What Does the Concept of 'Sovereignty' Mean in Digital, Network and Technological Sovereignty?

Abstract

In this paper, we are interested in the notion of sovereignty as it is applied to “the digital.” Indeed, the notion of “sovereignty” has increasingly been used in recent years to describe various forms of independence, control and autonomy over digital infrastructures, technologies and contents. Although the notion of “sovereignty” seems to gain significance in digital discourses and associated scholarly literature, our preliminary analysis shows that while this notion is generally used to assert some form of collective control of digital content and/or infrastructures, the interpretation, subject, means and definition of sovereignty can significantly differ.

See here for the published version:
Couture, S., & Toupin, S. (2019). What does the notion of “sovereignty” mean when referring to the digital? New Media & Society, 21(10), 2305‑2322. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819865984

Keywords: GigaNet