Abstract
The decentralisation and despatialisation of governmental architectures within the European Union (EU) that will result from the development of eGovernment under the Lisbon Strategy could have a crucial impact on political structures and identity in Europe. eGovernment projects at the European and member state levels are professed to expand citizens' access to political institutions, increase social inclusion and enhance the efficiency of pan-European government. This essay examines the possible implications of long-term digitisation of government in the EU given the current trajectory of eGovernment discourse and its place within the broader Information Society goals. It argues that eGovernment will reconfigure several political relationships within the EU, fostering the development of a neomedieval polity similar to that first described by Hedley Bull, where government is multi-layered and overlapping and mobility among certain individuals is very high. To make the neomedieval perspective more appropriate for this digital analysis, the essay draws upon poststructuralist ideas concerning political forms and the construction of knowledge and subjectivity.
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