4. Government 2.0: A Change Towards Citizen Participation in Arab Countries

The rapid evolution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practices and applications have forced many governments to adopt new mechanisms to satisfy their citizens’ emerging need for participation. This participation can be achieved when government develops a communication channel that enables it to listen to citizens’ needs, opinions, proposals, and concerns making citizens closer to decision-makers, which contributes in creating a democratic environment. Narrowing the gap between citizens and governments would assist policy makers in overcoming some of the economic, social, and political problems. This paper discusses the role of one of the most influential ICT applications, Web 2.0 technology, in enhancing e-participation through providing a convenient communication channel between governments and citizens. In particular, it investigates e-participation of Arab countries -considered in their early path towards democracy, and whether their use of this technology would ensure a gradual transformation to democratic communities. The research starts by demonstrating Web 2.0 tools, their different stages of implementation, and their application in e-government stages. In addition, there will be an analysis as to the extent of use of Web 2.0 by Arab countries to assess their adoption of Web 2.0 for participation, better communication, and transparency with citizens. A number of issues are raised: Are Arab governments using Web 2.0 effectively? Do they recognize the value of Web 2.0 in citizens’ engagement in public policy making? Are they exploiting the specific features of each Web 2.0 tool? Does Web 2.0 use differ among traditional Arab regimes and Arab Spring countries? Preliminary findings will be discussed leading to suggestions for further research venues.