(Klumpp, 2002; Wittkemper and Kleindiek, 2003). This paper starts with these claims
and questions as a jumping off point from which to examine the adoption of e-
government reforms, particularly by local governments (cities and counties) in Germany.
The paper attempts to answer the question: What factors do elites in the policy network
believe are important to explain the adoption and implementation of e-government
reforms in Germany?
E-government
Few trends in the administration of government among advanced industrial
countries around the world today are as important and sweeping as the use of information
technology, and the Internet in particular, to deliver information and services to citizens,
businesses and other government agencies (Fountain 2001). The application of e-
government is so pervasive and powerful that some scholars predict the development of a
“virtual government:” an automated, citizen-centric operation capable of delivering
government services to citizens, businesses, and other government agencies 24 hours a
day, seven days a week (Siefert and Petersen, 2002; Gartner Group 2000; Baum and Di
Maio 2000). E-government is also big business. A 2001 estimate by KableNet, a British
research consulting company that specializes in public sector technology valued the
public sector IT market for Germany, Britain, and France at more than 35 billion Euros
(Kable Ltd., 2001). And as the reforms become high stakes and global our understanding
of how and why such reforms develop has also grown.
We know that the push for such reforms is particularly strong among advanced
industrial countries with large economies and large public budgets. Studies by scholars
focused on the “E” in e-government have trumpeted the appeal of technological
3
E-government in Germany 3
Convention