Rethinking Governance with Blockchain: An Actor-Network Theoretical Approach

Abstract

The continuous advancement of digital technologies and innovations is progressively reshaping the dynamics of governments, societies, and organizations. Governance approaches must evolve in parallel with emerging technologies. Among the emerging innovations in technology: The Blockchain technology (BCT). BCT offers a wide range of solutions to many problems and its adoption has been successful in many fields. We would argue that traditional governance modes challenge understanding governance in digital innovations such as Blockchain. Therefore, suitable new governance frameworks are required. To this end, this article explores the limitations of existing modes of governance. This article aims to conceptualize a new mode of governance adapted to the technical features of the Blockchain based on the Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Through a review of conceptual literature, we relied on four key elements of the actor-network theory -actors, actor network, power and translation- to propose a new governance mode based on the new power relationships within the blockchain network. A flexible, dynamic mode of governance is proposed shaping the relationships between actors in the blockchain context.

Keywords: Blockchain, governance, actor-network theory, decentralized autonomous organizations.

JEL Classification: O33

Paper type: Theoretical Research