Abstract
Abstract A growing body of literature examines how to make the use of new and emerging technologies more transparent and explainable as a means to ensure accountability for harm to human rights. While a critical part of accountability, a predominant focus on the technology can result in the design and adaptation of accountability principles to ‘manage’ the technology instead of starting from an assessment of the governance choices actors make when integrating new and emerging technologies into their mandates. Recognition of the governance choices underpinning the introduction of new and emerging technologies is often overlooked in scholarship and practice. Yet, without explicit recognition of the role played by technology in governance, the disruptive effects of technology on (global) governance may be underplayed or even ignored. In this response, I argue that if the ‘culture of accountability’ is to adapt to the challenges posed by new and emerging technologies, the focus cannot only be technology-led. It must also be interrogative of the governance choices that are made within organizations, particularly those vested with public functions at the international and national level.
Highlights
In a rich Foreword to this volume, Eyal Benvenisti traces the evolution of a ‘culture of accountability’ in global governance, of international organizations
While a critical part of accountability, a predominant focus on the technology can result in the design and adaptation of accountability principles to ‘manage’ the technology instead of starting from an assessment of the governance choices actors make when integrating new and emerging technologies into their mandates
Recognition of the governance choices underpinning the introduction of new and emerging technologies is often overlooked in scholarship and practice
Summary
In a rich Foreword to this volume, Eyal Benvenisti traces the evolution of a ‘culture of accountability’ in global governance, of international organizations. 1080 EJIL 29 (2018), 1079–1085 context in which new and emerging technologies play a central role in governance structures.[1] He observes that this is both because of the power of global technology companies and the nature of these technologies.[2] His Foreword raises the critical question of whether accountability principles, such as those embodied by global administrative law, and embedded in international human rights law, and the rule of law more generally, can effectively adjust and adapt to this new context.[3] In this response, I suggest that the way in which the employment of new and emerging technologies is understood and framed is central to the sustainability and adaptability of accountability principles. The Conversation (4 June 2018), available at http://theconversation.com/cambridge-analyticais-more-than-a-data-breach-its-a-human-rights-problem-96601. 5 See the literature infra notes 6 and 7
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