Hybridity in digital and algorithmic public governance

Hybridity is often identified in blurring public and private boundaries in public governance or as public-private partnerships. Hybridity is also discussed in the context of institutional complexity owing to various potentially conflicting institutional logics, posing challenges to accountability. In this chapter I discuss hybridity in digital and algorithmic governance in the context of the state, but also provides an assessment of the transnational aspects of digital and numerical governance by exploring three instances of hybridity related to digital and numerical governance: (1) hybridity due to reuse and sharing of digital public data; (2) hybridity due to emerging forms of algorithmic governance, implying hybridity in human and non-human agency; and (3) hybridity in the production and use of global policy indicators. The chapter’s conclusion is that one should engage in contextualized analysis of hybridity and its actual effects, highlighting the need to consider changes in agency, interconnectedness and temporality pertaining to digital and algorithmic governance.