Digital statehood

Treating the state's core functions — identity, registries, taxation, voting and services — as digital infrastructure that citizens and even non-residents can use remotely.

The approach rests on interoperable registries, a trusted digital identity and a 'once-only' principle: the state should not ask for data it already holds. It raises classic questions of legitimacy and accountability in a new form: who controls the infrastructure, and how can its decisions be contested?

• Estonia's X-Road data exchange layer and nationwide ID card underpin most public services; e-Residency (2014) extends digital identity to non-residents.
• India's Aadhaar provides a biometric identity number to most residents.
• Ukraine's Diia app moved many documents and services onto phones.

Digitisation can exclude people without devices or skills, create single points of failure and expand surveillance. Estonia's 2007 cyber-attacks and court challenges to Aadhaar in India show both the security and the rights dimensions.

Digital public infrastructure has measurably reduced paperwork in the leading cases. Whether it changes who holds power, rather than how efficiently power is exercised, is still an open question in the atlas.