Uzbekistan: Challenges & Opportunities of Digital Transformation in the Public Sector in Transition Economies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolutionary stages and current state of e-government in post-Soviet transition countries, shedding light on Uzbekistan as a case study. The research finds that despite achieving a noticeable improvement in e-government indicators of the UN and other international organizations, with much emphasis being laid on technological progress, there is a design-reality gap in digitizing public services: a little has been attained in terms of e-government infrastructure and the interoperability of different government authorities. Transactional services are still in their infancy, and greater citizen engagement is still limited. The study also develops possible policy options to overcome barriers in digital transformation in the public sector, by drawing a broader implication from the outcomes in other post-Soviet country contexts