There is a jump from the observation that lack of the identity documents needed to access services creates significant social exclusion, towards advocacy for a policy that existing state identification systems need complete replacement. The experience so far with the new identification technologies supports the long-standing adage that structural problems cannot be solved by technological fixes (Johnston, 2018; Winner, 2020). The roll-out of these new systems on the basis of faith that they will in themselves increase inclusion and economic empowerment becomes the exemplar of the anti-politics machine (Ferguson, 1994). Thus, the introduction of new ‘foundational’ national identification systems for adults, without simultaneously addressing the legal and procedural framework for determination of legal status and nationality, risks making the problem of proof of legal identity worse rather than better. 18