The history of the future: Changes in Danish e-government strategies 1994-2010

This article presents an historical account of the governing principles of e-government in Denmark from 1994 to the present day. Our theoretical point of departure has been five policy analytical themes, and the study is based on empirical data retrieved from elite interviews and official documents. Based on notions such as centralising-decentralising and bureaucracy-networks we are able to find patterns of continuity and change in Danish e-government strategies. From playing an almost hidden role within the realms of a visionary national Information Society strategy in the early 1990s, it has in the 2000s become a policy field of its own. While the beginning demonstrated visionary policy based on certain 'Danish values' within a bottom-up and experimental policy framework, the field has become subject to traditional hierarchical control, resulting in a more coercive integration of government information systems.