[Commlist] CfP: Workshop "A Non-Aligned Tech Movement? Emerging powers, geopolitical tensions and alternatives to the liberal mode of governance of the Internet, data and the data-based economy"

*Call for Papers:*

*Workshop: "A Non-Aligned Tech Movement? Emerging powers, geopolitical 
tensions and alternatives to the liberal mode of governance of the 
Internet, data and the data-based economy".*

**

*5-6^th December 2024, Freie Universität Berlin***

**

*/Organised by Prof. Katharina Bluhm and Dr. Ewa Dąbrowska, Freie 
Universität Berlin SCRIPTS/ Institute for East European Studies/*

**

*The Internet, data, and the data-based economy have until recently been 
governed by a liberal regulatory regime that includes regulation of the 
Internet as a global public good, free global data flows, free 
e-commerce, liberal regulation and taxation of global technology 
companies, and intellectual property rights. However, such a regime, 
combined with the technological dominance of the US and China, left many 
countries at a disadvantage. Accordingly, efforts to achieve "digital 
(or technological) sovereignty" and "strategic autonomy", i.e. 
developing local R&D and innovation capacities, gaining control over 
local data, making the Internet and social media more governable at the 
local level, can be observed in the EU, but also in emerging economies 
such as the BRICS, Turkey, other countries in the Middle East, Central, 
South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.*

**

*Many of these countries are trying to avoid being associated 
exclusively with the US or China and are looking for a "third way". Even 
if they have to accept the dominance of US or Chinese companies on their 
territory, they are working on solutions to reduce this presence in the 
medium term. They are passing data protection and localisation laws, 
regulating social media, taxing Big Tech, sometimes avoiding liberal 
trade agreements, supporting domestic technology companies, relying on 
open source software to develop their own products, and pursuing other 
industrial policies. For countries exposed to sanctions, such as Russia 
or Iran, the issue is even more pressing. *

**

*These efforts have been rhetorically captured as the "non-aligned tech 
movement" as a reference to the Non-Aligned Movement initiated in the 
1950s. They are taking place against a backdrop of emerging countries 
developing political and economic ambitions and supposedly building a 
multipolar world order. And the digital economy and the technologies 
that enable it are, alongside military power, the main source of 
geopolitical power in today's world.*

**

*The aim of the workshop is to explore the triggers of the technological 
sovereignty/non-aligned tech movement, the specific policies and 
alliances it encompasses, and an emerging regulatory regime. Questions 
we are interested in include, but are not limited to:*

**

*- What role do the practices of global big tech companies, framed as 
'digital colonialism', play in provoking digital and technological 
sovereignty efforts in emerging economies? Is there a similar backlash 
against the data practices of Chinese tech companies?*

*- Is part of the desire for digital sovereignty the desire to have a 
similar capacity for control and surveillance as in China?*

*- What is the role of EU data protection law, the Digital Services Act, 
the Digital Markets Act and AI regulation in promoting norms of 
technological sovereignty around the world?*

*- To what extent do digital and technological sovereignty policies 
challenge the existing liberal regulatory regime in the global 
governance of the internet, data and the digital economy? How should 
this emerging regulatory regime be assessed?*

**

*The workshop aims to contribute to building a network of scholars 
working on digital and technological sovereignty efforts, the 
non-aligned tech movement, and digital industrial policy in emerging 
economies, and to pursue a joint publication project.*

To apply, please submit a *250-300-word *research paper proposal related 
to the workshop

themes by *31^st May 2024*. Please submit abstracts to 
(nonalignedtech /at/ gmail.com)

with the email subject ‘Submission to Workshop’. Decisions will be made 
by *15th June*

2024, and it is expected that participants will circulate draft papers 
by *10th November 2024*. The workshop will be held at the Cluster 
SCRIPTS, Edwin-Redlob-Str. 29, 14195 Berlin,from *5-6^th December 2024*. 
For further information, please write to (nonalignedtech /at/ gmail.com).

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