The promise of an automated migration policy: On planning an information system in the Swiss federal administration in the 1960s

Abstract

This article examines the planning of the Central Aliens Register in Switzerland from 1964 to 1971. This first national information system was designed to support the migration policy of the federal administration in such a way that foreign workers were distributed fairly among the cantons according to economic and demographic needs. Although it only fulfilled its original purpose to a limited extent, within a few years it became an important tool of the Federal Aliens Police and remained in operation until 2008. From the outset, this new sociotechnical infrastructure led to a conflict between the federal status quo and an automated, centrally controlled migration regime. The article analyses how the federal migration regime in Switzerland responded to the tension between automation and federalism.