Sailing towards digitalization when it doesn’t make cents? Analysing the Faroe Islands’ new digital governance trajectory

Abstract

Talgildu Føroyar is a project-based temporary organization, funded from 2015 through 2020, tasked with spearheading the Faroe Islands’ digital governance movement. As a small, subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ), the government of the Faroe Islands with its population of 50,000 believes that digitalization will lead to decreased government costs, a reduction in bureaucracy, a more efficient government, and empowered citizens. The objective of this paper is twofold: firstly, to provide an accurate narrative of how the digitalization of the Faroe Islands has unfolded and, secondly, to explore the different beliefs and motivations held by stakeholders that have driven the digitalization of the Faroe Islands. The research is inductive in nature and was conducted following a descriptive case study- based methodology drawing primarily from 23 semi-structured interviews conducted over a three-week field visit to the Faroe Islands and supported by secondary evidence sources such as government policy documents and internal government reports. The paper outlines the primary barriers facing digitalization in the Faroe Islands, and finds that while digitalization is unlikely to be cost effective, it does have the potential to provide other tangible benefits such as a revitalized ICT sector.

Keywords

• digitalization
• faroe islands
• governance
• small states
• subnational island jurisdictions (snijs)
• small states
• faroe islands