Digitalization & Digital Governance

Digitalization in the public sphere and the associated transformation of public organizations are being investigated by various researchers at the KPM. Prof. Dr. Adrian Ritz is interested in the extent to which digitalization leads to an increase in efficiency and effectiveness as well as a reduction in complexity in public task fulfilment processes. This raises the question of the extent to which external stakeholders of the administration can increasingly become self-competent collaboration partners (“prosumers”) of public institutions, which can lead to improved problem-solving by the state. This also involves questions of innovation, the status and progress of digitalization, e.g. at municipal level, or which governance contexts offer the best conditions for the successful implementation of digitalization reforms. New forms of organization and innovation such as digital labs, innovation labs or agile and self-organized forms of organization are also related to this.

The KPM is conducting research in several projects on the topic of public sector digitalization. Dr. Iuliia Spycher is conducting research in the project “The Role of Governance in Public Sector Digitalization” and Maja Hegemann and Céline Hunziker are working on the project “People in Digital Administration”. Dr. Srinivas Yerramsetti is also working on this research focus. Magdalena Waeber is also conducting research on this thematic axis on the topic of “How do small and medium-sized social welfare organizations cope with organizational challenges triggered by digitization?”.

Digitalization is having an increasing impact on the interaction between the population and the state. In this context, it is important to keep an eye on the impact of digitalization on citizens and the economy. However, the processes of administrative action must also meet certain requirements when they are digitized. In the context of digitalization, Dr. Srinivas Yerramsetti's research also looks at the role of administrative staff and that of politics in public organizations.

The administration is significantly shaped by its actions, which increasingly manifest themselves in digital administrative procedures. The interdisciplinary research project “People in digital administration”, led by Prof. Dr. Andreas Lienhard (Law) and Prof. Dr. Adrian Ritz (Administrative Sciences), is investigating the transformation process towards a digital administration with a focus on digitalized administrative action and its effects on the various stakeholder groups. Based on the findings, recommendations for action for the digital transformation of administrative action will be developed and made available to the authorities involved.

Digital tools for conveying information and forming political opinions are becoming increasingly popular. The digital transformation and the growing importance of social media are changing the way information is consumed, its content and its impact on political attitudes and decisions. The research focus “Digital Democracy” deals with the question of how digitalization affects the functioning of democracy in general and central conditions of democratic systems such as transparency, accountability, inclusion and responsiveness.

The KPM is directly and indirectly involved in several projects that investigate these questions from different perspectives. For example, there is a scientific cooperation with the Politools association, which develops and operates the Swiss online voting tool “smartvote”. The use of “smartvote” is itself the subject of research, while the data generated on party positioning is also made available to researchers. In addition, the CPM is involved in the project “Does digital information and news consumption endanger democracy?” as part of NRP 77 “Digital Transformation” in collaboration with the University of Geneva.

As part of the National Research Programme on Digital Transformation (NRP 77), special aspects of e-Justice, such as questions of the automated anonymization of court judgments in the controversy between judicial publicity and privacy protection, are being examined in the research project “Court judgments in the area of conflict between transparency and privacy (Open Justice versus Privacy)” by Prof. Dr. Andreas Lienhard. Magda Chodup's legal dissertation deals with the legal basis for anonymizing court judgments.