Administrative exclusion in the infrastructure‐level bureaucracy: The case of the Dutch daycare benefit scandal

2023/02/06 by Rik Peeters, Arjan C. Widlak · 87 citations
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Bureaucracy #Business #Computer science #E-Government and Public Services #Face (sociological concept) #Internet Traffic Analysis and Secure E-voting #Law #Political science #Politics #Public Policy and Administration Research #Public administration #Public relations #Sociology #State (computer science)

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/puar.13615

published in Public Administration Review 83(4), 863-877 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2023/02/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Abstract A key insight in the literature on administrative burdens and exclusion is that they can be a form of policy making by other means to disincentivize people's access to services, rights, and benefits. Using the case of the Dutch daycare benefit scandal, in which tens of thousands of citizens were wrongfully accused of welfare fraud and subsequently excluded from benefits, we argue for a broader understanding of the way administrative burdens can be constructed. We introduce the concept of the ‘infrastructure‐level bureaucracy’ to understand how new forms of intra‐ and supra‐organizational data exchange and algorithmic analysis can lead bureaucracies to fail to understand the reasoning underlying their own administrative decisions and, subsequently, cause Kafkaesque situations for citizens. Our findings point towards the importance of institutional analyses of the way information technologies structure political and operational behavior as well as the burdens that citizens may face in their interactions with the state.

Citations

• From Street‐Level to System‐Level Bureaucracies: How Information and Communication Technology is Transforming Administrative Discretion and Constitutional Control
• Accountable Artificial Intelligence: Holding Algorithms to Account

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