Conference Agenda

The integration of digital technologies in public sector operations, while reducing traditional red tape, has introduced a new complexity: digital red tape. This issue is underexplored in public management research. Applying red tape and technology enactment theories, we conducted a case study of a Chinese government digital platform for the business environment. Our findings indicate that digital strategies, while aiming to enhance efficiency and reduce traditional red tape, often lead to new managerial challenges. We found that the effectiveness of technology implementation is shaped by organizational structures, institutional contexts, and actor behaviors. This study deepens the understanding of red tape in the digital transformation era and underscores the unintended consequences of digitalization in public administration.

The digitization of administrative processes plays an ever-increasing role in shaping migra-tion administration. Data infrastructures, enabling the collection, storage and dissemination of digital data among various stakeholders, play a pivotal role. However, there is still a lack of analytical engagement with digital public infrastructures, which at best become the focus of research in the event of a breakdown, despite their profound implications for public ad-ministration and citizens.

From a governance perspective, they illustrate a delicate the tension between designing the infrastructure and controlling its deployment versus acknowledging deviations from original intentions that impact its functionality. Data registers, rather than static tools, derive their functionality from the often underestimated and constant efforts of a net of human actors who keep the infrastructure operational.

This paper analyses the intergovernmental complexities and governance challenges with regard to public data infrastructure, with a specific focus on Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners (Ausländerzentralregister, AZR), as one of the largest automated public admin-istration registers in the country. The analysis addresses two key questions: (1) What govern-ance arrangements are associated with the deployment of public data infrastructure in the German migration administration? (2) What are underlying reasons that a network-based governance arrangement does not enable the successful deployment and functionality of Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners.

Employing a qualitative approach, expert interviews (n=16) were conducted with public employees from migration authorities, neighbouring administrations, and those responsible for overseeing the digitalization of migration administration, alongside participant observation. The findings provide valuable insights into the intricate actor constellations and challenges embedded in the development and deployment of public data infrastructures for migration policy. This research thus complements the prevalent macro-level focus on digitalization trends in migration management as well as the broader trend of viewing public sector digital-ization from the perspective of external digitalization, by offering an in-depth investigation into digital administrative practices within an intergovernmental relations context.