Data circulation and migration governance: A social-network-analysis method to track shifts in responsibilities

Does the circulation of data of third-country nationals crossing the digitized and securitised EU border affect the distribution of responsibilities among institutions and organizations involved in EU migration governance, and, if so, how? This article proposes an innovative methodology based on social network analysis and cluster analysis to study data circulation throughout EU information systems and its effects for governance and applies it to the case of data circulation foreseen by the regulations that define the operation of five EU database systems. We show that data circulation shifts pre-existing distributions of responsibilities in EU migration governance, in three ways. First, it requires new actors. Second, new functions are assigned to pre-existing actors, which modify existing functional differences. Third, some actors are granted access to data unrelated to their specific areas of responsibility. Security actors are provided access to several types of data unrelated to security, which reveals important ‘securitizing’ effects.