GIS for district-level administration in India: problems and opportunities
MIS Quarterly - Special issue on intensive research in information systems
Evaluation of e-government systems: project assessment vs development assessment
EGOV'06 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Electronic Government
Caste Structures and E-Governance in a Developing Country
EGOV '09 Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Electronic Government
Scarcity, exit, voice and violence: the state seen through egovernment
EGOV'11 Proceedings of the 10th IFIP WG 8.5 international conference on Electronic government
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Using an extensive case analysis of the Bhoomi system of India, this paper examines the role and nature of the state with regards to the rationale for and deployment of e-government systems. Issues such as the nature of control in governance, the discourse of de-politicization in justifying e-government and the reinvention of the state via electronic means are examined. Analysis of data collected over several years shows that e-government systems are primarily used to centralize control in the hands of the upper echelons of the bureaucracy, a strong discourse of technology and `high modernism' permeates the justification for deploying e-government and this effectively de-politicizes the intent and purpose of the project. The paper concludes that through e-government the state reinvents itself, as the e-State, as a powerful, centralized force that disrupts historical practices and relations.