Introduction: conceptual framework and research design for a comparative analysis of national eID Management Systems in selected European countries

This paper introduces the objectives and basic approach of a collaborativecomparative research project on the introduction of national electronic IdentityManagement Systems (eIDMS) in Member States of the European Union. Altogethereight country case studies have been produced in two waves by researchers in therespective countries, which will be presented in the following articles in this specialissue. The studies adopt a common conceptual framework and use the sameterminology, which will be presented in this introduction, just as the reasoning for theselection of the particular countries under investigation. The conceptual frameworkcombines elements of actor centred institutionalism with path analysis, looking for pathcontinuation, change or creation in the transition from the previous IDMS to anelectronic one and explaining this as choices of actors in certain contexts. Informationon the reasons for these choices in the first four cases has been collected from in depthinterviews with key actors and in the four other cases from official documents. As thesubject of this research is the transition of national identity management systems onlycountries have been included in which a national ID and a civil registry already existbefore the introduction of the electronic elements, thus excluding the UK