Administrative law contains essential principles that are of vital importance in the lives of individuals and society. From this perspective, it is important for lawyers and other professionals involved in administrative law to make the content of administrative law understandable and memorable. There are various issues that make the teaching or understanding of administrative law difficult. First, some characteristics of administrative law can cause this difficulty. Administrative law has a dynamic structure and, especially in Turkish law, can undergo radical changes at any moment. It can be challenging for students to understand a field of study that undergoes radical changes. Moreover, law students are expected to think critically. Both comprehending the fundamentals of a field of study that undergoes changes in a way that can be applied in professional life and critically evaluating these changes can be particularly challenging for young students who have just graduated from high school. Therefore, it may be beneficial to explore different ways to improve the teaching of administrative law.
Studies on the legal systems of different countries have found that science fiction is often used in law courses. Teaching members have reported that this method makes law courses more understandable for students. The question of whether this method could be beneficial in Turkish administrative law led to the writing of this article. First, the needs that led to the recommendation of science fiction works were explained. Then, the qualities that science fiction literature suitable for use in administrative law were examined. The works should contain topics related to the administrative law curriculum and should encourage students to engage in discussion. A brief evaluation was made based on two works that meet these qualities in the application examples. Ultimately, it was determined that science fiction literature can be directly related to administrative law topics. As in examples from different legal systems and different branches of law, it is thought that the use of science fiction works in administrative law can make information more understandable for students
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It is crucial that the responsibility of the administration to fulfill its duties and exercise its powers is internalized by all segments of society, especially administrative personnel and legal experts to prevent disasters in countries from causing severe destruction.
The goal of improving administrative law education is to instill a culture of responsibility among legal professionals and practitioners, and the teaching methods should be chosen accordingly. Many researchers have identified that science fiction provide an effective path toward this goal.
Two main criteria emerge for selecting works to be used in administrative law education. First, the work should encourage students to think critically and discuss future predictions. Second, it should contain narratives or entities that can be directly linked to administrative law topics. Based on these criteria, two science fiction works have been identified as valuable resources: Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. Of course, other works from the vast realm of science fiction could also be adapted for this purpose.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a classic of science fiction, offers a narrative suitable for introducing all fundamental topics of administrative law. The story involves an administrative action established on the demolition order constructed by the municipality. These elements provide a foundation for students to critically examine several administrative law subjects.
For instance, one of the most significant recent issues in Turkish administrative law relates to urban transformation rules and practices. Problems often stem from demolitions being executed for motives other than their intended purposes. In Adams’ story, the municipality issues a demolition order for a house before Earth’s destruction to build a gateway that allows certain people to reach space. It cannot be said that the goal of the demolition order is public interest.
Additionally, the spaceship that Arthur Dent and an alien board by hitchhiking to escape Earth’s destruction recalls the autonomous vehicles administrations plan to use in the future. The imminent use of driverless vehicles on highways is well known in Turkey and worldwide. The inclusion of such technological foresight in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy stems from its nature as science fiction. Had Arthur Dent’s story been written solely as a case study about a municipal demolition decision, it would lack these visionary elements.
Regarding Asimov’s robot universe and its relation to administrative law, the main element is his foundational concept of the “positronic brain.” Asimov, writing in the 1940s, coined this term for the mechanism underlying robot operation. Though hypothetical then, the positronic brain shares many features with today’s artificial intelligence (AI). While current AI does not possess the extraordinary capabilities attributed to the positronic brain, it has entered our lives with many imperfections. As a technological tool offered for human service, sometimes with autonomous decision-making and interactive dialogue abilities, AI shares many similarities with the positronic brain. This likely explains why Asimov’s works guide the regulation of information technologies.
In Asimov’s stories, robots perform roles similar to AI tools anticipated for future public service. Especially in I, Robot, the benefits, risks, and harms of robots, and how personnel responsible for their production and oversight manage these challenges, are explored. Since I, Robot is set in an ideal universe governed by robot laws, these issues are always resolved. However, evaluating these stories in the context of our current legal system provides insights into debates surrounding AI use.
In I, Robot, robots work similarly to public officials but encounter problems due to their non-human nature. This difference can be examined through public personnel law principles. As the prospect of AI replacing public officials emerges, it is important for students to understand potential issues in this new order. This discussion leads to three other administrative law topics.
First is liability arising from AI use in public service. Some AI types, like Asimov’s robots, act autonomously and unpredictably. Second, determining administrative liability requires new discussions during contracting with private entities providing AI tools or services, linking to public procurement law. Third, these issues relate to public property law. Debates on the legal status of robots and other entities in Asimov’s works are significant for defining the legal regime of assets used in public service as AI use grows. Discussing these topics through I, Robot encourages debate about future legal frameworks and introduces students to new technological entities within public property law, fulfilling the two criteria for using science fiction in administrative law education.