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Infrastructural state capacity in the digital age: What drives the performance of COVID ‐19 tracing apps?
Author(s) -
Cingolani Luciana
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.46
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1468-0491
pISSN - 0952-1895
DOI - 10.1111/gove.12666
Subject(s) - explanatory power , context (archaeology) , tracing , state (computer science) , power (physics) , contact tracing , covid-19 , business , public relations , political science , computer science , geography , physics , disease , archaeology , epistemology , algorithm , quantum mechanics , pathology , medicine , philosophy , infectious disease (medical specialty) , operating system
Abstract In a context where states increasingly complement their physical presence with digital means, the classic idea of infrastructural state power needs reconsideration. The COVID‐19 pandemic represents an unparalleled opportunity to that end, given the uniformity of one type of digital infrastructural intervention—the offer of contact tracing apps‐ and its highly varying performance across geographies. Against this backdrop, the article seeks to expand traditional discussions on state infrastructural power by testing a series of propositions on the explanatory factors behind tracing apps' emergence and adoption rates. The findings stemming from a pool of 150 countries show no straightforward connection between traditional and digital forms of infrastructural power. They also point at the primacy of governmental trust over financial, institutional, and technological factors—including privacy standards—when explaining high adoption, suggesting that the relational aspect of infrastructural power acquires a proportionally greater weight in the digital era.