Difficulties in regulating disruptive technologies: a Habermasian analysis of regulators worldview and the participation and perceptions of academic fields

Abstract

The research studies the problem of regulation of disruptive technologies and Information and Communication (ICT). The objective is to discover regulators' difficulties, how they try to overcome them, and whether they count on the contribution of the Academy. It is empirical, sequential, and mixed-method research. The justification for choosing the theme stemmed from the growing concern of society, expressed in the mainstream media, academia, governments, and reports from multilateral organizations. The speed of evolution, the pervasiveness, the disruption of geographical boundaries, and the scale of social impacts of emergent ICT fuel the concern. The decision to conduct an empirical study focused on regulators was due to the gap identified in the literature review. The first step was identifying the difficulties of regulating emerging ICT in the literature, which also determined the choice of Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action as background for the study. We classified the difficulties into six groups: Societal objectives, Environment issues, Technical issues, Legal issues, Individual behavior or trace, and Drivers. The second step started with a qualitative exploratory analysis of documents produced by Science and Technology Committees from the legislative houses in the three levels of the Brazilian government (Federal, São Paulo State, and São Paulo city). Then, a sample of politicians and specialized bureaucrats from the executive branch and public prosecution service who participated in the discussions in public hearings in 2019 was interviewed and are the primary source of data for an in-depth qualitative analysis. For this purpose, we used the Multiple Streams Framework to help assess Habermas' idealized framework in the political scenario. We described the groups of actors present in the discussions and analyzed the performance and difficulties of the Committees at the three levels of Administration. The multistakeholder and multidisciplinary scenario and the time constraints difficulties gained new dimensions due to disruptive technologies. The last step of the research was a survey with four grand f academic fields (Administration, Information Systems, Law, and Sociology) to describe the experience with the regulation process of emerging ICT and differences in the perception of the difficulties, values, needs, and concerns raised in the previous stages through a Multiple Discriminant Analysis. In general, there was low participation and practical contribution. Respondents recognized the difficulties in regulating ICT, and a few variables showed differences between areas, some of which were unexpected. The results expand the existing classification of challenges to regulate disruptive technologies, serving as a possible level of analysis. We separated the critical analysis of the difficulties identified in the interviewees' speeches into those commonly observed in the political environment and those proper to the discussions about emerging ICT.Besides, the research contributes by objectively descr...