Legal Culture and E-government in Sweden and Japan

Abstract: The rapid development of information communication technology (ICT) over the past 20 years, and the introduction of the internet have significantly changed everyday life and how information is communicated. This also tends to include information sharing between the government and its citizens. Sweden and Japan are both industrialized, democratic countries with existing channels for exchanging ideas and lessons learned. They both have similar aspirations in terms of becoming world leaders within the development of e-government. The infrastructure exists in both countries to make the implementation of e-government possible, yet the observed outcomes differ. To examine the cases of Sweden and Japan further, I compare and contrast the laws and legal cultures pertaining to e-government. I demonstrate similarities and differences between the countries in terms of how they relate to and interact with e-government and the surrounding legal culture. Furthermore, I explain that the origins of the legal system and cultural orientation have contributed to the development of the legal cultures in Sweden and Japan.