Regional inequalities in front-office services: Focus shift in e-government front offices and their regional projections in Hungary

Abstract

In developed countries, administrative front offices are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, with e-government facilities and applications. Public administrations are finding ever-improving interfaces to serve customers while optimising their operations. They are also discovering the increasing functionality that can be achieved through popular social media platforms. At the same time Hungary is responding to these phenomena with a significant phase delay, and regional inequality has been observed. Although public administration should show a uniform level of development and service portfolio in each part of the country, Hungary is experiencing very large extremes, which do not always stem from the existing framework, disadvantages, settlement size, and ethnic backgrounds. A great deal is at stake if uniform development is not ensured: some areas will become invisible not only in cyberspace and in Hungary's thematic maps, but at the same time will not be able to provide basic administrative services to those who live there. These areas are currently referred to as ‘administratively disadvantaged’ districts. This situation worsens the livelihood of the affected population and on the long-term the survival chances of these settlements as well. In this paper, we shed some light on the factors responsible for the regional inequalities in the infocommunication technologies (ICT) facilities of Hungarian local governments. Similar trends have been observed in Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, too.