Digitization and Political Accountability in the USA and the Netherlands: Convergence or Reproduction of Differences?

Abstract

Does the use of ICTs lead to convergence? Or are existing differences being reproduced? This paper deals with these broad questions in the domain of political accountability in two countries and applies these questions to the level of agency accountability and political accountability systems. The results of empirical research in the Netherlands (a parliamentary system) and three American states (presidential systems) into the effects of digitization on political accountability are used to evaluate the relevance of institutional differences for explaining outcomes of technological trajectories. The research indicates that there are many similarities and few differences at the level of agencies. Government agencies in both countries record more data than before the introduction of ICTs, grant better access to recently recorded data. have not created technological warranties for protecting the authenticity of this information and cannot guarantee that the digital information will remain accessible over time. One minor difference between the findings is that websites were found to be more important for communication between government agencies and citizens and even within government agencies in the USA than in the Netherlands. The fact that many similarities and few differences were found supports the idea that government agencies in different countries are converging because of the use of the same technologies. Does convergence also take place at the level of accountability systems? There are relevant differences at the level of political principals. Principals in the Netherlands make little use of digital information and mostly rely on information in paper documents whereas principals in the USA extensively use digital information for fact‑finding. Principals in the Netherlands have insufficient information processing capacity to adequately process all the digital information available to them while principals in the USA generally have sufficient capacity. Principals in the Netherlands make limited us of databases for fact‑finding whereas principals in the USA, in contrast, make much use of this digital information. Overall, American principals are better capable of using digital information for fact‑finding than Dutch principals. This indicates that institutional differences in ex‑post oversight are reproduced in the information age. The relation between information and communication technologies and political institutions is ambiguous: agencies are converging whereas differences between political principals are reproduced.