The digital state overflowing its boundaries: considering the case of digital inclusion in Denmark

Denmark is considered one of the world’s most digitalized states, with pervasive public and private digital infrastructures in place to ensure seamless interactions between citizens and authorities. Digital interfaces are increasingly replacing physical locations, arguably to make contact and communication between citizens and authorities easier and more accessible. Since 2014, it has been mandatory for all Danish citizens to communicate with the state through the digital infrastructure ‘Digital Post’. With the pervasiveness of digitalization efforts and the sustained demand that citizens be(come)‘digital by default’, new forms of public governance and statecraft are also emerging, and with them new problems. As the state digitalizes its core functions and services, already disadvantaged citizens may experience further marginalization as national digitalization agendas reproduce and recast existing lines of social stratification as well as produce new forms of digital exclusion. Researchers have suggested concepts like ‘digital in-’or ‘exclusion’ or ‘socio-digital inequalities’ to move away from a dichotomous understanding of problems of digital inclusion as an either-or question of access, toward an appreciation of the multifaceted life situations and challenges that affect how citizens fare in digital society.