the tables introduced throughout this dissertation.
They maybe used as variable to check in a future research (see Section 9.4).
To validate each construct in the sought framework I tabulated evidence (data) from
which each construct has evolved (Miles & Huberman, 1984; Sutton & Callahan, 1987).
The reason to follow this technique was the relative variation of evidence across cases.
The technique followed made it easier to aggregate qualitative evidence.
Components and layout of the framework have converged from accumulative evidence
(qualitative data). Gradually, a generic framework began to emerge. I compared
systematically the emergent framework with evidence collected from the multiple cases
one at a time. I continued this iterative process until the data corroborated well the
evolving framework.
As we shall see throughout the dissertation, I was always contrasting evidence with
available and relevant literature. I examined similar research focus. In particular, I was
looking for agreement or contradiction. This allowed producing a more rational
framework. In addition, this comparison with literature has naturally broadened my
thinking. I availed from external ideas.
During my research, I came across different challenges. One major challenge was getting
information from official sources. Even with the most advanced countries in e-
government, getting information past the published ones was extremely difficult. For
example, the majority of emails I sent for soliciting general information have received no
attention although I was always explaining why the information is needed and how the
information will be used. This is strange since the addresses I used for communication
were explicitly placed online by government themselves to address further enquiries.
Another challenge I had to face was the different languages used for publishing official
information. Many of the documentations reviewed were not in English. I had to deal
with documents written in at least eight languages. Since I only know a few of them, I
had to seek assistance from international students to translate the content into English. I
was also using online translation services extensively. Different governments used
different terminologies to describe the same construct. Since I was exploring all the
possible constructs in this relatively new field, I had to pay extra attention for the
accuracy of translation.
The last challenge was the relative scarcity of relevant research in the problem scope as
mentioned Section 1.4. Some important previous publications were not accessible free of
charge or through agreement with the VUB. I had to pay fees to get some of these articles.
There were also no teams working on similar projects. Yet I managed to liaise with

researchers and professionals from academia and practice during conferences, workshops
and through online social networking to exchange ideas and information.
Despite all these challenges, I managed to collect all the information needed in order to
produce scientifically sound findings.
Before delving into the analysis, I would like to furnish the reader with a sense of the
complexity of e-government. The following chapter discusses the different challenges
that face the development of e-government.

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2.1 Introduction
Development of e-government is not a straightforward process. Many challenges have to
be overcome during the different phases of development. Challenges start at the planning
phase. Choosing the right strategies to engage in e-government cannot be trivial as every
decision made has its consequences during implementation. Normally, an e-government
strategy has a long time validity extending over many years. It is a national plan that
depicts what the country will be doing in the next few years. Upon finishing the plan
implementation and realisation, another one may begin. The point here is e-government
strategy is barely changing once endorsed. Therefore, careful planning is obviously
crucial and many things have to be taken into consideration. Implementation phase is
where most of failures sprout and disappointments arise. Many barriers have to be
overcome.
Challenges of all kinds have to be envisaged and accounted for. Otherwise, risk of failure
will be grave. In this chapter, I will attempt to provide a descriptive review of the major
challenges that are likely to face e-government development. The aim of this brief review
is to furnish the reader with a real-life taste of predicaments in e-government
development.
Breaking the Barriers to eGovernment study (BBeGov, 2007) has identified seven key
categories of barriers impeding e-government development. This three-year EC-funded
project was aimed at investigating the legal, organisational, technological and other
barriers impeding effective e-government services. The identified barriers were:
• Leadership failures resulting from poor understanding of e-government or
biased prioritisation of initiatives towards achieving short term tangible public
services (e.g. in health education…etc) for constituency competition.
• Financial inhibitors, which include cost of hardware, software, training,
consultation…etc.
• Digital divides and choices in terms of wealth, age, gender, disability,
language, culture, geographical location, size of business...etc. All these
differences should be considered in order to achieve the “no-citizen-left-
behind” principle.
• Poor coordination across agencies
• Workplace and organisational inflexibility which is synonymous with
resistance to change
• Lack of trust which fuels the controversy between data collection of
individuals (which is necessary for offering services) and protecting their
privacy at the same time
• Poor technical design of e-government systems (e.g. inappropriate user
interfaces, usability issues, interoperability issues…etc.

CHAPTER 2: CHALLENGES FACING E-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT
2.2 Sample Cases of Challenges from Practice
Countries, despite being different in many aspects, face similar challenges in tackling e-
government. Yet the severity of each individual challenge is variable across countries.
This depends on local situations. For example, a richer country is likely to face less
financial challenges than and a Less Developed Country (LDC). Similarly, a country with
a high literacy rate should arguably face milder digital divide or lack of human skills. I
have reviewed official governmental documentation of a number of countries in order to
identify and understand the different challenges from a practical point of view.
Starting with the USA (OMB, 2002), the e-government programme had at one point,
faced a number of barriers. These barriers included agency culture. Agencies are mostly
concerned with the functional performance of their IT systems. Basic principles like
‘meeting users’ need’ were not yet assimilated within the culture of these agencies. In
addition, disparate systems were still abundant. These systems were initially installed to
automate the processes. This has created islands of automation. This stage has found its
way through the agency culture creating a strong resistance to change in the perception of
the value of IT systems. Other barriers included lack of federal architecture of e-
government, lack of trust, scarcity of adequate funding for investment in e-government,
and shareholders’ apathy.
In Denmark (Project e-Government, 2004; MSTI, 2004), bureaucracy was still
traditionally an issue. Like in the US, islands of automation were also heavily present.
Silo-oriented solutions and rigid processes were considered common impediments. In
addition, there was a lack in proper knowledge in the vision and strategy of e-government
on the administrative level. Moreover, the culture prevailing did not encourage inter-
agency cooperation in operation. This was probably due to the perception that benefits
induced might be harvested by peer organisation(s). In general, there was a lack of
managerial skills and commitment. Finally, the organisational aspects were usually
overlooked in favour of the technical ones.
Malaysia (8MP, 2001; 9MP, 2006) faced shortages in IT skills, information management
skills, statewide management plans for IT, integrated infrastructures, and clear-cut
policies related to human resources. In addition, varying computing standards across
agencies, stiff laws, and lack of communities’ readiness technically and culturally added
up to the challenges facing e-government development in the country.
Challenges facing Brazil (Comitê Executivo do Governo Eletrônico, 2002) started at the
political level. The vision of e-government was still insufficiently assimilated within
many levels of the Brazilian government. e-Government was still being perceived as
mere computerisation and automation of processes. On the cultural and motivational
levels, there were still no mechanisms and instruments that encouraged innovation in e-
government. IT units were not sufficiently motivated to apply e-government principles in
accordance with the vision. There were also deficiencies in the technological
infrastructure. Technical public platforms were substandard. Brazil faced difficulties in

building capable intranets among agencies due to the lack of basic standards. As a result,
advanced electronic communications among public servants were not widespread.
Germany (BundOnline, 2005) had basically three challenges to encounter: organisational,
technical and financial. On the organisational level, the challenges included the shortages
in suitable staff on the local level. In addition, there was a difficulty in shifting the
traditional mentality of IT projects into the bigger context of services delivery through e-
government. The technical challenges concerned basically the timely provision of basic
technical components by the central government. Long delays may result in
heterogeneous systems being developed by the local authorities. Lastly, financial factors
needed to be taken into consideration. The fact that returns on investments are realised
only later on, has made justification of investments harder. In addition, cost calculation
was not always accurate and could result in wrong funding assessments. As always,
implementation of new online services is associated with additional burden in terms of
personnel and funding.
In Austria (ICT Strategy Unit, 2007), the challenges varied. They included integrating the
fragmented IT systems, overcoming boundaries across agencies, enforcing more
cooperation among them, building high quality infrastructure, and bridging the digital
divide. Additionally, changes and adjustments to legislations were vital for better
adaption of e-government. Businesses needed also to adapt their new systems with the
new common public systems such as the new electronic identity card. There was also a
need to debut more online services and to take the varying skills of employees and
citizens into account when designing these services.
Australia saw harnessing ICT meticulously to achieve better and more efficient
governance as a big challenge (Australian Government Information Management Office,
2006). Additionally, application of ICT has been ad-hoc at times without the necessary
coordination. Bridging the disparate systems was quite a challenge.
Understanding customers’ needs and insufficient resources constituted a challenge for
New Zealand in its quest for developing e-government (State Services Commission,
2006). Cross-agency collaboration was no less challenging. In addition, resistance to the
new paradigm of operation was taken seriously as a challenge.
Egypt had its own set of challenges. While remote authentication mechanisms and
security and privacy issues comprise legal and regulatory challenges, lack of unified
standards, multiple service providers, isolated communication islands (agencies) made up
the major technological challenges (EISI, 2004). Cultural and economic factors were also
part of the challenges the Egyptian government had to face. These included the
inexistence of suitable e-payment systems and the poor penetration of credit cards. This
limits the government’s ambitions to offer services where citizens would pay for online.
Besides, computer illiteracy and low Internet and PC penetration did not help either. On
the organisational level, reluctance to modify workflow and mistrust for automation (for
the fear of being illegal) were real impediments. There were also multiple auditing plus
overlapping authorities among agencies. Another unique organisational challenge for
Egypt was the reluctance to new philosophies and practices of modern management.

Other challenges included lack of information sharing, ownership, copyright issues and
lack of unified data dictionary and definitions.
The government of Jordan came across issues related to resistance to change,
inexplicably long procurement procedure, and limited financial resources and human
skills (e-Government Programme, 2007). In addition, there were technical and legal
challenges (including data ownership…etc).
The UK government considered itself as not being doing enough to maximise the use of
its online services (Cabinet Office, 2000). Addressing the crucial role of the private and
voluntary sectors in innovating service delivery, the government may have been
insufficiently open to these sectors. There could also be an absence of the necessary
incentives in institutional structures to drive service delivery forward.
In Finland (Information Society Programme, 2006; Teonsana Oy, 2008), there was still a
continuation of fragmented activities creating inability to reform structures and operation.
There was also a relative lack of skills and slowness in reacting to global changes. In
general, there was a feeling of the need to do more to face the challenges of competition
on the global level.
From the discussion above one can see that the blessing of e-government does not come
without snags. The battle must be fought on a number of levels. Each level poses unique
challenges. These levels can be generally divided into political, social, legal,
organisational, economic and technical. The following sections discuss each of these
dimensions in more details.
2.2.1 Political Challenges
Realisation of e-Government must first address political challenges. This is where the
whole project starts. If political will and support do not exist, such a large-scale project
will never see the light or will be patchy at best. e-Government programmes face many
glitches on the road of implementation. Political support is vital at every step.
Governments with rigorous e-government vision and enthusiasm (e.g. Canada, Singapore,
USA) have excelled. The lack of political commitment can fail the project at the earliest
stages.
However, political enthusiasm must be translated into seamless planning and dedication
of all kinds of resources (monetary, skills, time, efforts, empowerment, training,
education…etc). It is not enough to have political will and a strategic vision although
these are the primary elements for success. Politicians’ apathy to address fundamental
changes or issues because of their lack of interest or inclined priorities can hinder proper
e-government development. Similarly, conflicting political goals (e.g. transparency vs.
privacy, participatory vs. representative democracy…etc.) are major obstacles. Likewise,
conflicting interests between federal and local governments have their toll on
prioritisation of e-government initiatives.

2.2.2 Social Challenges
Social adoption of e-government can be one of the characteristics of success of an e-
government programme (Kumar et al, 2007; Becker et al, 2004). Each group of users has
certain needs and requirements. It is necessary to understand the diversity of users’ needs.
The government must devise the tools and methodologies to measure users’ satisfaction.
A government should demonstrate to its citizens that their privacy is conserved. Laws
must be modernised to assimilate the new advancements in ICT. Privacy laws should be
secluded by the constitution. LDCs have fallen behind in this regard. Privacy and security
must be a core component of e-Government implementation. They must not be added
later on. They should be well thought out from the beginning. Furthermore, they must be
reviewed constantly. Digitalised processes must incorporate security measures and be
privacy-sensitive. If not taken into consideration, private information is at stake.
Manipulation of voting results, for example, is possible in the absence of unblemished
measures. This ushers disastrous consequences.
Hacker attacks must be taken extremely seriously. Dedicated secure intranets protected
by multiple levels firewall security are normally used in e-government systems. The open
Internet should never be used to carry out G2E or G2G transactions.
In addition to citizens’ privacy and security, proper service continuity plans must be
prepared and simulated. This guarantees continuous availability of services in severe
social conditions.
With the advent of e-government, identity theft became even more catastrophic. Stolen
credit card numbers is already a big issue in e-commerce with billions of dollars stolen
each year. Nevertheless, the losses are mostly financial. In e-government, the term
“Identity Theft” will be literally possible if no careful measures are applied especially at
the level of authentication. Transactions carried out at a government’s portal are
completely different from that of a shopping website. They involve sensitive documents
like passports, identity cards, birth certificates…etc. Some of the top sensitive processes
(e.g. changing names) must be verified the traditional way.
Social challenges are different for developed and developing countries. People in
developed countries are more familiar with technology compared to those of the
developing countries. Leapfrogging to advanced technological solutions might cause a
technological shock to many people in LDCs. If technology becomes readily available
and yet the masses are incapable of using it then nothing really has been achieved. The
whole project is considered a failure because it would fail to achieve its goal. An
assessment of public readiness for e-government within a country must be made. This
assessment should contrast the status quo and appropriateness of the technological
infrastructure with current market offerings. Computer literacy surveys should be carried
out to assess the severity of the digital divide and plan accordingly.
A very noticeable socio-technical concern is the digital divide. It exists in all societies but
it is more severe between the north and the south on the global level. Differenced in
access, skills, political participation and economic opportunities lead to Virtual Inequality

(Mossberger et al, 2003). The digital divide is multi-dimensional (Norris, 2001). It
encompasses three aspects: global, social and democratic inequalities. Global divide
refers to the gap to access the Internet between the industrialised and the developing
countries. Social divide on the other hand, captures the gap between those who can afford
access and those who cannot within a nation or country. Finally, democratic divide is
about those who can and those who cannot engage in public life within the online
community across nations or countries.
Compaine (2007) defines the digital divide as “the perceived gap between those who
have access to the latest information technologies and those who do not”. He further
illustrates through evidence that such divide exists along racial, ethnic, economic and
education lines. While Hoffman & Novak (1998) demonstrate the impact of race on
computer access and Internet use, other researchers (e.g. Attewell, 2001; Mossberger et al,
2003) believe that disparities in access are driven more by income, educational and age
inequalities rather than by race.
The issue of whether the digital divide is closing or widening has been controversial. For
example, Compaine (2007) argues that the gap between those who have and those who
have-nots is closing. On the other hand, Van Dijk (2005), Mossberger et al (2003),
Attewell (2001)...etc provide evidence that the gap is widening in most parts of the world.
Some researchers believe that relying heavily on technology will widen the gap. Whether
or not the digital divide is a remnant of old inequalities is debatable. Yet the digital divide
itself can aggravate the old social inequalities (Van Dijk, 2005). Thus, the mere presence
of the Internet and the related online services does not solve the problem (Warschauwer,
2003). For example, the availability of older media such as television and radio was not
proven to have bridged the information inequality.
Many researchers have suggested ways to overcome or at least mitigate the digital divide.
Governments need to employ policy instruments to curb the problem. Principally,
governments need to perceive the digital divide a comprehensive social problem and not
just an individual misfortune (Van Dijk, 2005; Mossberger et al, 2003). In addition, it is
particularly important to measure the digital divide in order to provide proper solutions
depredating on the situation (Mossberger et al, 2003). Therefore, it is important to
measure disparities in skills, economic opportunities and democratic inclusion across the
three dimensions mentioned above. This helps the government focus its efforts and
resources much better. Awareness programmes in local languages are necessary to
motivate usage and access of the digital means (Best & Maclay, 2002). Van Dijk (2007)
suggested that policies and measures should target four primary objectives: motivation,
usage, skills building and infrastructure and resources provision. In many cases,
governments who sought to provide people in LDCs with cheap computers to bring about
social, economic and educational benefits have failed. Such initiatives as the $100 Laptop
and others were severely lacking the appropriate infrastructure and economic conditions
(Malakooty, 2007).
Another challenge is to provide access to people with disabilities. It is the government’s
responsibility to configure their online services in such a way that they are accessible by

the blind, the deaf and people with other kinds of disabilities. In many cases, special
hardware and software may have to be procured and made available.
Finally, as with all new inventions, e-government can be misused. Corrupt politicians in
non-democratic societies can potentially use e-government in a bad way. All information
including transactions is captured on government’s servers. If not planned transparently,
it can be possible, at least in theory, to find out to which party or candidate, a certain
individual has given his or her vote. It can even be worse if the votes are manipulated
electronically. This is a great threat to democracy. Therefore, legislations alone are not a
deterrent. They must be backed by practical solutions for such problems.
2.2.3 Legal Challenges
Government processes follow delicate legal constraints. In fact, legal constraints come
first in the planning of government processes. After all, government is supposed to
enforce law and order. Failure to do so ushers corruption and even chaos. Corruption in a
government has a bigger impact on the population than in a business. Governments -
especially democratic ones- make sure that they abide by the law. Corruption and lack of
transparency has severe political and social consequences. With this ugly formula, there
is no way to address accountability. Furthermore, persecution and bias can become so
widespread.
When developing technical solutions in the course of e-Government implementation,
legal issues are often taken strictly into account. Despite the ability of governments to
change the laws, they do not enjoy the same level of flexibility as businesses do. This is
fundamentally because governments traditionally exercise control whereas businesses
seek profit. In the process, a review of current laws and regulations can be modernised in
light of the new advancements in operation and technology. Retarding laws can be
examined for alteration or update to achieve more efficiency. Integration of legislations
and regulations across agencies is as necessary for interoperability as technical standards
and policies.
Full development of e-Justice faces a number of challenges. Given the nature of the
Judicial system, makes it more difficult to effect new changes on laws and procedures. In
addition, the complexity of the sector where there are different types of courts ranging
from supreme court, electoral courts, small claim courts and many state courts, military
courts... etc and the different ministries on the federal and local levels will impede
integration (Thomas & Walport, 2008).
The Internet-related crime is another challenge that faces e-police. Internet has resulted in
the appearance of the “cyber crime”. Since the Internet spans across countries, an
international cooperation is needed to counteract cyber crimes (Cuellar et al, 2001;
O’Brien & Marakas, 2008). This has lead the police in many countries to fail to take
appropriate actions. Therefore, cooperation between the police enforcement and the
industry sector was inevitable in order to combat these types of crimes by increasing
awareness among companies and citizens (EC, 2008).

One particular challenge is the fact that e-police cannot be accessed in emergencies.
Many implementations reviewed reflect this limitation. For example, I have reviewed the
Belgian initiative “Police-on-Web” (ePractice.eu, 2008b). The main page clearly states
the site should only be used for non-urgent complaints or declarations.
Finally, governments should decree new laws and regulations. Legislations and
regulations for such things as e-signatures, digital certificates, online trading, e-
procurement…etc are becoming indispensable for the new era.
2.2.4 Organisational Challenges
With the distribution of power, different local strategies, cultures, structures, processes,
and mindsets can develop in the different agencies. These differences pose organisational
challenges that need to be dealt with for a seamless e-government implementation. They
can be sources of incompatibilities during integration. Besides, identity management
across all these agencies is demanding. Building trust among the different agencies with
all these differences and convincing them to work together to offer shared services can
sometimes be daunting. Resolving issues related to responsibilities and authority is
equally cumbersome. Change management helps mitigate the failures in the individual
agencies and across agencies that result from resistance to change. Finally, we have seen
from the discussion of the case studies above that perception of the role of IT systems
have to change in order to offer client-centric shared service delivery.
2.2.5 Economic Challenges
Government budget is finite. No matter how rich a country happens to be, financial
resources are always limited. Governments are responsible for spending the ‘tax-payers’
money in the wisest possible way. Demonstrating the benefits of e-government for
decision makers can be crucial to motivate them. Special attention must be taken in
assessing how much funding is needed and how long a project will need for completion.
Bottom-up cost estimation was followed in Germany to achieve more accurate
assessments. Rigorous plans to draw investments have to be prepared. Public-private
partnership (PPP) can probably relieve the government from many sources of cost. With
special agreements, the private sector can provide public services under government
surveillance and monitoring.
2.2.6 Technical Challenges
Technical hitches and glitches are countless. Building technical solutions is very much
likely to bump into challenges, hindrances or even failures. Some governments choose to
employ tested solutions but may discover later that they were ill suited for their needs. In
some other cases technical problems might be so challenging that they halt the whole
project’s progress. Research and Development (R&D) is usually setup to work on such
problems. Therefore, R&D must be an integral part of e-Government implementation.
The government should avoid being locked in to a certain technology provider. Most
governments call for open source and open standards. For smoother implementation,
governments can consider scalability and simplicity for system development.

A major technical challenge that faces e-government development is integration. This
challenge is particularly high up when bridging disparate systems. Basically, there are
three levels of interoperability: technical, semantic and organisational. The dissertation
presents the federated model of e-government, which addresses this particular challenge.
Finally, security and privacy will always be a concern when developing technical
solutions. The government should make systems sufficiently secure to allow safe
operation and transactions. In addition, the government should demonstrate to its
constituents that their privacy receives high attention through laws and legislations. This
is necessary for trust building. The higher the level of trust, the more the citizens and
businesses are likely to utilise the services offered though e-government.

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most absolute abandonment of the soul to the will of God under
whatever form it manifested itself. This noble and exalted
disposition, the basis of all Mary’s spirituality, is brilliantly manifested
in the words Fiat mihi. Observe how perfectly they accord with those
which our Lord would have ever on our lips and in our hearts: Fiat
voluntas tua. True, the duty required of Mary at that supreme
moment was a glorious one for her. But all the splendor of that glory
would have made no impression upon her if the divine will, alone
capable of influencing her, had not arrested her attention. It was this
divine will which guided her in everything. Her occupations, whether
ordinary or exalted, were in her eyes but shadows more or less
obscure in which she found equal means of glorifying God and
recognizing the workings of the Almighty. She joyfully accepted the
duty or suffering of each moment as a gift from Him who fills with
good things the hearts which are nourished by Him alone, and not
by appearances or created things.
CHAPTER II.
The Duties of each Moment are the Shadows
which veil the Divine Action.
“The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,” said the angel
to Mary.
This shadow, behind which the power of God effects the entrance
and growth of Jesus Christ in our souls, is the form assumed by the
duties, attractions, and crosses of each moment.
They are in truth but shadows like those to which we give the name
in the order of nature, and which envelop sensible objects and hide
them from our view. Thus in the moral and supernatural order the

duties of each moment under their obscure appearances conceal the
truth of the divine will, which alone merits our attention. Thus Mary
regarded them. Therefore these shadows passing before her senses,
so far from deceiving her, filled her with faith in Him who is always
the same. Withdraw, Archangel; thy moment passes; thou vanishest.
Mary passes beyond thee; she is ever in advance; but the Holy
Ghost, with whom she has been filled through the sensible
appearances of thy mission, will never abandon her.
There are few extraordinary events in the exterior life of Mary. At
least it is not to these that Holy Scripture calls our attention. Her
exterior life is represented as very simple, very ordinary. She did and
suffered as did others of her condition. She goes to visit her cousin
Elizabeth: the other relatives go also. She retires to a stable: it is a
consequence of her poverty. She returns to Nazareth: the
persecution of Herod had driven her forth. Jesus and Joseph lived
there with her, by the labor of their hands. Behold the daily bread of
the holy family! But with what bread was the faith of Mary and
Joseph nourished? What was the sacrament of all their sacred
moments? What did they discover under the ordinary appearance of
the events which filled their lives? Exteriorly, nothing more than was
happening to the rest of mankind; interiorly, faith discovers and
develops nothing less than God working great things. O bread of
angels! Heavenly manna! Pearl of the Gospel! Sacrament of the
present moment! Thou givest God under appearances as poor and
mean as the manger, the hay, and the straw! But to whom dost thou
give Him? Esurientes reples bonis. God reveals Himself to the
humble in little things; and the proud, regarding only the exterior,
find Him not even in great things.
CHAPTER III.

How much Easier Sanctity becomes when
studied from this Point of View.
If the work of our salvation offers obstacles apparently so
insurmountable, it is because we have not a just idea of it. In truth,
sanctity consists in but one thing—fidelity to the order of God; and
this fidelity is equally within the reach of all, whether in its active or
in its passive part.
The active part of fidelity consists in fulfilling the duties imposed
upon us either by the general commands of God and the Church, or
by the particular state we have embraced.
Its passive part consists in lovingly accepting all that God sends us
each moment.
Which of these two parts of sanctity is above our strength? Not the
active part, since the duties it enjoins cease to be duties for us the
moment our strength is really unequal to them. Will not the state of
your health permit you to hear Mass? You are no longer obliged to
do so. And so it is with all positive obligations which prescribe duties
to be fulfilled. Only those precepts which forbid things evil in
themselves admit of no exception, for it is never permitted to do
evil.
Is there anything easier or more reasonable? What excuse can be
urged against it? Yet this is all the co-operation God requires of the
soul in the work of its sanctification.
He requires it of great and small, of strong and weak; in a word, of
all, at all times, in all places.
Therefore He only requires of us what is easy, since to attain
eminent sanctity requires but a simple good-will.
If over and above the commandments He shows us the counsels as
the more perfect end of our efforts, He is ever careful to

accommodate their observance to our position and character. As the
chief mark of our vocation for the counsels He sends us the
attractions and graces which facilitate the practice of them. He urges
no one but in proportion to his strength and according to his
attainments. Again I ask, what could be more just?
O you who aspire to perfection and are tempted to discouragement
by what you read in the lives of the saints and find prescribed in
certain pious books! O you who are overwhelmed by the terrible
ideas that you form of perfection! It is for your consolation that God
permits that I write this.
Learn what you seem not to know.
In the order of nature, necessary things, as air, water, earth, the God
of all goodness has made common and easy of attainment. Nothing
is more necessary than breath, sleep, food, and nothing is more
common. Love and fidelity are no less necessary in the spiritual
order; therefore the difficulty of acquiring them cannot be as great
as you represent it to yourselves.
Observe your life; of what does it consist? Of a multitude of
unimportant actions. Yet with these same unimportant actions God
deigns to be content. This is the co-operation required of the soul in
the work of its perfection. God Himself expresses it too clearly to
admit of doubt: “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is
all man” (Eccles. xii. 13). That is to say, this is all that is required on
man’s part; in this consists his active fidelity. Let him fulfil his part;
God will do the rest. Grace, working by itself, effects marvels which
surpass the intelligence of man. For ear has not heard, eye has not
seen, heart has not felt, what God conceives in His mind, resolves in
His will, executes by His power in souls wholly abandoned to Him.
The passive part of sanctity is still easier, since it consists in
accepting what very often we cannot avoid, and bearing with love,
that is, with consolation and sweetness, what we too frequently
endure with weariness and irritation. Again let me repeat, herein lies

all sanctity. It is the grain of mustard-seed the fruits of which we do
not gather, because we fail to recognize it in its littleness. It is the
drachma of the Gospel, the treasure which we do not find, do not
seek, because we imagine it too far beyond us.
Ask me not the secret of finding this treasure, for secret there is
none. This treasure is everywhere; it is offered to all, at all times, in
all places.
Through creatures, friends, and enemies it flows plentifully; it flows
over the faculties of our bodies, of our souls, and into the very
centre of our hearts. Let us but open our mouths and they will be
filled. The divine action floods the universe; it penetrates all
creatures; it floats above them, about them; it is ever present with
them; it precedes them; it accompanies them; it follows them, and
they have but to allow themselves to be borne onward on its tide.
Would to God kings and their ministers, princes of the Church and of
the world, priests, soldiers, peasants, laborers, in a word, all men,
knew how easily they can attain eminent sanctity! They have but to
fulfil the simple duties of religion and their state in life, and bear
with submission the crosses these duties bring, and accept with faith
and love the work and suffering which unsought and unceasingly
come to them through the order of Providence. This is the
spirituality which sanctified the patriarchs and prophets before there
were so many methods and so many masters in the spiritual life.1
1 It would be a gross misapprehension of the author’s words to
suppose that he wishes to urge souls to enter the paths of the
spiritual life without a director. He himself expressly states
elsewhere that to be able to do without a director, one must have
been long and skilfully directed. Still less does he wish to
discourage the practices adopted by the Church for the extirpation
of vice and the acquisition of virtue. What he desires to say, and
what we cannot impress too much upon Christians, is that the
first of all directions is the guidance of Providence, and that the
most necessary and the most perfect of all practices is the faithful
accomplishment and loving acceptance of all that this fatherly
Providence sends us to do and suffer.

This is the spirituality of all ages and of all states, which cannot be
more surely sanctified, or in a manner more noble, more
extraordinary, more easy, than by the simple use of that which God,
the Sovereign Director of souls, gives them each moment to do or
suffer.
CHAPTER IV.
Perfection does not consist in knowing the
Order of God, but in submitting to it.
The order of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the
action of God, the grace of God, all these are one and the same
thing in this life. It is God laboring to render the soul like unto Him.
Perfection is nothing but the soul’s faithful co-operation in this labor
of God. This work is silently effected in our souls, where it thrives,
increases, and is consummated unconsciously to ourselves.
Theology is full of conceptions and expressions which explain the
wonders of this work effected in individual souls according to their
capacity.
We may know all the theory of this work, admirably write and speak
thereon, and instruct and direct souls; but if our knowledge be only
theoretical, then I say that in comparison with souls which live and
act by the order of God and are guided by His divine will, though
ignorant of the theory of its operations or its different effects, and
unable to speak thereof, we are like a sick physician compared to
ordinary persons in perfect health.
The order of God, His divine will, received with simplicity by a
faithful soul, effects this divine work in her unconsciously to herself,
just as a remedy submissively taken restores the health of a sick

man, although he have not, and need not have, any knowledge of
medicine.
It is the fire which warms us, and not the philosophical knowledge of
the element and its effects; so it is the order of God, His divine will,
and not the curious speculation on its principles and its methods,
which produces the sanctification of our souls.
If we thirst, we must drink; theoretical explanations will not quench
our thirst. Curiosity for knowledge only makes us thirst still more.
Therefore, if we thirst for sanctification, curious speculations only
keep us farther from it. We must abandon all theories and drink in
simplicity of all that the will of God sends us of work and suffering.
That which comes to us each moment by the order of God is best
and holiest and most divine for us.
CHAPTER V.
Reading and other Exercises only sanctify us in
so far as they are the Channels of the
Divine Action.
All our science consists in recognizing God’s will in regard to the
present moment. All reading pursued in any other spirit than that of
submission to the order of God is injurious. The will of God, the
order of God, is the grace which works in the depths of our hearts
by means of our readings and by all our other works. Without it our
readings are but shadows, vain appearances, which, coming to us
devoid of the vivifying virtue of the order of God, serve only to
empty the heart by the very plenitude they cause in the mind.

The virtue of this divine will flowing into the soul of a simple,
ignorant girl by means of suffering or ordinary actions, effects in the
depths of her heart this mysterious work of the supernatural Being
without filling her mind with any idea likely to awaken pride; while
the proud man who studies spiritual books only through curiosity,
and does not unite his reading to the will of God, receives into his
mind the letter without the spirit, and becomes colder and more
hardened than ever.
The order of God, His divine will, is the life of the soul under
whatever appearances the soul receives it or applies it to herself.
Whatever may be the relation of the divine will to the mind, it
nourishes the soul, and unceasingly strengthens her growth by
giving her each moment what is best for her. Nor is one thing more
efficacious than another in producing these happy effects; no, it is
simply the duty of the present moment which comes to us by the
order of God. That which was best for us in the past moment is no
longer best for us, for it is stripped of the will of God, which has
passed on to other things from which it creates for us the duty of
the present moment; and it is this duty, under whatever appearance
it is manifested, which will now most perfectly sanctify our souls.
If the divine will make reading the duty of the present moment, the
reading will effect His mysterious work in the depths of the soul. If,
in obedience to the divine will, we leave the reading for the duty of
contemplation, this duty will create the new man in the depths of
the heart, and reading would then be injurious and useless. If the
divine will withdraw us from contemplation to hear confessions or to
other duties, and that during a considerable time, these duties form
Jesus Christ in the depths of the heart, and all the sweetness of
contemplation would only serve to banish Him.
The order of God is the fulness of all our moments. It flows under a
thousand different appearances which, successively becoming our
present duty, form, increase, and complete the new man in us, in all
the fulness which the divine wisdom has destined for us. This

mysterious growth of Jesus Christ in us is the work produced by the
order of God; it is the fruit of His grace and of His divine will.
This fruit, as we have said, is germinated, increased, and nourished
by the succession of our present duties filled with the virtue of this
same divine will.
In fulfilling these duties we are always sure of possessing the “better
part,” for this holy will is itself the better part. We have but to yield
to it, blindly abandon ourselves to it with perfect confidence. It is
infinitely holy, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, for souls which
unreservedly hope in it, which love and seek but it alone, and which
believe with unfaltering faith that what it assigns to each moment is
best without seeking elsewhere for more or less, and without
pausing to consider the relation of material things with the order of
God, which is the seeking of pure self-love.
The will of God is the essential, the reality and virtue, of all things; it
is that which adapts and renders them suitable to the soul.
Without it all is emptiness, nothingness, falsehood, the empty husk,
the letter without the spirit, vanity, death.
The will of God is the health, the life, the salvation of soul and body,
whatever its manifestation or ways of reaching us.
Therefore we must not judge of the virtue of things by the relations
they bear to mind or body, for these relations are unimportant. It is
the will of God alone which gives to all things, whatever they may
be, the power to form Jesus Christ in the depth of our hearts. We
must frame no laws for this will and place no limit to its action, for it
is all-powerful.
Whatever the ideas which fill the mind, whatever the feelings which
the body experiences, were it for the mind but distractions and
trouble, for the body but sickness and death, the divine will
nevertheless is ever for the present moment the life of body and
soul; for both one and the other, whatever their condition, are

sustained by it alone. Bread without it is poison; and through it
poison becomes a salutary remedy. Without it, books but confuse
and trouble us; with it, darkness is turned into light. It is the
wisdom, the truth, of all things. In all things it gives us God: and
God is the infinite Being who holds the place of all things to the soul
which possesses Him.
CHAPTER VI.
The Mind and other Human Means are Useful
only in as far as they are the Instruments
of the Divine Action.
The mind with all its powers would hold the first place among the
instruments of the divine will; but it must, like a dangerous slave, be
reduced to the last.
The simple of heart who know how to use it can derive great profit
therefrom; but it can also do much injury when not kept in
subjection.
When the soul sighs after created means, the divine action whispers
to the heart that it sufficeth; when she would injudiciously reject
them, the divine action whispers that they are instruments not to be
taken or rejected at will, but to be simply received from Providence
and adapted to the order of God—the soul thus using all things as
though not using them, being deprived of all things, yet wanting
nothing.
The divine action, being limitless in its fulness, can take possession
of a soul only in as far as the soul is void of all confidence in her
own action; for this confidence and self-activity fill the heart to the

exclusion of the divine action. It is an obstacle which, existing in the
soul herself, is more likely to arrest the divine action than exterior
obstacles, which Providence can change at will into powerful aids;
for it can work with all things, even those which are in themselves
useless. With the divine will nothing is everything, and without it
everything is nothing.
Whatever the value in itself of meditation, contemplation, vocal
prayer, interior silence, acts of the will whether sensible, distinct, or
less perceptible, retreat, or active life,—better than all of them is
what God wills for the soul at the present moment; and the soul
should regard everything else with perfect indifference, as being of
no value whatever.
Thus seeing God alone in all things, she should take or leave them
at His pleasure in order to live in, hope in, and be nourished by Him,
and not by the things which have force and virtue only through Him.
Under all circumstances the soul should constantly say with St. Paul,
“Lord, what wouldst Thou have me do?” Not this more than that, but
simply Thy adorable will! The spirit loves one thing, the flesh
another; but, Lord, let Thy will be mine. Contemplation, action,
prayer vocal or mental, affective or passive, light or darkness, special
or general graces,—all these are nothing, Lord, for in Thy will lies
their sole virtue. Thy will alone is the end of all my devotion, and not
these things, however elevated or sublime in themselves; for the
end of divine grace is the perfection of the heart, not of the mind.
The presence of God which sanctifies our souls is that indwelling of
the Trinity which penetrates to the depths of our hearts when they
are submissive to the divine will; for the presence of God which we
enjoy through the exercise of contemplation effects this intimate
union in us only as do all other things which come to us in the order
of God. It holds, however, the first rank among them, for it is the
most excellent means of uniting one’s self with God when He wills
that we should use it.

We may therefore justly esteem and love contemplation and other
pious exercises, provided the foundation of this esteem and love be
wholly God, who mercifully deigns through them to communicate
Himself to our souls.
We receive the prince himself when we receive his suite. It would be
showing him little respect to neglect his officers under pretext of
possessing him alone.
CHAPTER VII.
There is no Enduring Peace but in Submission
to the Divine Action.
The soul that is not united solely to the will of God will find neither
rest nor sanctification in any self-chosen means—not even in the
most excellent exercises of piety. If that which God Himself chooses
for you does not suffice, what other hand can minister to your
desires? If you turn from the food the divine will itself has prepared
for you, what viands will not prove insipid to a taste so depraved? A
soul cannot be truly nourished, strengthened, purified, enriched,
sanctified, except by the fulness of the present moment. Then what
more would you have? Since you here find all good, why seek it
elsewhere? Are you wiser than God? Since He ordains it should be
thus, how could you desire it should be otherwise? Can His wisdom
and goodness err? Should you not from the moment He ordains an
event be utterly convinced that it is the best that could happen? Do
you think you will find peace in struggling with the Almighty? On the
contrary, is it not this struggle too often renewed, almost
unconsciously, which is the cause of all our disquiet. It is but just
that the soul which is not satisfied with the divine fulness of the

present moment should be punished by an inability to find
contentment in anything else.
If books, the example of the saints, spiritual discourses, destroy the
peace of the soul, if they fill without satisfying, it is a mark that we
have not received them in simple abandonment to the divine action,
but have taken them ourselves in a spirit of proprietorship. Their
fulness, therefore, bars the entrance of God to the soul, and we
must rid ourselves of it as an obstacle to grace. But when the divine
action ordains the use of these means, the soul receives them as it
does everything else—that is, in the order of God. She accepts them
as she finds them, in her fidelity simply using them, never
appropriating them; and their moment passed she abandons them
to find her contentment in what follows in the order of Providence.
In truth there is nothing really beneficial for me but that which
comes to me in the order of God. Nowhere can I find any means,
however good in itself, more efficacious for my sanctification and
more capable of giving peace to my soul.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Perfection of Souls and the Excellence of
Different States are in Proportion to their
Conformity to the Order of God.
The order of God gives to all things which concern the faithful soul a
supernatural and divine value; all that it exacts, all that it embraces,
and all the objects upon which it sheds its light become holiness and
perfection, for its virtue is limitless: it makes all that it touches
divine. But in order to keep ourselves in the path of perfection,
swerving neither to the right nor the left, the soul must follow no
inspiration which she assumes comes from God without first assuring

herself that it does not interfere with the duties of her state in life.
These duties are the most certain indications of the will of God, and
nothing should be preferred to them; in fulfilling them there is
nothing to be feared, no exclusion or discrimination to be made; the
moments devoted to them are the most precious and salutary for
the soul from the fact that she is sure of accomplishing the good
pleasure of God. All the perfection of the saints consists in their
fidelity to the order of God; therefore we must refuse nothing, seek
nothing, but accept all from His hand, and nothing without Him.
Books, wise counsels, vocal prayers, interior affections, if they come
to us in the order of God, instruct, guide, and unite the soul to Him.
Quietism errs when it disclaims these means and all sensible
appearances, for there are souls whom God wills shall be always led
in this way, and their state and their attractions clearly indicate it. In
vain we picture to ourselves methods of abandonment whence all
action is excluded. When the order of God causes us to act, our
sanctification lies in action.
Besides the duties of each one’s state, God may further ask certain
actions which are not included in these duties, though not contrary
to them. Attraction and inspiration, then, indicate the divine order;
and the most perfect for souls whom God leads in this way is to add
to things of precept, things inspired, but always with the precautions
which inspiration requires to prevent its interfering with the duties of
one’s state and the ordinary events of Providence.
God makes saints as He chooses. They are formed by His divine
action, to which they are ever submissive, and this submission is the
truest abandonment and the most perfect.
Fidelity to the duties of one’s state and submission to the
dispositions of Providence are common to all the saints. They live
hidden in obscurity, for the world is so fatal to holiness that they
would avoid its quicksands; but not in this does their sanctity
consist, but wholly in their entire submission to the order of God.
The more absolute their submission the greater their sanctity. We
must not imagine that those whose virtues God is pleased to

brilliantly manifest by singular and extraordinary works, by
undoubted attractions and inspirations, are any less faithful in the
path of abandonment. Once the order of God makes these brilliant
works a duty they fail in abandonment to Him and His will which
ceases to rule their every moment, and their every moment ceases
to be the exponent of the will of God if they content themselves with
the duties of their state and the ordinary events of Providence. They
must study and measure their efforts according to the standard of
God’s designs for them in that path which their attractions indicate
to them. Fidelity to inspiration is for them a duty; and as there are
souls whose whole duty is marked by an exterior law, and who must
be guided by it because God confines them to it, so also there are
others who, besides their exterior duties, must be further faithful to
that interior law which the Holy Spirit engraves upon their hearts.
But who are the most perfect? Vain and idle research! Each one
must follow the path which is traced for him. Perfection consists in
absolute submission to the order of God and carefully availing
ourselves of all that is most perfect therein. It advances us little to
weigh the advantages of the different states considered in
themselves, since it is neither in the quality nor quantity of things
enjoined that sanctity is to be sought. If self-love be the principle of
our actions, or if we do not correct it when we recognize its
workings, we will be always poor in the midst of an abundance not
provided by the order of God. However, to decide in a measure the
question, I think that sanctity corresponds to the love one has for
God’s good pleasure, and the greater one’s love for this holy will and
this order, whatever the character of their manifestations, the
greater one’s sanctity. This is manifest in Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
for in their private life there is more of love than of grandeur, and
more of spirit than of matter; and it is not written that these sacred
persons sought the holiest of things, but holiness in all things.
We must therefore conclude that there is no special way which can
be called the most perfect, but that the most perfect in general is
fidelity to the order of God, whether in the accomplishment of

exterior duties or in the interior dispositions, each one according to
his state and calling.
I believe that if souls seriously aspiring to perfection understood this,
and knew how direct is their path, they would be spared much
difficulty. I say the same equally of souls living in the world and of
souls consecrated to God. If the first knew the means of merit
afforded them by their ever-recurring daily duties and the ordinary
actions of their state in life; if the second could persuade themselves
that the foundation of sanctity lies in those very things which they
consider unimportant and even foreign to them; if both could
understand that the crosses sent by Providence which they
constantly find in their state in life lead them to the highest
perfection by a surer and shorter path than do extraordinary states
or extraordinary works; and that the true philosopher’s stone is
submission to the order of God, which changes into pure gold all
their occupations, all their weariness, all their sufferings—how happy
they would be! What consolation and what courage they would
gather from this thought, that to acquire the friendship of God and
all the glory of heaven they have but to do what they are doing,
suffer what they are suffering; and that what they lose and count as
naught would suffice to obtain them eminent sanctity. O my God,
that I might be the missionary of Thy holy will, and teach the whole
world that there is nothing so easy, so simple, so within the reach of
all, as sanctity! Would that I could make them understand that just
as the good and bad thief had the same to do and suffer to obtain
their salvation, so two souls, one worldly and the other wholly
interior and spiritual, have nothing more to do, one than the other;
that she who sanctifies herself acquires eternal happiness by doing
in submission to the will of God what she who is lost does through
caprice; and that the latter is lost by suffering unwillingly and
impatiently what she who is saved endures with resignation. The
difference, therefore, is only in the heart.
O dear souls who read this, let me repeat to you: Sanctity will cost
you no more; do what you are doing; suffer what you are suffering:

it is only your heart that need be changed. By the heart we mean
the will. This change, then, consists in willing what comes to us by
the order of God. Yes, holiness of heart is a simple fiat, a simple
disposition of conformity to the will of God. And what is easier? For
who could not love so adorable and merciful a will? Let us love it,
then, and through this love alone all within us will become divine.
CHAPTER IX.
All the Riches of Grace are the Fruit of Purity
of Heart and Perfect Self-abandonment.
He, therefore, who would abundantly enjoy all good has but to
purify his heart, detach himself from creatures, and completely
abandon himself to the will of God. In this purity of heart and self-
abandonment he will find all things.
Let others, Lord, ask Thee all gifts, let them multiply their petitions;
I have but one gift to ask, but one prayer to make: Give me a pure
heart. O blessed pure of heart! In thy lively faith thou beholdest God
within thee. Thou seest Him in all things, and thou seest Him at all
times working within thee and about thee. Thou art in all things His
subject and His instrument. He guides thee in all things and leads
thee to all things. Frequently thou art unmindful; but He thinks for
thee. He only asks that thou desire all that comes to thee or may
come to thee by His divine order. He understands the preparation of
thy heart. In thy salutary blindness thou seekest in vain to discover
this desire; but oh! it is clear to Him. How great is thy simplicity!
Knowest thou not that a well-disposed heart is no other than a heart
in which God dwells? Beholding His own desires in this heart He
knows it will be ever submissive to His order. He knows at the same
time that thou art ignorant what is best for thee, therefore it is His
care to provide for thee. He cares not that thy designs are thwarted.

Thou wouldst go east: He leads thee west. Thou art just upon the
rocks: He turns the helm and brings thee safely into port. Though
knowing neither chart, nor route, nor winds, nor tides, thy voyages
are ever prosperous. If pirates cross thy way an unexpected breeze
bears thee beyond their reach.
O good will! O purity of heart! Well did Jesus know your value when
He placed ye among the beatitudes. What greater happiness than to
possess God and be possessed by Him? O state most blessed and
full of charm! In it we sleep peacefully in the bosom of Providence,
sporting like a child with the divine wisdom, unheedful of our course,
which is ever onward; in spite of shoals, and pirates, and continual
storms, we are borne on to a prosperous end.
O purity of heart! O good will! Ye are the sole foundation of all
spiritual states. To you are given, and through you are made
profitable, the gifts of pure faith, pure hope, pure confidence, and
pure love. Upon your stem are grafted the desert flowers—I mean
those graces which we rarely find blooming but in utterly detached
souls, of which God takes possession as of an uninhabited dwelling,
and there abides to the exclusion of all other things. You are that
bountiful source whence flow all the streams which water the
parterre of the bridegroom and the garden of the bride. Alas! how
truly mayest thou say to all souls: Consider me well; I am the
mother of fair love—that love which develops all that is best and
takes it to itself. It is I who give birth to that sweet and salutary fear
which inspires a horror of evil, and makes you peacefully avoid it; I
who ripen the sublime knowledge of God’s greatness and reveal the
value of the virtues which honor Him. It is I, finally, who inspire
those ardent desires which, unceasingly sustained by holy
confidence, stimulate you to practise virtue in the expectation of that
divine object, the enjoyment of which will one day become, even as
it is now (though then in a much more perfect degree), the
happiness of faithful souls. Well mayest thou invite them all to enrich
themselves from thy inexhaustible treasures, for thou art the source
of all spiritual conditions and ways. From thee do they draw all their

beauty, attraction, and charm. Those marvellous fruits of grace and
virtue which dazzle us on all sides, and with which our devotion is
nourished, are thy harvests. Thine is the land of abundance and
honey; thy breasts distil milk, thy bosom gives out the sweet odor of
myrrh; through thy fingers flow in all its purity the divine wine which
usually must be obtained by the labor of the wine-press.
Let us fly then, dear souls, and plunge ourselves in that sea of love
which invites us. What await we? Why do we tarry? Let us hasten to
lose ourselves in God, in His very heart, that we may inebriate
ourselves with the wine of His charity; in this heart we shall find the
key to all heavenly treasures. Then let us proceed on our way to
heaven, for there is no secret of perfection which we may not
penetrate: every avenue is open to us, even to the garden, the
cellar, the vineyard of the Bridegroom. If we would breathe the air of
the fields we have but to direct our steps thither; in a word, we may
come and go at will armed with this key of David, this key of
knowledge, this key of the abyss which contains the hidden
treasures of the divine wisdom. With it we may also open the gates
of the mystic death and descend into its sacred shades; we may go
down into the depths of the sea and into the den of the lion. It is
this divine key which unlocks those dark dungeons into which it
thrusts souls, to withdraw them purified and sanctified; it introduces
us into those blissful abodes where light and knowledge dwell,
where the Bridegroom takes His repose at midday, and where He
reveals to His faithful souls the secrets of His love. O divine secrets,
which may not be revealed, and which no mortal tongue can
express! This key, dear souls, is love. All blessings wait only for love
to enrich us. It gives sanctity and all its accompaniments; its right
hand and its left are filled with it that it may pour it in abundance
from all sources into hearts open to divine grace. O divine seed of
eternity! who can sufficiently praise thee? But why seek to praise
thee? It is better to possess thee in silence than to praise thee by
feeble words. What am I saying? We must praise thee, but only
because thou possessest us. For once thou possessest the heart,
whether we read or write, or speak, or act, or are silent, it is all one

and the same. We assume nothing, we refuse nothing; we are
hermits, we are apostles; we are ill, we are well, we are simple, we
are eloquent; in a word, we are what God wills we should be. The
heart hears thy mandates, and, as thy faithful echo, repeats them to
the other faculties. In this material and spiritual combination which
thou deignest to regard as thy kingdom the heart governs under thy
guidance; as it contains no desires uninspired by thee, all objects
please it under whatever form thou presentest them. Those which
nature or the Evil One would substitute for thine only fill it with
disgust and horror. If sometimes thou permittest the heart to be
surprised, it is only that it may become wiser and more humble; but
as soon as it recognizes its illusion it returns to thee with more love,
and binds itself to Thee with greater fidelity.

Book Second.
The Divine Action and the Manner in
which it unceasingly works the
Sanctification of Souls.
CHAPTER I.
The Divine Action is everywhere and always
Present, though only Visible to the Eye of
Faith.
All creatures are living in the hand of God; the senses perceive only
the action of the creature, but faith sees the divine action in all
things. Faith realizes that Jesus Christ lives in all things and works
through all ages; that the least moment and the smallest atom
contain a portion of this hidden life, this mysterious action. The
instrumentality of creatures is a veil which covers the profound
mysteries of the divine action. The apparition of Jesus to His
Apostles after His resurrection surprised them: He presented Himself
to them under forms which disguised Him, and as soon as He
manifested Himself He disappeared. This same Jesus, who is ever
living and laboring for us, still surprises souls whose faith is not
sufficiently lively to discern Him.
There is no moment when God is not present with us under the
appearance of some obligation or some duty. All that is effected
within us, about us, and through us involves and hides His divine

action: it is veritably present, though in an invisible manner;
therefore we do not discern it, and only recognize its workings when
it has ceased to act. Could we pierce the veil which obscures it, and
were we vigilant and attentive, God would unceasingly reveal
Himself to us, and we would recognize His action in all that befell us.
At every event we would exclaim, Dominus est!—It is the Lord! and
we should feel each circumstance of our life an especial gift from
Him. We should regard creatures as feeble instruments in the hands
of an all-powerful workman; we should easily recognize that we
lacked nothing, and that God’s watchful care supplied the needs of
every moment. Had we faith, we should be grateful to all creatures;
we should cherish them, and in our hearts thank them that in the
hand of God they have been so serviceable to us and so favorable to
the work of our perfection.
If we lived an uninterrupted life of faith we should be in continual
communion with God, we should speak with Him face to face. Just
as the air transmits our words and thoughts, so would all that we
are called to do and suffer transmit to us the words and thoughts of
God; all that came to us would be but the embodiment of His word;
it would be exteriorly manifested in all things; we should find
everything holy and profitable. The glory of God makes this the state
of the blessed in heaven, and faith would make it ours on earth;
there would be only the difference of means.
Faith is God’s interpreter; without its enlightenment we understand
nothing of the language of created things. It is a writing in cipher, in
which we see naught but confusion; it is a burning bush, from the
midst of which we little expect to hear God’s voice. But faith reveals
to us as to Moses the fire of divine charity burning in the midst of
the bush; it gives the key to the ciphers, and discovers to us in the
midst of the confusion the wonders of the divine wisdom. Faith gives
to the whole earth a heavenly aspect; faith transports, enraptures
the heart, and raises it above the things of this earth to converse
with the blessed.

Faith is the light of time: it alone grasps the truth without seeing it;
it touches what it does not feel; it sees this world as though it
existed not, beholding quite other things than those which are
visible. It is the key of the treasure-house, the key of the abyss, the
key of the science of God. It is faith which shows the falseness of all
creatures: through it God reveals and manifests Himself in all things;
by it all things are made divine; it lifts the veil from created things
and reveals the eternal truth.
All that our eyes behold is vanity and falsehood; in God alone lies
the truth of all things. How far above our illusions are the designs of
God! How is it that though continually reminded that all that passes
in the world is but a shadow, a figure, a mystery of faith, we are
guided by human feelings, by the natural sense of things, which
after all is but an enigma? We foolishly fall into snares instead of
lifting our eyes and rising to the principle, the source, the origin of
all; where all things bear other names and other qualities; where all
is supernatural, divine, sanctifying; where all is part of the fulness of
Jesus Christ; where everything forms a stone of the heavenly
Jerusalem, where everything leads to this marvellous edifice and
enters therein. We live by the things of sight and hearing, neglecting
that light of faith which would safely guide us through the labyrinth
of shadows and images through which we foolishly wander. He, on
the contrary, who walks by faith seeks but God alone, and all things
from God; he lives in God; unheeding and rising above the figures of
sense.
CHAPTER II.
The Divine Action is all the more Visible to the
Eye of Faith when hidden under

Appearances most Repugnant to the
Senses.
The soul enlightened by faith is far from judging of created things,
like those who measure them by their senses, and ignore the
inestimable treasure they contain. He who recognizes the king in
disguise treats him very differently from him who, judging by
appearances alone, fails to recognize his royalty. So the soul that
sees the will of God in the smallest things, and in the most
desolating and fatal events, receives all with equal joy, exultation,
and respect. That which others fear and fly from with horror she
opens all her doors to receive with honor. The retinue is poor, the
senses despise it; but the heart, under these humble appearances,
discerns and does homage to the royal majesty; and the more this
majesty abases itself, coming secretly with modest suite, the deeper
is the love it inspires in the heart.
I have no words with which to portray the feelings of the heart when
it receives this divine will in the guise of humiliation, poverty,
annihilation. Ah! how moved was the beautiful heart of Mary at sight
of that poverty of a God, that annihilation which brought Him to
lodge in a manger, to repose on a handful of straw a trembling,
weeping infant! Ask the people of Bethlehem what they think of this
child: were He in a palace with royal surroundings they would do
Him homage. But ask Mary, Joseph, the Magi, the shepherds: they
will tell you that in this extreme poverty they find that which
manifests God to them more sublime and adorable. By just that
which the senses lack is faith heightened, increased, and nourished;
the less there is to human eyes, the more there is to the soul. The
faith which adores Jesus on Thabor, which loves the will of God in
extraordinary events, is not that lively faith which loves the will of
God in common events and adores Jesus on the cross. For the
perfection of faith is seen only when visible and material things
contradict it and seek to destroy it. Through this war of the senses
faith comes out gloriously victorious.

It is not an ordinary but a grand and extraordinary faith which finds
God equally adorable in the simplest and commonest things as in the
greatest events of life.
To content ones’ self with the present moment is to love and adore
the divine will in all that comes to us to do or suffer through the
things which successively form the duties of the present moment.
Souls thus disposed adore God with redoubled ardor and respect in
the greatest humiliations; nothing hides Him from the piercing eye of
their faith. The more vehemently the senses exclaim, This is not
from God! the closer do they press this bundle of myrrh from the
hand of the Bridegroom; nothing disturbs them, nothing repels
them.
Mary sees the Apostles fly, but she remains constant at the foot of
the cross; she recognizes her Son in that face spat upon and
bruised. These disfiguring wounds only render Him more adorable
and worthy of love in the eyes of this tender mother; and the
blasphemies poured forth against Him only serve to increase her
profound veneration. In like manner, a life of faith is but a continual
pursuit of God through all which disguises and disfigures Him;
through all which, so to speak, destroys and annihilates Him. It is
truly a reproduction of the life of Mary, who from the manger to
Calvary remained constant to a God whom the world despised,
persecuted, and abandoned. So faithful souls, despite a continual
succession of deaths, veils, shadows, semblances which disguise the
will of God, perseveringly pursue it, and love it unto death on the
cross. They know that, unheeding all disguises, they must follow this
holy will; for, beyond the heaviest shadows, beyond the darkest
clouds, the divine Sun is shining to enlighten, enflame, and vivify
those constant hearts who bless, praise, and contemplate Him from
all points of this mysterious horizon.
Hasten, then, happy, faithful, untiring souls; hasten to follow this
dear Spouse who with giant strides traverses the heavens and from
whom nothing can be hidden. He passes over the smallest blade of
grass as above the loftiest cedars. The grains of sand are under His

feet no less than the mountains. Wherever your foot may rest He
has passed, and you have only to follow Him faithfully to find Him
wherever you go.
Oh, the ineffable peace that is ours when faith has taught us thus to
see God through all creatures as through a transparent veil! Then
darkness becomes light, and bitter turns to sweet. Faith, manifesting
all things in their true light, changes their deformity into beauty, and
their malice into virtue. Faith is the mother of meekness, confidence,
and joy; she can feel naught but tenderness and compassion for her
enemies who so abundantly enrich her at their own expense. The
more malignant the action of the creature, the more profitable does
God render it to the soul. While the human instrument seeks to
injure us, the divine Artisan in whose hand it lies makes use of its
very malice to remove what is prejudicial to the soul.
The will of God has only consolations, graces, treasures, for
submissive souls; our confidence in it cannot be too great, nor our
abandonment thereto be too absolute. It always wills and effects
that which contributes most to our sanctification, provided
meanwhile we yield ourselves to its divine action. Faith never doubts
it; the more unbelieving, rebellious, despondent, and wavering the
senses, the louder Faith cries, “This is God! All is well!”
There is nothing Faith does not penetrate and overcome; it passes
beyond all shadows and through the darkest clouds to reach Truth;
clasps it in a firm embrace, and is never parted from it.
CHAPTER III.
The Divine Action offers us at each Moment
Infinite Blessings, which we receive in
proportion to our Faith and Love.

If we knew how to greet each moment as the manifestation of the
divine will, we would find in it all the heart could desire. For what
indeed is more reasonable, more perfect, more divine than the will
of God? Can its infinite value be increased by the paltry difference of
time, place, or circumstance? Were you given the secret of finding it
at all times and in all places, you would possess a gift most precious,
most worthy of your desires. What seek ye, holy souls? Give free
scope to your longings; place no limit to your aspirations; expand
your heart to the measure of the infinite. I have that wherewith to
satisfy it: there is no moment in which I may not cause you to find
all you can desire.
The present moment is always filled with infinite treasures: it
contains more than you are capable of receiving. Faith is the
measure of these blessings: in proportion to your faith will you
receive. By love also are they measured: the more your heart loves
the more it desires, and the more it desires the more it receives. The
will of God is constantly before you as an unfathomable sea, which
the heart cannot exhaust: only in proportion as the heart is
expanded by faith, confidence, and love can it receive of its fulness.
All created things could not fill your heart, for its capacity is greater
than anything which is not God.
The mountains which affright the eye are but atoms to the heart.
The divine will is an abyss, of which the present moment is the
entrance; plunge fearlessly therein and you will find it more
boundless than your desires. Offer no homage to creatures; adore
not phantoms: they can give you nothing, they can take nothing
from you. The will of God alone shall be your fulness, and it shall
leave no void in your soul. Adore it; go direct to it, penetrating all
appearances, casting aside all impediments. The spoliation, the
destruction, the death of the senses is the reign of faith. The senses
adore creatures; faith adores the divine will. Wrest from the senses
their idols, they will weep like disconsolate children; but faith will
triumph, for nothing can take from her the will of God. When all the
senses are famished, affrighted, despoiled, then does the will of God

nourish, enrich, and fortify faith, which smiles at these apparent
losses, as the commander of an impregnable fortress smiles at the
futile attacks of an enemy.
When the will of God reveals itself to a soul manifesting a desire to
wholly possess her, if the soul freely give herself in return she
experiences most powerful assistance in all difficulties; she then
tastes by experience the happiness of that coming of the Lord, and
her enjoyment is in proportion to the degree in which she learned to
practise that self abandonment which must bring her at all moments
face to face with this ever adorable will.
CHAPTER IV.
God reveals Himself to us as Mysteriously, as
Adorably, and with as much Reality in the
most Ordinary Events as in the great
Events of History and the Holy Scriptures.
The written word of God is full of mystery; His word expressed in the
events of the world is no less so. These two books are truly sealed;
the letter of both killeth.
God is the centre of faith which is an abyss from whose depths
shadows rise which encompass all that comes forth from it. God is
incomprehensible; so also are His works, which require our faith. All
these words, all these works, are but obscure rays, so to speak, of a
sun still more obscure. In vain do we strive to gaze upon this sun
and its rays with the eyes of our body; the eyes of the soul itself,
through which we behold God and His works, are no less closed.
Obscurity here takes the place of light; knowledge is ignorance, and
we see though not seeing. Holy Scripture is the mysterious language

of a still more mysterious God. The events of the world are the
mysterious utterances of this same hidden and inscrutable God.
They are drops of the ocean, but an ocean of shadows. Every
rivulet, every drop of the stream, bears the impress of its origin. The
fall of the angels, the fall of man, the wickedness and idolatry of
men before and after the deluge, in the time of the Patriarchs who
knew the history of creation, with its recent preservation, and
related it to their children,—these are the truly mysterious words of
Holy Scripture. A handful of men preserved from idolatry amid the
general corruption of the whole world until the coming of the
Messias; evil always dominant, always powerful; the little band of
the defenders of the faith always ill-treated, always persecuted; the
persecution of Christ; the plagues of the Apocalypse—in these
behold the words of God. It is what He has revealed. It is what He
has dictated. And the effects of these terrible mysteries, which
endure till the end of time, are still the living words of God by which
we learn His wisdom, goodness, and power. All the events in the
history of the world show forth these attributes and glorify Him
therein. We must believe it blindly, for, alas! we cannot see.
What does God teach us by Turks, heretics, and all the enemies of
His Church? They preach forcibly. They all show forth His infinite
perfections. So do Pharao and all the impious hosts who followed
him and will still follow him; though truly, to the evidence of our
senses, the end of all these is most contrary to the divine glory. We
must close our corporal eyes and cease to reason if we would read
the divine mysteries in all this.
Thou speakest, Lord, to all mankind by general events. All
revolutions are but the tides of Thy Providence, which excite storms
and tempests in the minds of the curious. Thou speakest to each
one in particular by the events of his every moment. But instead of
respecting the mystery and obscurity of Thy words, and hearing Thy
voice in all the occurrences of life, they only see therein chance, the
acts, the caprice of men; they find fault in everything; they would
add to, diminish, reform—in fact, they indulge in liberties with these

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