Algorithmic Governance Politics and Law in the Post-Human Era

This book analyses the changes to the regulation of everyday life that have taken place as a result of datafication, the ever-growing analytical, predictive, and structuring role of algorithms, and the prominence of the platform economy. This new form of regulation – algorithmic governance – ranges from nudging individuals towards predefined outcomes to outright structuration of behaviour through digital architecture. The author reveals the strength and pervasiveness of algorithmic politics through a comparison with the main traditional form of regulation: law. These changes are subsequently demonstrated to reflect a broader shift away from anthropocentric accounts of the world. In doing so, the book adopts a posthumanist framework which focuses on deep embeddedness and interactions between humans, the natural environment, technology, and code.

1. Introduction: I'll Be Watching You.- 2. The Premise of New Governance.- 3. The Code that Is Law.- 4. Personalisation, Emotion, and Nudging.- 5. Agency and The Posthuman Shape of Law.- 6. Dis-Imagining Rights, Legitimacy, and the Foundations of Politics.- 7. Conclusion/Manifesto: Just Another Brick in The Wall? (Hint: No).

Ignas Kalpokas is Senior Lecturer of Public Communication at Vytautas Magnus University and Assistant Professor of International Relations and Development at LCC International University, Lithuania. He is the author of Creativity and Limitation in Political Communities (2017) and A Political Theory of Post-Truth (2019).