The Impact Of Digitalization (AI) On Administrative Decision-Making Processes And Access To Justice– A Nordic Perspective.
Keywords:
Access to justice, Administration of Justice, Digitalization, E-government, Legal frameworksAbstract
Good administration is the foundation for fair and effective government action. In recent years, the digitalization of administrative processes has become increasingly prevalent, promising efficiency, transparency, and enhanced accessibility. The Nordic countries, known for their advanced digital societies, provide a unique perspective to study the effects of digitalization on administrative decision-making processes and access to justice, particularly in the context of advanced welfare states and robust legal systems. This study investigates the multifaceted impact of digitalization on administrative decision-making processes and access to justice with a particular focus on Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. It delves into how digitalization has transformed administrative decision-making processes, analyzing the potential for increased efficiency, streamlined workflows, and enhanced data-driven decision-making. Through a comprehensive analysis of policy frameworks, legal structures, and empirical data, this research seeks to elucidate the ways in which digital technologies are reshaping administrative practices and influencing the delivery of justice. The study begins by examining the evolution of digitalization in Nordic administrative laws, focusing on e-government initiatives and digital technology integration. It explores its implications for administrative decision-making processes, including procedural fairness, administrative discretion, and automated decision-making algorithms. By adopting a comparative approach, this study aims to identify common trends, challenges, and opportunities presented by digitalization in Nordic administrative systems, offering insights that are pertinent to both regional policymakers and global stakeholders navigating the complexities of digital governance. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between digitalization, administrative decision-making, and access to justice in Nordic States, offering insights that are pertinent to ongoing debates surrounding administrative modernization and legal innovation in the digital age.
References
FOOTNOTE REF
The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers (2024). Facts about the Nordic countries. https://www.norden.org/en.ies
Heleniak, T. (2023, October 20). Are we witnessing a new demographic reality in the Nordics? Nordregio. https://nordregio.org/blog/are-we-witnessing-a-new-demographic-reality-in-the-nordics/
Di Giulio, Marco, and Giancarlo Vecchi. "Implementing digitalization in the public sector. Technologies, agency, and governance." Public Policy and Administration 38, no. 2 (2023): 133-158. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/09520767211023283
Fugletveit, Ragnhild & Lofthus, ann-mari. (2023). ‘You Become Very Powerless in This System, the Digital System’ – Becoming a Digital User in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administrations. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376702606_'You_Become_Very_Powerless_in_This_System_the_Digital_System'_-_Becoming_a_Digital_User_in_the_Norwegian_Labour_and_Welfare_Administrations.
OECD. (2023). Country Digital Education Ecosystems and Governance: A Companion to Digital Education Outlook 2023. OECD Publishing. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/468e6641-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/468e6641-en
Ponce, Juli. "Good administration and administrative procedures." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 12, no. 2 (2005): 551-588. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/GLS.2005.12.2.551
Widlak, Arjan, Marlies van Eck, and Rik Peeters. "Towards principles of good digital administration: Fairness, accountability and proportionality in automated decision-making." In The Algorithmic Society, pp. 67-83. Routledge, 2020. Accessed March 7, 2024. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429261404-6/towards-principles-good-digital-administration-arjan-widlak-marlies-van-eck-rik-peeters
Markku Suksi. (2020). Administrative due process when using automated decision-making in public administration: some notes from a Finnish perspective. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 29(1), 87-110. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-020-09269-x
Suksi, M. Administrative due process when using automated decision-making in public administration: some notes from a Finnish perspective. Artif Intell Law 29, 87–110 (2021). Accessed March 10, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-020-09269-x
Juell-Skielse, Gustaf, Ida Lindgren, and Maria Åkesson. "Towards service automation in public organizations." In Service Automation in the Public Sector: Concepts, Empirical Examples and Challenges, pp. 3-10. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X23000643#bb0200
Nations, Unites. "E-Government survey 2012." United Nations (2018). Accessed March 8, 2024. https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2018
Roehl, Ulrik B.U. "Automated Decision-Making and Good Administration: Views from Inside the Government Machinery." Government Information Quarterly 40, no. 4 (2023): 101864. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X23000643#s0110
Carlsson, V. (2023). Legal certainty in automated decision-making in welfare services. Public Policy and Administration, 0(0). Accessed March 07, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767231202334
Arvidsson, Matilda, and Gregor Noll. "Decision Making in Asylum Law and Machine Learning: Autoethnographic Lessons Learned on Data Wrangling and Human Discretion", Nordic Journal of International Law 92, 1 (2023): 56-92, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718107-bja10057
Andreassen, R., Kaun, A., Nikunen, K. (2021) Fostering the data welfare state: A Nordic perspective on datafication Nordicom Review, 42(2): 207-223 https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0051
Butt, Junaid. 2023. “Legal Considerations and Comparative Study about Countries Already Incorporated AI for Administrative Decisions”. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Juridica 19 (3):7-25. https://dj.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/AUDJ/article/view/2560.
Kristiansen, Bettina Lemann (2023). "Digitalisation can challenge fundamental principles of the rule of law, with a focus on Denmark. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://nordics.info/nnl/show/artikel/access-to-justice-and-digitalisation-a-nordic-perspective
Marienfeldt, Justine. 2024. "Does Digital Government Hollow Out the Essence of Street-Level Bureaucracy? A Systematic Literature Review of How Digital Tools' Foster Curtailment, Enablement and Continuation of Street-Level Decision-Making." Social Policy & Administration 58 (1): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12991
Olsen, H. P., Hildebrandt, T. T., Wiesener, C., Larsen, M. S., & Flügge, A. W. A. (2024). The Right to Transparency in Public Governance: Freedom of Information and the Use of Artificial Intelligence by Public Agencies. Digital Government: Research and Practice, 5(1), Article 8, 15 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3632753
Denmark. The Constitutional Act of Denmark, 1953. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.ft.dk/-/media/sites/ft/pdf/publikationer/engelske-publikationer-pdf/grundloven_samlet_2018_uk_web.ashx.
Finland. The Constitution of Finland, 1999. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/fin134323.pdf.
Iceland. The Constitution of the Republic of Iceland, 1944. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.government.is/library/01-Ministries/Prime-Ministrers-Office/constitution_of_iceland.pdf
Norway. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, 1814. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://constitutions.unwomen.org/en/countries/europe/norway.
Sweden. The Constitution of Sweden. Accessed March 8, 2024. https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/CONSTITUTION%20OF%20SWEDEN.pdf.
American Psychological Association. (2023). Artificial intelligence and machine learning. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning
Niklas. "Digital Insurance Software In Norway." Insicon, January 9, 2024. https://insicon.se/digital-insurance-software-in-norway/
"Denmark - Country Commercial Guide Digital Services and Technologies." Last modified January 20, 2024. Accessed on 13-03-2024. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/denmark-digital-services-and-technologies
Policies for the digitalization of education and training until 2027: https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/164853
REFERENCES
FINAL REPORT, Innovative Practices in Inclusive Digital Public Services. Retrieved from https://www.eupan.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EUPAN-ES-DIGITAL-DIVIDE-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
Compliance Risk Management in the Digital Era. FPG083/FPG012 Update of the CRM Guide October 2023. Retrieved from https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2024-01/2023_CRM_Guide.pdf
POLICY STUDY January 2024. ALGORITHMS BY AND FOR THE WORKERS. Retrieved from https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/PS-Algorithms-by-and-for-the-workers.pdf
Haslanger, S. (2023). Systemic and structural injustice: Is there a dierence? Philosophy, 98(1), 1–27. Larsson, K. K. (2021). Digitization or equality: When government automation covers some, but not all citizens. Government Information Quarterly, 38(1), 101547
Ball, S., McGann, M., Nguyen, P., & Considine, M. (2023). Emerging modes of digitalisation in the delivery of welfare-to-work: Implications for street-level discretion. Social Policy and Administration, 57, 1166–1180. https://doi.org/10.1111/SPOL.12939
Nikupeteri, A., & Laitinen, M. (2023). Addressing post-separation parental stalking: A multimethod qualitative approach to producing knowledge of stalking in children’s lives. Journal of Family Violence, 1–12.
Bovens, M., & Zouridis, S. (2002). From street-level to system-level bureaucracies: How information and communication technology is transforming administrative discretion and constitutional control. Public Administration Review, 62(2), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/0033-3352.00168
Woolley, Katherine E., Diana Bright, Toby Ayres, Fiona Morgan, Kirsty Little, and Alisha R. Davies. "Mapping inequities in digital health technology within the World Health Organization’s European Region using PROGRESS PLUS: scoping review." Journal of Medical Internet Research 25 (2023): e44181. https://www.jmir.org/2023/1/e44181/
BOOKS
Marianne Rostgaard and Greg Bak (2024). The Nordic Model of Digital Archiving. Retrieved from https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/85018/9781003325406_10.4324_9781003325406-1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Mathias Cöster, Mats Danielson, Love Ekenberg, Cecilia Gullberg, Gard Titlestad, Alf Westelius, and Gunnar Wettergren, Digital Transformation: Understanding Business Goals, Risks, Processes, and Decisions. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2023, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0350
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Junaid Butt
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The author fully assumes the content originality and the holograph signature makes him responsible in case of trial.
