Implementing Digital Sovereignty: Comparing Germany and France

Context

Public organizations across Europe face the challenge of reducing dependency on non-European technology providers, yet lack empirical guidance on which governance approaches work. Germany established the Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS) in 2022 as a centralized institution developing and distributing open-source products like openDesk and openCode for public administrations. France has pursued digital sovereignty since 2012 through the Socle Interministériel de Logiciels Libres (SILL), a curated catalog of recommended open-source software maintained by the Direction Interministérielle du Numérique (DINUM), and more recently through Suite Numérique, a comprehensive collection of sovereign productivity tools. While both countries pursue digital sovereignty through open-source strategies, their approaches differ: Germany's centralized model with a dedicated institution and standardized products contrasts with France's catalog-based approach coordinated across ministries. The central research question is: How do these different governance models affect adoption, sustainability, and effectiveness of digital sovereignty strategies in practice? Despite years of implementation in both countries, systematic comparative research on these governance models is missing. While the IS literature has established theoretical foundations for understanding information infrastructure governance (Hanseth & Lyytinen 2010) and platform ecosystems (Constantinides et al. 2018), it rarely connects these insights to comparative empirical studies of national sovereignty strategies. This thesis addresses that gap through structured fieldwork in both countries. 

Research Goals

You will conduct a comparative case study of digital sovereignty implementation in Germany and France, working directly with policy-makers and technical teams in both countries. Concretely, you will:

  1. Review theoretical foundations from IS research on information infrastructure governance, open-source strategies, and public sector digital transformation, focusing on literature from leading IS journals.
  2. Conduct 12-16 semi-structured interviews (6-8 per country) with specific stakeholder groups:
    • Germany: ZenDiS leadership and technical teams, adopting municipalities, federal ministry representatives
    • France: DINUM officials responsible for SILL and Suite Numérique, ministry representatives implementing open-source strategies, technical teams involved in sovereign tool development
  1. Compare Germany's and France's approaches to achieving digital sovereignty through open source software. Consider aspects such as governance models, technical choices, adoption strategies, and ecosystem engagement.
  2. Collect and analyze supporting documents including policy papers, technical specifications, SILL catalog data, procurement guidelines, and adoption statistics from both initiatives.
  3. Identify explanatory factors for observed differences and derive implications for policy-makers and organizations considering sovereignty initiatives.

Contributions

  • For research: First structured cross-national study comparing established digital sovereignty governance models
  • For practice: Evidence-based guidance for policy-makers choosing between centralized and catalog-based sovereignty approaches

Requirements

  • Interest in policy research and qualitative methods
  • Strong organizational skills for coordinating interviews
  • Proficiency in German and English
  • Basic understanding of digital infrastructure and open-source software

References

Constantinides, P., Henfridsson, O., & Parker, G. G. (2018). Introduction—platforms and infrastructures in the digital age. Information Systems Research, 29(2), 381-400.

Cordella, A., & Iannacci, F. (2010). Information systems in the public sector: The e-Government enactment framework. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 19(1), 52-66.

Hanseth, O., & Lyytinen, K. (2010). Design theory for dynamic complexity in information infrastructures: the case of building internet. Journal of Information Technology, 25(1), 1-19.

Shaikh, M. (2016). Negotiating open source software adoption in the UK public sector. Government Information Quarterly, 33(1), 115-132.

Pohle, J., & Thiel, T. (2020). Digital sovereignty. Internet Policy Review, 9(4)