The transformation of public‑power relations in the era of algocracy: from the digital panopticon to hybrid governance regimes

Abstract

The article investigates the fundamental transformation of public authority under the conditions of large-scale algorithmization of public administration, predictive analytics, and the expansion of platform ecosystems. Challenging techno-optimistic assumptions, the authors distinguish between the instrumental optimization of administrative workflows ("digital politics") and macro-political contestation over the redistribution of sovereign prerogatives and legal norms ("politics of the digital"). The paper examines the genesis of hybrid state-corporate regimes wherein Weberian rational-legal bureaucracy engages in an asymmetric resource symbiosis with Big Tech's computational monopolies. Drawing on the empirical cases of COMPAS, SyRI, and Robodebt, the authors refute the notion of machine learning's value neutrality, exposing the systemic risks of algorithmic opacity ("black box") and automated social stratification. It is shown how continuous tracking of digital footprints creates a distributed panopticon of behavioral profiling, while the non-alternative transition to the digital-by-default paradigm leads to the institutional exclusion of vulnerable strata. Furthermore, the study explores the tensions of technological sovereignty and technonationalism that accelerate the fragmentation of global cyberspace. Countering techno-statism, the authors outline the framework of a value-oriented model of responsible algorithmization designed to subject software code to public accountability and human rights protection.