From Street‐Level to System‐Level Bureaucracies: How Information and Communication Technology is Transforming Administrative Discretion and Constitutional Control

2002/01/01 by Mark Bovens, Stavros Zouridis, S. Zouridis · 908 citations
Social Sciences · #Administrative discretion #Bureaucracy #Business #Computer science #Control (management) #Discretion #E-Government and Public Services #Economics #Information and Communications Technology #Law #Law, Rights, and Freedoms #Management #Political science #Politics #Power (physics) #Public Policy and Administration Research #Public administration #Public relations #State (computer science)

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/0033-3352.00168

published in Public Administration Review 62(2), 174-184 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly changing the structure of a number of large, executive public agencies. They used to be machine bureaucracies in which street‐level officials exercised ample administrative discretion in dealing with individual clients. In some realms, the street‐level bureaucrats have vanished. Instead of street‐level bureaucracies, they have become system‐level bureaucracies. System analysts and software designers are the key actors in these executive agencies. This article explores the implications of this transformation from the perspective of the constitutional state. Thanks to ICT, the implementation of the law has virtually been perfected. However, some new issues rise: What about the discretionary power of the system‐level bureaucrats? How can we guarantee due process and fairness in difficult cases? The article ends with several institutional innovations that may help to embed these system‐level bureaucracies in the constitutional state.

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