ClaimSov - (Re-)claiming digital sovereignty in discourse, policy and practice

The ORA-funded project is a collaboration between the WZB Politics of Digitalisation Group (coordinator), 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 run by authoritarian regimes that present DS as a cornerstone of their foreign policy.