14 February 2024. Prof Dr Paul Timmers, Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute and M100SC 2022 participant, has written an essay on “Sovereignty in the Digital Age“. The text is published in the book “Introduction to Digital Humanism”, which can be downloaded for free here.
The book discusses the concept of digital humanism in contexts such as AI, platform power, surveillance, democracy and technology ethics. In his chapter, Paul Timmers looks at the future of sovereignty in a digital and geopolitically contested age, where the concept of state sovereignty takes on a new and much debated meaning due to digital disruption and borderless technologies, the dominance of powerful – often foreign – global technology companies, and cyber infiltration by malicious states. Timmers reflects on the impact of digital technology on the international state system and offers an analysis and some practical guidance on how to meet the challenges of developing public policies of sovereignty in the digital and digital-humanist age. Finally, two case studies and a series of questions invite readers to explore the topic further.
