In Search of Digital Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy: Normative Power Europe to the Test of Its Geopolitical Ambitions

TY - JOUR

T1 - In Search of Digital Sovereignty and Strategic Autonomy

T2 - Normative Power Europe to the Test of Its Geopolitical Ambitions

AU - Broeders, Dennis

AU - Cristiano, Fabio

AU - Kaminska, Monica

N1 - Funding Information: This study was conducted as part of the work of The Hague Program on International Cyber Security, which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Earlier versions were presented at the 2021 conference Governing Through Crisis: Conflict, Crises and the Politics of Cyberspace in The Hague and the 2022 conference European Governance of Emerging Technologies: Concepts, Challenges and Practices in Paris. The authors wish to thank Jonathan Arendsen for his research assistance and Els de Busser, François Delerue and Raluca Csernatoni and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies published by University Association for Contemporary European Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - This article analyses the recent use of European Union (EU) terminology of digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy, aiming to identify tensions between policy considerations of fundamental rights, free market principles and geopolitical concerns. These tensions are rooted in the disparity between the EU's considerable economic and regulatory power in digital matters and its limited mandate and capabilities in foreign policy. The article also explores the translation of the notions of digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy into EU policy. It identifies three important trends in the geopoliticisation of the EU agenda on digital technologies: (1) the instrumental use of ‘classic’ internal market policies to exert geopolitical influence; (2) the imposition of foreign policy imperatives on national markets; and (3) new ‘hybrid’ digital policies that combine internal market concerns, fundamental rights and geopolitical concerns. Ultimately, digital sovereignty has inherent tensions with the EU's normative power in digital issues and may also result in a strategic cacophony.

AB - This article analyses the recent use of European Union (EU) terminology of digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy, aiming to identify tensions between policy considerations of fundamental rights, free market principles and geopolitical concerns. These tensions are rooted in the disparity between the EU's considerable economic and regulatory power in digital matters and its limited mandate and capabilities in foreign policy. The article also explores the translation of the notions of digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy into EU policy. It identifies three important trends in the geopoliticisation of the EU agenda on digital technologies: (1) the instrumental use of ‘classic’ internal market policies to exert geopolitical influence; (2) the imposition of foreign policy imperatives on national markets; and (3) new ‘hybrid’ digital policies that combine internal market concerns, fundamental rights and geopolitical concerns. Ultimately, digital sovereignty has inherent tensions with the EU's normative power in digital issues and may also result in a strategic cacophony.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149317633&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jcms.13462

DO - 10.1111/jcms.13462

M3 - Article

SN - 0021-9886

VL - 61

SP - 1261

EP - 1280

JO - JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES

JF - JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES

IS - 5

ER -