Checks and balances under pressure in the welfare state
Disentangling the rule of law risks of automation and welfare conditionality
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6423682 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maarten Bouwmeester (0000-0003-2203-9961, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 98-120 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Social Security (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1388-2627 • E-ISSN: 2399-2948 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13882627251330438 |
| OpenAlex | W4409649434 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 54 |
Recent digital welfare malpractices have shown how rule of law systems may fail to protect citizens against abuses of power by social security administrations. Despite growing attention for the problems of the digital welfare state, the macro-level of the rule of law and ‘checks on government’ has remained largely overlooked. This article examines how the effectiveness of rule of law control mechanisms is put under pressure in the welfare state, particularly in the context of (semi-)automated systems of surveillance and enforcement. It explains how the convergence of automation and welfare conditionality jeopardises the safeguarding function of legislation, parliamentary and external scrutiny, and administrative adjudication. The first part brings together the literature on automated decision-making, welfare conditionality and the rule of law, and the second part explores these perspectives in a comparative analysis of Robodebt (Australia) and the childcare benefits scandal (the Netherlands). The main findings are threefold. First, rule of law-breakdowns in the digital welfare state stem primarily from excessive welfare conditionality (intensified criteria and obligations, intrusive surveillance and rigid enforcement), rather than automation as such. Second, the politico-ideological appeal of budgetary savings and tough enforcement drives executive branches to disregard constitutionally prescribed controls. Third, conventional control mechanisms fail to curb or counteract this threat due to various institutional weaknesses, from the ex ante stage of legislation to the ex post stage of scrutiny and judicial review. The article concludes by reflecting on the importance of stronger legal safeguards and control mechanisms, to improve the protection of citizens across welfare states
Conditionality · Economics · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Rule of law · State (computer science · Welfare · Welfare state · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Regulation and Compliance Studies
Welfare Conditionality
Automated Discretion
Judging Social Rights
Legitimacy of Algorithmic Decision-Making
Welfare sanctions and the right to a subsistence minimum
Repressive Welfare States
Data protection in the age of welfare conditionality
Robo-debt illegality
Conditionality, discretion and TH Marshall’s ‘right to welfare’
Automated decision-making and good administration
Debt by design
Social security law
What about the poor people's rights?’ The dismantling of social citizenship through access to justice and welfare reform policy
A New Leviathan
The ‘Criminalization’ of Social Security Law
The implosion of the Dutch surveillance welfare state
The politics of sanctioning the poor through welfare conditionality
Introduction to the Special Edition
The Rule of Law and Automation of Government Decision‐Making
Robodebt cultures and useful idiots
Accountable Artificial Intelligence
The significance of post-legislative scrutiny
Addressing Disconnection
Revitalising Public Law in a Technological Era
Automating Inequality
The Human Rights Implications of the Use of AI in the Digital Welfare State
An Elementary Approach to the Rule of Law
Five Models of Administrative Adjudication
The paternalist politics of punitive and enabling workfare
Introduction to the digital welfare state
The Organization of Ignorance
Digital Social Policy
The Social Division of Welfare Surveillance
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |