Benchmarking and Provenance: The Politics of Data Trust in EU Internal Security

Abstract This article investigates the politics of data trust in European Union (EU) internal security, where large-scale databases are increasingly central to intelligence production, administrative coordination, and intervention capabilities. Amid growing concerns about data quality, the paper examines the political strategies through which trust in data is being constructed and operationalized. Drawing on a relational understanding of trust, and based on a qualitative analysis of EU policy documents, technical standards, and implementation reports, the paper demonstrates that trust in data is neither given nor merely institutional, but rather a politically contested and technically enacted condition. By theorizing data trust as a contingent socio-material phenomenon, the article contributes to debates in International Political Sociology and adjacent fields by showing how data governance practices reflect broader tensions between abstraction and contextualization, as well as quantification and traceability.