In the past years, the idea of “digital sovereignty” as well as multiple data localization regulations call the vision of a global, open Internet into question. The current global Internet could split into many regional systems, affecting communication dynamics and innovation dynamics in all data-based industries. The problem of this growing fragmentation of the Internet is also playing an increasingly important role in debates about global platform regulation and Internet regulation. At the same time, the boundaries between geopolitics, technical standard-setting, national regulation policy become increasingly blurred, as digital sovereignty and technological autonomy are the subject of a global power struggle over the future of digital infrastructures.
The dynamics and consequences of these techno-political disputes, which in the global information age affect all political levels – from individuals to entire societies to international politics – will be discussed at the international online conference "Digital Fragmentations and Digital Sovereignty" on September 17 and 18. The Transdisciplinary Research Area “Individuals, Institutions and Societies” (TRA 4) and the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at the University of Bonn have invited experts from Europe, the U.S. and China. Among them are prominent guests such as the Internet expert Dr. Milton Mueller (Georgia Tech), with whom we will discuss the interplay between efforts to increase digital sovereignty, the threat of Internet fragmentation, data and cyber security, and current trends in Internet governance. The results of the conference will be published in an edited volume.
The online conference and the edited volume are funded by TRA 4 as part of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state government. Members of TRA 4 investigate how institutions (markets, law, culture) mediate complex relationships between individuals and society and develop a new view on micro-phenomena (personality development, agency, individualization) as well as macro-phenomena (world society, globalization).
Transdisciplinary Research Area “Individuals, Institutions and Societies” (TRA 4)
Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS)