The adoption of e-government in Arab Countries - The case of Libya

Countries around the world are adopting e-government as a tool to provide online public services to their citizens, businesses and other stakeholders in a manner that reduces cost, saves time, and increases efficiency and effectiveness that leads to high quality services and greater engagement with citizens. However, the adoption of e-government faces many challenges that would act as barriers in the implementation process. Such barriers, be they technical, social or organisational, must be considered carefully before implementation takes place. While there are successful stories of e-government implementation in developed countries, the picture is far from being similar in the developing world. Reports have shown a high rate of failure among most developing countries that have attempted to adopt e-government initiatives. The readiness of such countries has to be at a level that empowers them to deliver successful implementations. Libya is an example of a developing country that is facing serious challenges in this area. Libya has already taken the initiative by embarking on an e-government project, although this is still in the early stages. The project aims to provide online services to citizens, businesses and other organisations around the country in order to alleviate the burden of centralized bureaucracy, and to reduce the need to travel either by car or public transport to the capital city, Tripoli. This paper discusses the critical factors that play a key role in ensuring a successful implementation of e-government in North Africa and the Middle Eastern region. It also reviews the factors that positively impacted on the successful adoption in the Gulf countries, with a view to ascertain their potential impact on Libya using desktop research methodology.