Analysis of Iran's position in the Middle-East region and the world in the United Nations E-Government Development Survey

Abstract
Nowadays, e-government is one of the most common concepts at the international level which is a result of information and communication technologies' usage in the public sector. Because of many benefits of e-government for countries, evaluation of its development based on confirmed frameworks and standards is too important. Hence, in this paper, in addition to reviewing different e-government evaluation frameworks and models, the United Nations (UN) assessment framework has been presented due to its comprehensiveness and acceptance at international level. The analysis of the 2018 UN e- government survey showed that Iran has raised its position by 20 ranks in e-government development index in comparison with 2016. Also, in the e-participation index, Iran has promoted its rank by 38 step in 2018 compared to 2016. Moreover, comparison of Iran with Middle East countries showed that now Iran has the tenth position in the region, which demonstrates a relatively large distance with the superior countries of the region (i.e., Bahrain and Emirates). So, benchmarking and utilizing the experiences of such successful countries in e-government policy making can play a significant role in e-government development of Iran.