Digital Sovereignty

The expression “digital sovereignty” seems to refer to the capacity of States to ensure that their rules are respected by the various actors in the online world. In this respect, this notion expresses the difficulties that States sometimes face in exercising their traditional functions in the face of powerful transnational actors with an indisputable technological lead. These difficulties are all the more important as States are sometimes dependent on these actors, because they need technological services (such as cloud computing) to perform their public functions. Thus, the expression “digital sovereignty” unquestionably has a legal aspect, since it refers to the prerogatives of the State and its ability to regulate contemporary technological giants. But it also has an economic and industrial aspect, in that it reflects the need to catch up with a technological gap that places Europe and France in a situation of dependence.

This thematic dossier is therefore dedicated to the different aspects of digital sovereignty, which concern both the exercise of state prerogatives in cyberspace and the question of technological independence, also known as “strategic autonomy”. This dossier also deals with the issue of “data sovereignty”, which refers to the need to maintain control over data as a form of strategic asset.

Additional contributions are available on the French version of this page.

8 March 2023

[INTERVIEW] The specificities of the Russian digital sovereignty agenda: 3 questions to Marie-Gabrielle Bertran

By Tamian Derivry In this interview, Marie-Gabrielle Bertran, PhD candidate at the French Institute of Geopolitics, discusses the geopolitical, economic […]
28 February 2023

[INTERVIEW] The legal and social challenges of Extended Reality worlds: 3 questions to Brittan Heller

By Tamian Derivry Extended reality (XR), which encompasses a variety of immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual […]
16 February 2023

[INTERVIEW] “Digital Sovereignty : A US perspective” with Anupam Chander

This series of interviews was recorded as part of the the Annual Conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair which took […]
16 February 2023

[INTERVIEW] “Digital Sovereignty :  International tensions” with Arancha González

This series of interviews was recorded as part of the the Annual Conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair which took […]
16 February 2023

[INTERVIEW] “Chinese strategy of Cyber/Network Sovereignty” with Johannes Thumfart

This series of interviews was recorded as part of the the Annual Conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair which took […]
16 February 2023

[INTERVIEW] “Digital Sovereignty and Digital Authoritarianism” with Nate Persily

This series of interviews was recorded as part of the the Annual Conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair which took […]
9 December 2022

[REPLAY] A look back at the Annual Conference 2022 : Digital Sovereignty and Geopolitical Crisis

This year, the annual conference of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair adopted a geopolitical perspective on digital sovereignty. It […]
5 December 2022

[REPLAY] CYBERSPACE GOVERNANCE AND MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DIPLOMACY

On the 2nd December 2022, Florence G’sell, Holder of Chair Digital, Governance and Sovereignty, took part in the event “Why Cyberspace […]
17 November 2022

[INVITATION] Annual Conference 2022 : Digital Sovereignty and Geopolitical Crisis

While the notion of “digital sovereignty” is mostly used in Europe as a synonym for the concept of “strategic autonomy”, […]
20 October 2022

[INTERVIEW] RUSSIAN DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY: 5 QUESTIONS TO KEVIN LIMONIER

by Tamian Derivry What is the so-called “Sovereign Internet law”? It is a law passed in 2019 by the Duma […]
24 May 2022

[RESEARCH PAPER- 2nd edition] Power of Digital Platforms, Territories and Sovereignty, by Dominique Boullier

This updated version of the Research Paper contains major revisions incorporating several recent changes including references to Meta, Elon Musk’s […]
9 May 2022

[REPLAY] Is Europe fit for the Digital Age?

On 7th April 2022, Florence G’sell, Directior of the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair took part in the event “Is Europe […]