Parliamentary Oversight of Public Values in the Digital Age: An Empirical Analysis of the Dutch Parliament

While there has been attention for government's role in protecting public values impacted by digital technologies, attention for the role of parliament remains limited. Yet, parliament is the primary place where debate about the impact of technologies on public values takes place and where options to regulate technology are considered. This study examines how Dutch Parliament has responded to the challenge of maintaining oversight of the digital transformation of society and safeguarding public values. Based on a qualitative multiple case study, we demonstrate that parliamentary oversight included the majority of public values impacted by digitalization, but not in a timely and comprehensive way. Moreover, blind spots emerged due to the mainly reactive role of parliament and its fragmented approach to discussing the digital transformation. We conclude that a more anticipatory role of parliament and additional, cross-cutting formats are required to oversee the digital transformation in its integrated complexity.