In his thesis, PhD Fellow, Ulrik Bisgaard Ulsrod Røhl, explores the relations between increasing use of automated, administrative decision-making by public authorities and internationally accepted regulations, norms and values of good administration.

Summary

Drawing on the disciplines of Public Administration, Law, Information Systems, and Science and Technology Studies, as well as empirical data from Denmark, he sets out to explore if automated, administrative decision-making and good administration are friends, foes or complete strangers. The thesis serves as a microcosm of ongoing social and ethical debates regarding use, potentials and regulation of increasingly advanced technologies in modern society.

The thesis concludes that relations between usage of automated, administrative decision-making and good administration are widespread and tend to be particularly complex regarding the underlying values of responsiveness, accountability and fairness. Use of automated, administrative decision-making is further found to both support and undermine good administration indicating that such use is rarely a “silver bullet” that supports all values of good administration at the same time.

Empirically, the thesis builds on data from Denmark which is a global front runner in terms of digital government including use of automated, administrative decision-making. Based on these data, there appears to be an underdeveloped awareness among practitioners – e.g., top-level and mid-level public servants – of the breadth of relations between automated, administrative decision-making usage and good administration. This is particularly unfortunate as the empirical data also indicate that supportive relations seldomly occur by themselves, while the opposite seems to hold for undermining relations.

Members of the assessment committee

• Associate Professor Kasper Trolle Elmholdt, Aalborg University (Chair)
• Associate Professor Anne Marie Dahler, UCL University College
• Associate Professor Karl Löfgren, Victoria University of Wellington

Moderator

• Karen Nielsen Breidahl, Aalborg University

Light refreshments will be served after the public defence.

Contact

If you have any questions about the PhD defence, please contact PhD secretary Marianne Høgsbro.