Technological, digital, and informational sovereignty: A legal reflection

Abstract

As state sovereignty is redefined by digitization and geopolitics, the relationship between technological, digital, and information sovereignty must be more clearly defined. This article explores the legal dimension of digital sovereignty, its place within technological, digital, and information sovereignty in Russia, China, the United States, and the European Union. Using comparative law, national legislation, strategies, regulations, and doctrines are analyzed from the perspective of public law mechanisms for the institutionalization and protection of each type of sovereignty. This analysis leads to four models: the institutionalization of technological sovereignty and import substitution in Russia; state cyber sovereignty and technological self-sufficiency in China; the projection of technological and informational dominance through global platforms and export controls in the US; and rightsbased and regulatory digital sovereignty in the EU. These models show that digital sovereignty is an operational link between the base sphere and the governance sphere of the information environment, allowing us to advance into a new orbit of research on new forms of state power in the social sciences. The piece offers an integrated reading of the triad and a comparative typology of digital sovereignty strategies. It also indicates that information sovereignty cannot be realized without digital sovereignty, and that digital sovereignty is weak without adaptive technology and regulation