Call for papers on Digital Constitutionalism from the Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair

Who are we? 

The Digital, Governance and Sovereignty Chair is an interdepartmental centre within Sciences Po’s School of Public Affairs, which brings together researchers from  across the university. Our objective is to gather insights and perspectives on  technology and digital policy from academic research, politics and civil society.  

We take a resolutely multidisciplinary and holistic approach to understanding the social transformations brought about by digital innovation. The Chair’s research  priorities include digital sovereignty – the shifting relationships between state and  private institutions and the challenges to state power presented by technological  change – as well as platform regulation and democracy in the digital age.  

Topic of submissions 

All researchers holding a PhD and belonging to the Sciences Po community who wish  to present their research on the theme of digital constitutionalism are invited to  submit an abstract for a paper to the Chair.  

Digital constitutionalism has been expounded by authors such as Eduardo Celeste  (‘Digital Constitutionalism’, 2019), Nicolas Suzor (Lawless, 2019), and Oreste Pollicino  (Judicial Protection of Fundamental Rights on the Internet, 2021).  

While “constitutionalism” refers to the need to control, limit, and restrain the powers of  the state, constitutions do more than delineate the boundaries of a state's power over  its citizens: they create institutions for coordination and collective action. In the digital  world, the term "digital constitutionalism" refers to a field of research that brings  together initiatives to articulate a set of political rights, governance norms and limits to  the exercise of power on the Internet. Broadly speaking, digital constitutionalism  involves two aspects: 

• First, the identification of constitutional values which may be enhanced by, or  under threat from, digitalisation. Established values such as privacy may be  threatened by new business models and technological capabilities, while old  practices of censorship and discrimination may assume new forms in the digital  age. At the same time, rights based on exchange of information (such as  freedom of expression and assembly) can be enhanced by the affordances of  digital technologies – yet access to these benefits is unlikely to be shared  equally without the extension of further legal rights or policy programmes. These  new constellations therefore raise a further question: should we proclaim new  rights specific to the digital world?  
• Second, the necessity of creating or reforming institutions in order to preserve  and strengthen constitutional rights. This could range from new legal rules and  social norms to entirely new governance mechanisms and public institutions. 

Papers could explore themes such as the changing development and interpretation of constitutional values; the contributions constitutionalism can make to addressing challenges raised by digitalisation; practical approaches to incorporating constitutionalism into technology governance; and/or the (in)adequacy of (liberal) constitutionalism as a means of resolving social and political conflicts in the digital age. 

The Chair will, for example, be particularly sensitive to analyses concerning the development of new Internet charters, such as the 2014 Brazilian “Marco Civil da Internet”, which proclaims a set of rights for the benefit of users. Reflections on platform governance will also be very welcome: these could, for example, address the creation of systems of checks and balances through new bodies (like the Facebook's Oversight  Board), or the use of procedures like referendums to give users more say.  

The selected author will be funded 6,000 Euros. The Research Paper will be presented at a special event to be organised by the Chair from spring 2022 onward. This research may be submitted to major international reference journals. 

Format of submissions 

Abstracts should be submitted in English to rachel.griffin@sciencespo.fr and should be no more than 400 words.  

The final research paper is envisaged to be about 70 pages with text double-spaced, but length is flexible. Footnotes should conform with The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th Ed.). 

Assessment and deadline

Submissions will be assessed on the basis of their quality and relevance by the Chair’s scientific committee.  

The deadline for abstract submissions is the 30th November. Selected authors will  be notified by the end of December. Final papers should be submitted by June 2022.  

For any questions, please contact rachel.griffin@sciencespo.fr. 

Learn more

• The Chair Digital, Governance and Sovereignty