This thesis explores the relationship between bureaucratic accountability and their disposition toward utilizing algorithms in their decision-making processes. Drawing upon the literature on...Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between bureaucratic accountability and their disposition toward utilizing algorithms in their decision-making processes. Drawing upon the literature on government accountability and aversion to algorithmic decision-making, it hypothesizes that the more public officials are aware of the chains of accountability they are tied to, the less favorable they will be to utilizing algorithms. The hypothesis is tested through a case study of the Chilean Institute of Social Services, which employs multiple algorithms to automate eligibility decisions for pension and other social benefit applications. To trace the organization’s bureaucratic accountability chain, data collection is based on semi-structured interviews of public officials from different hierarchical levels. The results confirm several theoretical expectations on reduced discretion, muddled authority over the algorithm and algorithmic opacity, leading to blame avoidance within the organization. However, the results also disprove the hypothesized negative relationship, revealing that officials with high awareness and perceptions of individual accountability instead favor using algorithms to automate decisions. Further analysis of the dependent variable reveals that a favorable disposition toward algorithm use is overwhelmingly tied to the perception of trust. The individual descriptions of bureaucrats convey clues for an alternative explanation of the outcome, suggesting that stringent evaluation and audit practices can help circumvent algorithm aversion resulting from opaque algorithms or reduced discretion. Such a potential explanation implies that bureaucratic accountability chains could serve as a substitute source of trust, allowing public servants to hold the algorithm to account by proxy. The qualitative accounts in this thesis offer insights into how bureaucrats feel personally accountable for the algorithms they use, expanding the literature of public officials’ reliance on algorithmic decision-making.Show less
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was assumed that European cooperation, both individually and collectively, would produce better results than autonomous national self-interest. Especially the...Show moreDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, it was assumed that European cooperation, both individually and collectively, would produce better results than autonomous national self-interest. Especially the demand for increased cross-national cooperation to accelerate data exchange for multilateral COVID-19 research to inform public health policy-making was highly critical. However, sharing health data for secondary purposes such as research is difficult, as technical, political, and ethical issues were identified before the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis focused on data management issues and barriers such as a lack of metadata standards and data interoperability. Facilitating cross-border secondary use of health data to inform public health decisions has been on the EU's agenda for some time, leading to the creation of the Joint Action Towards the European Health Data Space and the European Commission’s recommendation on a European electronic health record exchange standard, among other things. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an excellent case study for determining whether these guidelines were adequate for guiding efficient data sharing in collaborative research. For instance, the EU made a significant investment in cooperative COVID-19 research projects with the goal of providing data to support public health policies. In this thesis, ReCoDID, ORCHESTRA, unCoVer, and SYNCHROS—four projects financed by the EU Horizon2020 program—are discussed in detail. The projects shed light on the challenges of sharing patient-level data from observational cohorts, particularly with regard to data management issues such as data interoperability. It was discovered that EU guidelines did enable the formation of research projects and that these projects were even aimed at improving data harmonisation and exchange in COVID-19 research. However, because there is still no EU-standardised agreement on the selection of data interoperability standards, this has become a difficult task. Specifically, none of the four projects examined was able to locate interoperability standards at the legal, policy, care process, information, application, or infrastructure levels.Show less
Governments are increasingly recurring to Smart Mobility policy solutions to address mobility issues in the cities and around them. These Smart Mobility initiatives rely on Information and...Show moreGovernments are increasingly recurring to Smart Mobility policy solutions to address mobility issues in the cities and around them. These Smart Mobility initiatives rely on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as sensors and mobile phones, to collect data. Without it, they cannot perform their tasks. However, much of that collected data is considered personal under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This thesis will look at the Smart Mobility policy formulation in the Netherlands and analyse how the GDPR has impacted it.Show less
The perception of what constitutes algorithmic transparency in the context of predictive policing between citizens and the police in the Netherlands remains to be examined. Most scholars argue that...Show moreThe perception of what constitutes algorithmic transparency in the context of predictive policing between citizens and the police in the Netherlands remains to be examined. Most scholars argue that algorithmic transparency is crucial for combating biases, violation of (data) ethics, legitimacy, and ensuring trust. However, scholars have acknowledged that the perception of what constitutes algorithmic transparency differs per context. Therefore, this thesis aims to research to what extent do the perceptions of algorithmic transparency in the context of predictive policing in the Netherlands align among police and citizens? To scrutinize this research, 9 semi-structured interviews were conducted with police officials to grasp their perceptions. Moreover, the results of the interviews were used as the baseline for the survey conducted with 125 respondents attaining the perception of the citizens in the Netherlands. The results indicated a mismatch between what constitutes algorithmic transparency. The mismatch is not solely between the police and the citizen, but the perception also differs within the police and between the citizens. Thus, this thesis concludes a mismatch between the perception of algorithmic transparency in the context of predictive policing between citizens and the police because solely having one perception is not feasible, and all other perceptions are equally valid. The limitations for this research were primary the small sample size of the interviewee and respondents. Most importantly, this thesis provides an essential practical recommendation for the police on how to lessen the citizens' concerns and, for further research, how to conduct the study on a broader scale.Show less
EU agencies and comparable institutional advisory bodies have proliferated and gained increasing prominence within the politics of the European Union in recent decades, leading scholars to assert...Show moreEU agencies and comparable institutional advisory bodies have proliferated and gained increasing prominence within the politics of the European Union in recent decades, leading scholars to assert that these bodies influence the decision-making procedures in the EU through their information provision. This thesis aims to uncover whether and how the EU agencies, Europol, Frontex, eu-LISA and the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), as well as the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) exerted influence on the policymaking process on establishing a framework for interoperability between the EU’s large-scale information systems. Its theoretical foundation is derived from interest group influence research and empirically it synthesises evidence from qualitative document analysis and elite interviews conducted with officials from Europol, eu-LISA, and the EDPS.Show less
