E-government without E-democracy in the case of Vietnam: Transparency has been a sham?

Abstract

For over decade, Vietnam has made many efforts to promote e-government and improve efficiency and effectiveness of its public administration. As a result, the administrative system becomes more transparent time after time. However, E-democracy does not go hand in hand with e-government in the case of Vietnam wherein a non-democratic government has to strike the balance between economic and political openness. This paper aims to shed more light on a case of an authoritarian regime in the path from e-government to e-democracy. This is such a long, tough, and rocky journey linked with democratization in an authoritarian regime