Abstract

Digital sovereignty is often considered the umbrella term used to convey a traditional understanding of (state) sovereignty as the assertion of autonomy and authority, in this case, over data, technologies and infrastructures. In its digital version, sovereignty transcends nation-state boundaries; it also concerns supranational entities, such as the EU, and powerful nonstate entities, such as big tech corporations, as well as communities, social movements, and even individuals. As such, digital sovereignty diverges in the problems, underlying objectives and actors each claimant addresses, depending on the position of (non-)power the latter is in, or, in other words, depending on what they perceive as threatening in the digital age.

However, the claims for sovereignty by more powerful actors over and through emerging and future technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum will impact people differently. Unless proper consideration is given to the power structures and values underpinning these claims, history shows how some will benefit while others will be excluded.

Examining digital sovereignty through the lens of feminist legal theories allows us to inspect our relationship with technological innovation, highlight the exercise of power, and look for ways to contest inequalities and dominant binaries in digital sovereignty discourse. Whereas scholarly work commonly discusses the geopolitical implications of such digital sovereignty claims, feminist legal methods can additionally provide tools to act on this knowledge and develop alternative ideations of emerging tech governance that focus on power and those left in the margins.

The workshop will bring together experts from diverse fields and expertise to think from multiple vantages on the governance of emerging technologies as a means of power for state, state-like and non-state actors and the role of law and policy in reproducing power and inequalities in an increasingly digitised world. In doing so, participants will also have the opportunity to exchange on methodology.

The workshop will be held as a closed event. More information to follow.