Legal Accountability in Algorithmic Public Decision Making and the Transformation of Administrative Governance
Keywords:
algorithmic governance, legal accountability, public decision-making, administrative lawAbstract
The rapid incorporation of algorithmic systems into public administration has generated new legal questions regarding accountability, justification, and review in contemporary governance. As digital infrastructures increasingly mediate welfare allocation, regulatory enforcement, and administrative assessment, public law faces mounting pressure to clarify how state authority remains legally answerable under technologically mediated conditions. This article examines how algorithmic governance is transforming the legal structure of accountability in public decision-making. It adopts a qualitative doctrinal and socio-legal design grounded in legal accountability theory, administrative law, and governance analysis. The analysis draws on statutes, regulatory materials, judicial reasoning, policy documents, and interdisciplinary scholarship concerning automated public decision-making and algorithmic regulation. These materials are examined through the analytical dimensions of answerability, transparency, justification, reviewability, contestability, human oversight, and responsibility attribution. Legal accountability in algorithmic governance emerges as a layered and composite framework rather than a single procedural safeguard, with conventional public law principles remaining relevant but increasingly strained by opacity, distributed responsibility, and formalized oversight. Public decision-making in digital environments therefore requires a reconstruction of accountability that extends beyond compliance-based transparency toward legally meaningful explanation, institutional traceability, and effective avenues of challenge. The article contributes to the field by clarifying how administrative law and legal theory can be integrated to explain the transformation of public authority under algorithmic governance.
References
Adhabi, E., & Anozie, C. L. (2017). Literature Review for the Type of Interview in Qualitative Research. International Journal of Education, 9, 86–97. https://doi.org/10.5296/ije.v9i3.11483
Ananny, M., & Crawford, K. (2018). Seeing without knowing: Limitations of the transparency ideal and its application to algorithmic accountability. New Media & Society, 20, 973–989. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816676645
Bannister, F., & Connolly, R. (2020). Administration by algorithm: A risk management framework. Information Polity, 25, 471–490. https://doi.org/10.3233/ip-200249
Cheong, B. C. (2024). Transparency and accountability in AI systems: safeguarding wellbeing in the age of algorithmic decision-making. Frontiers in Human Dynamics. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2024.1421273
Coeckelbergh, M. (2019). Artificial Intelligence, Responsibility Attribution, and a Relational Justification of Explainability. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26, 2051–2068. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-019-00146-8
Edelmann, A., Wolff, T., Montagne, D., & Bail, C. (2020). Computational Social Science and Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 46 1, 61–81. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054621
Enarsson, T., Enqvist, L., & Naarttijärvi, M. (2021). Approaching the human in the loop – legal perspectives on hybrid human/algorithmic decision-making in three contexts. Information & Communications Technology Law, 31, 123–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.2021.1958860
Engelmann, A. (2023). Algorithmic transparency as a fundamental right in the democratic rule of law. Brazilian Journal of Law, Technology and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.59224/bjlti.v1i2.169-188
Goldsmith, S., & Yang, J. (2025). AI and the Transformation of Accountability and Discretion in Urban Governance. ArXiv, abs/2502.13101. https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2502.13101
Horneber, D., & Laumer, S. (2023). Algorithmic Accountability. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 65, 723–730. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-023-00817-8
Khasawneh, F., Amoush, M. A. M., & Khwaileh, K. (2025). GOVERNING ALGORITHMS: THE INTELLECTUALIZATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND EMERGING INTERNATIONAL-LAW CONSTRAINTS. Veredas Do Direito. https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v22.n3.3464
Kurniawan, M. J., & Purwanto, R. (2025). The Revolution of Public Administration in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Legal Challenges and Constitutional Implications. Fortiori Law Journal. https://doi.org/10.47200/flj.v5i01.3050
Kuziemski, M., & Misuraca, G. (2020). AI governance in the public sector: Three tales from the frontiers of automated decision-making in democratic settings. Telecommunications Policy, 44, 101976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2020.101976
Lepri, B., Oliver, N., Letouzé, E., Pentland, A., & Vinck, P. (2017). Fair, Transparent, and Accountable Algorithmic Decision-making Processes. Philosophy & Technology, 31, 611–627. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-017-0279-x
Liu, H.-W., Lin, C.-F., & Chen, Y.-J. (2019). Beyond State v Loomis: artificial intelligence, government algorithmization and accountability. Int. J. Law Inf. Technol., 27, 122–141. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaz001
Mark, D., & Morison, J. (2025). Governing AI Decision‐Making: Balancing Innovation and Accountability. Politics and Governance. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.10245
McGregor, L., Murray, D., & Ng, V. (2019). INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AS A FRAMEWORK FOR ALGORITHMIC ACCOUNTABILITY. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 68, 309–343. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589319000046
Moch, E. (2025). Algorithms as Judges: Constitutional Limits to Automated Decision-Making in Public Administration. East African Journal of Law and Ethics. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajle.8.1.3044
Moon, K., Brewer, T., Januchowski‐Hartley, S., Adams, V., & Blackman, D. (2016). A guideline to improve qualitative social science publishing in ecology and conservation journals. Ecology and Society, 21, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.5751/es-08663-210317
Reidenberg, J., Reidenberg, J., Robinson, D., & YUt, H. (2016). Accountable Algorithms. https://consensus.app/papers/accountable-algorithms-reidenberg-reidenberg/246a3e3340f65b8d8824062c91ec655b/
Rumlus, M. H. (2025). Governing AI: A Narrative Review of Algorithmic Accountability and Legal Frameworks. Legalis : Journal of Law Review. https://doi.org/10.61978/legalis.v3i2.810
Sharma, S. (2025). Governance in the Age of Algorithms: Ethical Dilemmas and Administrative Reforms. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.102.58
Silfia, R. I. (2025). Role of Administrative Law in Regulating Advanced Algorithms: A Legal Framework for Emerging Technologies. Best Journal of Administration and Management. https://doi.org/10.56403/bejam.v3i4.278
Waldman, A., & Martin, K. (2022). Governing algorithmic decisions: The role of decision importance and governance on perceived legitimacy of algorithmic decisions. Big Data & Society, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517221100449
Wieringa, M. (2020). What to account for when accounting for algorithms: a systematic literature review on algorithmic accountability. Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. https://doi.org/10.1145/3351095.3372833
