The Digital Sovereignty Program examines one of the central concepts shaping the emerging global technological order: the ability of states and societies to maintain control, governance, and strategic decision-making over their digital infrastructures, data, technologies, and digital ecosystems.
Over recent decades, the expansion of digital platforms, cloud services, communication networks, data-driven economies, and cross-border technological infrastructures has intensified global technological interdependence. Under these conditions, control over data, computing capabilities, digital infrastructure, and critical technologies has become a key dimension of national sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
This program explores the various dimensions of digital sovereignty, including data governance policies, digital infrastructure development, cybersecurity, the role of major technology companies, and the competition among states to shape the rules governing the global digital environment.
A central focus of this program is examining the distinction between digital sovereignty, technological autonomy, and complete technological separation from global ecosystems. From CTST’s perspective, digital sovereignty does not imply isolation from global technology networks; rather, it represents the ability of actors to preserve strategic decision-making capacity, security, and national interests within an increasingly interconnected technological environment.
The program also analyzes different models of digital governance emerging around the world, from market-driven innovation approaches in the United States to more regulatory-centered frameworks in the European Union and China, and how these models influence the future of the internet, the digital economy, and geopolitical competition.
From CTST’s perspective, digital sovereignty represents one of the defining arenas of twenty-first-century competition, as control over data, infrastructure, and digital architectures has become a fundamental source of national power.