3. Daily problems with the authorities

This question related to the process of creating an Internet-based "electronic government”.

"Electronic government" is “the employment of the Internet and the World Wide Web for delivering government information and services to the citizens” (United Nations, 2006; p. 45).

The idea of “e-government” is a representation of the state where the institutions are designed to meet effectively the immediate needs of the society (Street, 1997; p. 30). According to the Drozhzhinov (Дрожжинов, Штрик, 2000), "the essence of “e-government” is to use virtual space to improve service delivery models and the functioning of government and public institutions" (Дрожжинов, Штрик, 2000; c. 16).

Among the main reasons for the ineffectiveness of public authorities, the most common are:

1. Growth in total employment and payroll costs in the public sector;

2. The ineffectiveness of monetary incentives, lack of motivation of politicians;

3. Protectionism (patronage);

4. Corruption and the low level of public confidence to government officials;

5. Failure of state machinery to respond to changes in society priorities;

6. Operational inefficiencies and poor quality of the state operationalize of public services

7. Lack of qualified personnel in regions with limited human resources (Дрожжинов, Штрик, 2000; c. 17).

For one to understand the idea of E-government, must first understand government in general.

Government is actually a dynamic mixture of goals, structures and functions (Pardo, 2000). “E-government” is more than a website, email or processing transactions via the Internet. “E-government” becomes a natural extension of the technological revolution that has accompanied the knowledge society. The “E-government” added new concepts such as: transparency, accountability, citizen participation in the evaluation of government performance (Mohammad, 2009).

In the concept of government in general, as well as of “E-government”, it is possible to distinguish between 3 groups’: citizens, businesses and services, and governmental departments of the country. And use abbreviations such as G2C refer to the relationship between government and citizen, G2B denote the transaction between the government and businesses and industrial departments, and G2G indicate the relationship between different government units. Most of the governments begin to provide information across direct on-line, but the public needs require quick more services and usually take this form gradually. “E-government” becomes more widespread; one is beginning to see the progress through six stages. Not all governments will reach all stages, and there will be much diversity within a government, with different agencies at different stages. The stages are:

1. Using internal network and setting up an email system;

2. Enabling inter-organizational and public access to information;

3. Allowing 2-way communication;

4. Allowing exchange of value;

5. Digital democracy;

6. Joined-up government.

Implementing “E-government” is a continuing process, and most often the development is conceptualized in stages. The widely known maturity model suggested by Layne and Lee (Layne and Lee, 2001) who sees “E-government” as an evolutionary phenomenon, from which “E-government” initiatives should be derived and implemented. They assume four stages of a growth model for “E-government”:

1. Cataloguing,

2. Transaction,

3. Vertical integration,

4. Horizontal integration.

According to the Department of Public Economics and Management of the UN and the American Society for Public Administration, the use of information technology in public administration has five stages:

1. Initial presence. This phase is associated with the release of government agencies in the Internet. At this stage, the government has one or more sites that carry information role. These sites will inform citizens about the composition of the government, its ministers, agencies, officials, etc. As well as the information about phone numbers, addresses, hours, admission, etc. One can find “feedback" information on the site in the form of frequently asked questions.

2. The expanded presence. At this stage users can receive specialized and constantly updated information through the number of government websites. There is an opportunity to receive government publications, legal documents and news. The number of government agencies in the network increases and there is possibility to contact them. There appears the information about the electronic addresses, search systems, the ability to send a comment or advice.

3. Interaction. This stage is characterized by the intensification of the possibility of interaction between citizens and government structures, supplying services to the public. National government website frequently acts as a portal directly connecting the user with the ministers, departments and agencies. Reciprocity between citizens and service providers ensure network users to have direct access to the information that is conformable to their specific needs and interests. The user can receive specialized data, load different shapes and forms or sign them over the network, schedule meetings with government officials, participate in electronic assemblies. Here there are sites and passwords for security users.

4. Transactions conducting. This phase includes opportunities for users to receive documents over the network and carry out the transaction. Citizens can obtain visas, passports, birth and death certificates, the license permits and other transaction services. Government Web Site is a portal containing a direct public access to government departments and services. Such portals are more focused on needs and priorities of citizens than on governmental functions and structures. Citizens may also pay taxes and perform other fees through the network (for parking, car registration, etc.). Electronic signature is being starting recognized.

5. “Seamless” interaction. This step is distinguished by the permission of the government to perform all services and communication through the government portal and the network user can immediately receive any service. It is noted that here the boundaries between governmental units are very mobile, which suggests a new role of government and organization of its activities and the functioning of the bureaucracy, like the "virtual state" and corresponding "virtual bureaucracy" (Дрожжинов, 2002).

Political communication, within the concept of "electronic government" has several major areas:

1. G2G (government-to-government) or exchange of information between different government agencies, departments and agencies.

2. G2B (government-to-business) that is communication of public services with commercial and public structures.

3. G2C («government-to-citizen») - the relationship between citizens and state (Дрожжинов, Штрик, 2000).

In such a way, the study of public opinion in the Russian society at the core of this problem is the essence of the third research question in this study.

Answering the third question: “How would you like to solve your daily problems with the authorities (payment for utility bills, filing claims, complaints, obtaining various documents etc.)?”, 725 respondents (54,1%) preferred to solve their problems on the Internet, 572 respondents (42,7%) preferred face to face communication and 43 respondents (3,2%) preferred “other variant” option. Here you can see not much difference in the indicators. As well, these process correspond to the intended trends – as it was mentioned above, the Internet audience in Russia was 39.7 million people (34% of the population) (Крупин, 2010), but at this moment www.gosuslugi.ru services have been used by 1.5 million people, which is 6% of the total population of Russia (Быков, И.А. Халл Т.Э., 2011). “The Internet” option gained more percent solely because of age limitations of respondent audience – 19 – 35 years. As for the “other variant” option, probably it was meant the illegal ways of solving problems.