Agile Digital Transformation and the Rule of Law: Perks and Perils in a Belgian and a Dutch Public Sector Organization

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the interplay between agile digital transformation and the rule of law within the public sector, focusing on case studies from a semi‐large municipal government in the Netherlands and a department of the Flemish regional government in Belgium. Drawing on expert interviews, the paper explores how agile methods, championed for flexibility, interact with existing administrative routines and affect rule of law principles that prioritize consistency. Theoretically, the paper builds on public administration scholarship concerning administrative routines and the rule of law. Empirically, the paper shows that agile methods align well with administrative routines that prioritize decentralized leadership and collaboration. Moreover, it shows that agile approaches can foster, rather than threaten, the rule of law: many legal uncertainties arise not from agile practices themselves but from existing complexities in laws and policies, highlighting a need for stronger technical precision in lawmaking and administrative awareness in digital implementation.