Call for Papers – The Digital State: Digitalisation of Public Administration and Public Administration of Digital Technologies

Call for Papers for the 2020 International Symposium on

“The Digital State: Digitalisation of Public Administration and Public Administration of Digital Technologies”

Deadline for participation: 1^st December 2019

1. Presentation of the Call for Papers

Digital technologies play a pivotal role in virtually all our social, economic and democratic interactions and have become essential tools for all Public Administrations – be they at the state, sub-state or supranational level.

In such context, Public Administrations find themselves frequently unprepared to meet the challenges of digitalisation, at a time when digital technologies are not an option anymore and become necessary to meet the imperatives of efficiency, cost reduction and effectiveness.

The era of governmental reform through the creation of new independent authorities and agencies is now replaced by a new period of governmental restructuration, aimed at stimulating a transition to the “Digital State.” This new conception of the state is characterised by the digitalisation of public services, the extensive use of public and personal data, the introduction of algorithmic tools to automate decision-making, the encouragement to develop Artificial Intelligence applications to automate public sector functions and activities and the move towards the “platformisation” of the state.

This call for papers aims to – but is not limited to – analyse three fundamental dimensions of the debate concerning “Digital State: Digitalisation of Public Administration and Public Administration of Digital Technologies”, fostering:

a)    The mapping and analysis of the organisational structures and attributions of existing Public Administrations that regulate issues which are categorised or can be categorised as “digital technologies”, or are essential for the functioning or have a strong link with “digital technologies”, such as electronic networks regulators, data protection authorities, online gaming or gambling regulators, etc.;

b)    The analysis of specific examples of tools that Public Administrations are currently developing and using to digitalise their services, for example by providing digital public services through platforms such as Nesta, in the UK, FranceConnect, in France.

c)    The analysis and/or comparison of national strategies currently developed or implemented to “digitalise” Public Administration. This research avenue can focus both on the analysis of overarching strategies for digitalisation, such as the Brazilian “Estratégia Digital”; on the development of public-purpose programmes aimed at “translating into data” all public administration and building digital public services, such as the French Etalab; and on capacity building strategies for the development of digital skills of public servants.

All participants to this call are encouraged to reflect on the impacts that the Digitalisation of Public Administration and Public Administration of Digital Technologies deploy on the possibility to exercise fundamental rights and freedoms. Such analyses may consider and/or compare national, sub-state or regional frameworks.

It is possible to analyse more than one of the abovementioned research avenues, for example by introducing the national digitalisation strategy of a specific country and, subsequently, exploring a specific programme or tool. Comparative studies, analysing the differences between several national approaches are encouraged, as well as multidisciplinary analyses, for example using data science to support the findings with empirical evidence; or economic analysis to explore the costs and benefits of a specific approach.

The international symposium of the CDPC will take place on the 23^rd and 24^th of April 2020, at Université Panthéon-Assas, Paris 2, in Paris, France and the works presented at the colloquium will be published by November 2020. Contributions should be preferably be in French, but English studies will be accepted.
 

1. Timeline

• Deadline for submitting a 2000 words abstract: 1^st of December 2019
• Communication of selected abstracts: 15^th of January 2020
• Deadline for sending a contribution of 5000 to 7000 words: 30^th of March 2020
• Date of the symposium: 23^rd and 24^th of April
• Deadline for sending a final contribution, between 6,000 and 8,000 words: 15^th of July 2020
• Publication: November 2020

Abstracts must be sent to cdpc@u-paris2.fr and luca.belli@fgv.br using the subject line “Etat Digital – Digital State”. The authors of the selected abstracts will receive guidelines to elaborate and format their contributions.

VERSION FRANÇAISE https://internet-governance.fgv.br/sites/internet-governance.fgv.br/files/publicacoes/appel_a_contributions_letat_digital_1.pdf

ENGLISH VERSION https://internet-governance.fgv.br/sites/internet-governance.fgv.br/files/publicacoes/call_for_papers_digital_state_3.pdf