Digital Sovereignty
February 26, 2025
Digital sovereignty is a real problem that matters to real people and real businesses in the real world, it can be explained in concrete terms, and we can devise pragmatic strategies to improve it. To do this, I will go through the following steps:
First, I will briefly define sovereignty to make sure that we are on the same page, and explain how digital sovereignty is built from digital infrastructure.
Second, I will explain why it comes into conflict with democratic sovereignty, and how both the politics of tech companies (that have been authoritarian for a long time) and the current geopolitics make the situation particularly challenging.
Finally, I will offer a series of high-level strategies that can be deployed to improve digital sovereignty.
Source: Digital Sovereignty
Robin Berjon argues that digital sovereignty is important because control over digital infrastructure translates to power—both politically and economically.
Berjon sees digital sovereignty as a means of reinforcing democratic values, protecting autonomy, and ensuring that digital infrastructure serves the public good rather than the interests of a few dominant corporations or geopolitical powers.
In this piece he highlights the conflict between corporate control by tech giants and democratic sovereignty, noting the authoritarian tendencies of these corporations and the geopolitical challenges they present.
To enhance digital sovereignty, he proposes actionable strategies.
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