The Automated Administrative State: A Crisis of Legitimacy

The legitimacy of the administrative state is premised on our faith in agency expertise. Despite their extra-constitutional structure, administrative agencies have been on firm footing for a long time in reverence to their critical role in governing a complex, evolving society. They are delegated enormous power because they respond expertly and nimbly to evolving conditions. In recent decades, state and federal agencies have embraced a novel mode of operation: automation. Agencies rely more and more on software and algorithms in carrying out their delegated responsibilities. The automated administrative state, however, is demonstrably riddled with concerns. Legal challenges regarding the denial of benefits and rights from travel to disability-have revealed a pernicious pattern of bizarre and unintelligible outcomes. Scholarship to date has explored the pitfalls of automation with a particular frame, asking how we might ensure that automation honors existing legal commitments such as due process. Missing from the conversation are broader, structural critiques of the legitimacy of agencies that automate. Automation abdicates the expertise and nimbleness that justify the administrative state, undermining the very case for the existence and authority of agencies. Yet the answer is not to deny agencies access to technology that other twenty-first century institutions reply upon. This Article points toward a positive vision of the administrative state that adopts tools only when they enhance, rather than undermine, the underpinnings of agency legitimacy

The Automated Administrative State: A Crisis of Legitimacy

The legitimacy of the administrative state is premised on our faith in agency expertise. Despite their extra-constitutional structure, administrative agencies have been on firm footing for a long time in reverence to their critical role in governing a complex, evolving society. They are delegated enormous power because they respond expertly and nimbly to evolving conditions.In recent decades, state and federal agencies have embraced a novel mode of operation: automation. Agencies rely more and more on software and algorithms in carrying out their delegated responsibilities. The automated administrative state, however, is demonstrably riddled with concerns. Legal challenges regarding the denial of benefits and rights—from travel to disability—have revealed a pernicious pattern of bizarre and unintelligible outcomes.Scholarship to date has explored the pitfalls of automation with a particular frame, asking how we might ensure that automation honors existing legal commitments such as due process. Missing from the conversation are broader, structural critiques of the legitimacy of agencies that automate. Automation throws away the expertise and nimbleness that justify the administrative state, undermining the very case for the existence and authority of agencies.Yet the answer is not to deny agencies access to technology. This article points toward a positive vision of the administrative state that adopts tools only when they enhance, rather than undermine, the underpinnings of agency legitimacy

The Rudd government and national security: continuity or change in the war on terror?

A vast proportion of the national security architecture to fight the amorphous global ‘war on terror’, created after 9/11, remains untouched. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has expressed a commitment to ensuring that agencies such as the AFP and ASIO have the expertise, capacity and resources to collect and analyze the information needed to combat terrorism. Rudd has also identified a commitment to stop a terrorist attack while not compromising the integrity of democratic traditions and constitutional processes. This paper will address the tone and direction of the Rudd government’s approach to the problem of terrorism, examine proposed reform in key areas of national security legislation and explore the judicial mechanisms that are in place to assure that the security sector conducts its business in accordance with the law, national intelligence priorities and the protection of fundamental human rights

Restoring the Public Trust: A Blueprint for Government Integrity

September 1990 report of the New York State Commission on Government Integrity calling for sweeping reforms to our laws to safeguard the public sector from the pressures brought to bear by private sector special interests and to reduce the temptation of officials to abuse their trust. In this blueprint, the Commission identified several aspects of state government requiring legal and ethical reform, including: - campaign finance contribution limits, disclosure requirements, the public funding option, and ineffective enforcement by the State Board of Elections; - political influence in the judicial selection process; - limitations of the Ethics in Government Act; - complex and rigid rules governing the nomination process which limited ballot access; - forfeiture of pension benefits for public officials convicted of crimes; - exceptions to the Open Meetings Law which rendered the litigation ineffective by allowing private political caucuses; - the role of patronage in obtaining government favors, rewarding contributors, and influencing government power; - municipal ethics disclosure requirements, conflicts of interest, and the revolving door ; - campaign financing enforcement and public financing for statewide officeholders; - the unfair incumbent advantage; - contracting practices at the State Division of Substance Abuse and within New York City operations; - ethics training for public employees; - protection for public employee whistleblowers; - the role of an underground or shadow government in New York; - corruption in Westchester County, and; - the Poughkeepsie 1985 Town Board Election. Included as Appendix A is Executive Order 88.1, signed by Governor Mario M. Cuomo on April 21, 1987, which established the New York State Commission on Government Integrity

Final Report: National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence

Final report presenting the National Security Commission for Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI)'s recommendations for winning the AI era. It includes a 16 chapter Main Report and "Blueprints for Action that outline the concrete steps departments and agencies can take to implement NSCAI's recommendations." - Introduction

Neoliberal Imperialism and Pan-African Resistance

Neoliberalism has in the past three decades had a tremendous impact on both thought and practice throughout most of the world, and has dominated international development since the early 1980s. Although neoliberalism presents itself as modern and progressive, it is argued that the underlying ideologies and power agendas have their origins in the political debates of the eighteenth century and earlier. Through an analysis of neoliberalism from a world-historical and global perspective, indications are seen that the international development agenda has more to do with political and economic interests than with benevolent pro-poor development. This leads to the debate about redistribution of resources and State-led Development versus Free-market Development, which is inextricable from the discussion of Liberal Democratic Peace Theory versus Realism. From this perspective it is argued that the notion of democratic peace is used as a popular seductive rhetoric, to legitimize western military interventions and the imposition of economic policies in the name of democracy, human rights and free market economy. In this context, it is argued that neoliberalism cannot be analysed without also considering inherent links to imperialism and neo-colonialism, which is being resisted by pan-African movements

Interim Report and Third Quarter Recommendations, October 2020

A report containing the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI)'s third quarterly memo and second interim report with 66 recommendations in key areas. They are organized under five tabs: strengthening the triangular alliance for AI research, applying AI for national security missions, training and recruiting AI talent, protecting and building upon U.S. technology advances, and marshaling global AI cooperation & ethics

From Dayton to Allied Force: A Diplomatic History of the 1998–99 Kosovo Conflict

This thesis reconstructs the diplomatic response of the international community to the Kosovo conflict of 1998–99. It outlines the process which resulted in the failure of negotiations involving outside agencies and individuals as well as the recourse to air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Using primary sourced material from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, personal interviews and other carefully selected primary sources, this thesis explores why international attempts to find a negotiated solution failed

The intelligence-led national security architecture of Ghana and its three pre-conditions

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonIn chronological order, this dissertation takes the reader through the story of Ghana, covering many decades of its historical and political journey to date. Whilst doing so, it also explains how such a journey helped define the evolution of the country’s intelligence-led national security architecture from the pre-colonial era to what it is today. Besides going through the decades, it also zooms in analytically on the relevance of the architecture under respective governments throughout the country’s history. The historical analysis indicated that throughout Ghana’s history, whenever a new administration assumes office and immediately puts in place an intelligence-led national security architecture to help attain and maintain domestic stability, is when the country is most stable. However, whenever there is absence of intelligence-led national security architecture, the country’s political and security landscape becomes unstable. Such trend has been consistent since independence to date, and not only that when one pushes further back into pre-independence as part of Ghana’s backstory, the trend is still applicable. This analysis helped establish that there is a relationship between the country’s domestic stability and its intelligence-led national security architecture, which embodies three pre-conditions: (1) Establish National Security Institutions, (2) Embark on Intelligence Activities, and (3) Implement Interagency Intelligence Coordination. Additionally, the age of the country’s democracy, the political and security landscape of the sub-region where Ghana is situated, and Ghana’s security sector governance, and oversight responsibilities; have all been evaluated to help argue the relationship between the role of the intelligence-led national security architecture and current domestic stability. Hence underscoring the relevance of the pivotal role being played by Ghana’s intelligence-led national security architecture in the fight to maintain stability in the country

Law as Scapegoat

Populist nationalist movements have been on the rise around the world in recent years. These movements have tapped into, and fueled, a deep anger among many members of the public. Especially in the face of stagnant or declining economic prospects—as well as expanding inequality—much anger has been directed at minorities and migrants. Politicians with authoritarian tendencies have sought to leverage such public anger by reinforcing tendencies to scapegoat others for their society’s problems. In this paper, I show that laws and regulations—like migrants—can be framed as “the other” too and made into scapegoats. With reference to developments in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I provide examples of recent efforts by populist leaders to scapegoat the law. Addressing the political economy of legal scapegoating and pointing to similarities between anti-migrant rhetoric and the denigration of law, I explain why politicians can find it attractive to blame law for social conditions that drive public anger. I also explain how persistent legal scapegoating can undermine public confidence in vital governing institutions, posing a risk of longer-term harms to society. This paper draws on a keynote lecture delivered in the fall of 2019 in Rome at the International Association of Legislation’s conference on “The Crisis of Confidence in Legislation.