From street level to system level bureaucracies. How ICT is transforming administrative discretion and constitutional control

Abstract

The use of ICT is rapidly changing the structure of a number of large executive public agencies. They used to be machine bureaucracies in which street level officials exercised ample administrative discretion in dealing with individual clients. This was kept in check by elaborate systems of external regulations, internal procedures and judicial control. Empirical research into a number of these agencies shows how the gradual introduction of a number of ICT applications has caused a fundamental redesign of the administrative process. The street level bureaucrats have vanished. Almost all processing of information is done electronically and there is very little administrative discretion in the handling of individual cases. Decision making is highly structured through case management and expert systems. Instead of street level bureaucracies, they have become system level bureaucracies. System analysts and software designers are the key actors in these executive agencies. They translate the legal rules into algorithms and decision trees. The paper explores the implications of this transformation from the perspective of the constitutional state. These system level bureaucracies are to a large extent the zenith in legal rational authority. Thanks to ICT, the implementation of the law has virtually been perfected. Some new issues rise, however. What about the discretionary power of the system level bureaucrats? How can we guarantee due process and fairness in hard cases? The paper ends with several institutional innovations that may help to embed these system level bureaucracies in the constitutional state.