Digital sovereignty: European visions for self-determination in a digital age
Project description
‘Digital sovereignty’ is a call for action that we – as individuals or collectives – should ‘take (back) control of our data’. Telling a story of being hemmed in by US tech-capitalism and Chinese and Russian tech-authoritarianism, European actors now seek a ‘third way’ into the digital future. Yet ‘digital sovereignty’ remains elusive and contradictory. There is neither a shared sense of what ‘digital sovereignty’ means, nor why and how it might be achieved. Can free flowing data ever be controlled? Is ‘digital sovereignty’ a protectionist agenda, an attempt to bolster democracy, or a proxy for continued surveillance capitalism?[i] SOVEREIGN will combine discourse analysis with multi-sited political ethnography to uncover the production, negotiation, and appropriation of the emerging ‘digital sovereignty’ doctrine. The core group will interview and observing key players in the EU and big tech on scene in Brussels and other EU national capitals, analyzing how the ‘digital sovereignty’ debate and regulation reconstitute significant facets of global and EU politics. At stake, ultimately, is the relationship between political authority, corporate interests, and citizen rights and the roll-out of the doctrine cut to the very future of democratic governance and international order.
"We want to shed light on the field that is fighting for the EU’s tech regulation" - Rebecca Adler-Nissen
Professor Rebecca Adler-Nissen and a research team at the University of Copenhagen aim to reach a more profound knowledge of the relationship between European integration and big tech.
Why is your digital sovereignty project so important?
In recent years, politicians have been making major decisions about digital technology in Europe, which is crucial for economic development, democracy, rights and national security. ‘Digital sovereignty’ has in the space of just a few years become a mantra because civil society and national governments feel that they have lost sovereign control. In the EU, it is often about regaining control from the tech giants, and about Europe’s own tech companies being able to grow bigger without being acquired by American hedge funds and companies. At the same time, there is a struggle between public authorities and citizens. There is a strong vision in EU circles that citizens should be able to decide for themselves about their data.
What is the grant spent on?
The project is based on fieldwork, historical and contemporary documents and interviews, and we have had the opportunity to hire a PhD student Matilde Bro Hansen and an assistant professor, Kristin Anabel Eggeling. At the same time, we can travel to Brussels and Silicon Valley for example, where we spend time at Google, Microsoft and other tech giants, and we interview national representatives, EU officials, ambassadors and MEPs to shed light on the political aspects.
What do you love most about your field of research?
I get the scientific freedom to work in-depth with difficult topics that take time. It’s also motivating to be able to gather a group that actually succeeds in gaining access to people and institutions which many perceive as being quite closed. It’s important that we can systematically map a key policy area that is developing rapidly.
