In Denmark, there are several registers that collect personal data about all of us for different purposes. The most well-known is the Central Population Registry - or simply CPR.
In the CPR, we are all identified by our own CPR number, or civil registration number, which contains several basic information about us. This civil registration number is a requirement for a wide range of administrative matters and for our contact with various public authorities. It has become such a fundamental infrastructure of our welfare state that we don't give it much thought.
However, this infrastructure is quite unique. The use of civil registration numbers and a system like CPR does not exist in many places outside Scandinavia and the Nordic countries. Therefore, this project will bring this infrastructure to light and investigate what consequences the use of civil registration numbers has for the relationship between citizen and state.
Based on archival material from various committees, councils and supervisory bodies in the civil service, the project maps the decisions behind the introduction of the CPR in 1968.
At the same time, we also examine how these decisions have been received in the public debate and how it has influenced the political debate. Based on this, we will update previous debates and issues about the CPR with more current issues.
By shedding light on CPR as infrastructure, the project will show how CPR can be seen as an expression of cohesion in our welfare society, but that it also challenges the same cohesion in other ways.
