The ORA-funded project « (Re-)claiming digital sovereignty in discourse, policy and practice (ClaimSov) » is a collaboration between the WZB Politics of Digitalisation Group, the CNRS Centre Internet et Société (CIS) in Paris, France, and the Université de Montréal, Canada.
The project considers that Digital Sovereignty (DS) claims, policies and practices are key expressions of shifting power relations in a world marked by digital interconnectedness and (geo)political tensions. Its overarching scientific objective is to better understand these shifting relations by developing a nuanced and empirically grounded understanding of contemporary discourses and governance mechanisms (policies, regulations, practices, infrastructures) related to DS in various political contexts, and by proposing a categorisation and conceptualisation of such discourses and mechanisms.
The pluridisciplinary project builds on science and technology studies, communication studies, and digital governance studies. We seek to provide systematic theoretical and empirical research on DS-related discourses and governance mechanisms in national and supranational contexts pertaining to three key geopolitical blocks:
1) the European Union, both at the EU level and within France and Germany,
2) North America (with a focus on the United States and Canada), and
3) Russia and China as the two most prominent countries that put in place strong dynamics of centralization and control via digital technologies, and that present DS as a cornerstone of their foreign policy.
Objectives of the project
(1) The first step is to provide a comprehensive mapping of the various discourses, policies, regulatory practices, and technological and/or infrastructural arrangements related to DS, to gain a broad overview of how the concept is today understood and enacted in each context.
(2) Building on the mapping, we will conduct a discursive analysis in each context to assess the range of meanings and political objectives that are being attributed to the DS concept and to identify the main actors who seek to strategically employ it.
(3) Another analytical objective is to assess how DS is translated into governance mechanisms in different contexts, along three dimensions:
(a) Infrastructural dimension: We explore practices related to the governance of/by infrastructure, e.g. modifications and co-optations of digital infrastructures for political objectives related to self-determination;
(b) Politico-economic dimension: We analyse governance mechanisms that may take the form of trade, economic, and industrial policies as well as other legal and political instruments targeting the digital economy.
(c) Collective action dimension: We assess practices and policies that seek to change power relations by strengthening the self-determination of civil society, specific communities, and marginalised groups.
(4) Based on the empirical research, we will develop a categorisation and conceptualisation of governance mechanisms. The categorisation will allow us to identify where discourses and governance mechanisms overlap, but – more importantly – where and in which way they differ.
Overall, the project will pave the way for an unprecedented nexus of disciplines to understand a complex and timely phenomenon. It will be crucial for providing a baseline of empirical data to assess, contextualise, and categorise how DS is enforced and practised in different contexts and countries around the world.