Work

Critical, Digital, and Secure? Governing Resilience in the Digital Administration under Conditions of Fragmented Governance

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines how governance structures in Germany’s federal system shape the resilience outcomes of administrative digitalisation. Public administration occupies a dual role in the emerging German KRITIS regime: it functions both as an enabler of critical infrastructure protection (CIP) and as critical infrastructure (CI) itself, insofar as essential public services increasingly depend on digital systems and inter-organisational interfaces. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies and digital-government research, we develop an analytical heuristic of five dimensions of digital-administrative resilience (centrality, interoperability, portability, skills, institutional coordination) and apply it to two policy domains: the implementation of the Online Access Act (OZG) as a reference case and the evolving KRITIS framework as a policy test case. The analysis reveals that the KRITIS regime reproduces governance risks familiar from the OZG experience - ambitious guiding models paired with insufficient implementation preconditions, fragmented responsibilities, and the systematic downward shifting of operational burdens to municipalities. We conclude that governing resilience requires a shift from security as an additional regulatory layer to resilience as a capacity-bound, federally implementable infrastructure policy.

Source: European Journal for Security Research

DOI: 10.1007/s41125-026-00119-6

Authors: Bastian Manteuffel, Sebastian Dumm, Gary S. Schaal

Institution: Helmut Schmidt University

Language: English

Topic: Security, Politics, and Digital Transformation

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,190