Digital technologies, ranging from software applications and material infrastructures to their necessary production chains, are increasingly understood as critical elements of state and supra-state sovereignty. This roundtable will focus on two contemporary developments where sovereignty and digital infrastructure converge: The EU's desire for "digital sovereignty" that guides the development of next-gen communication networks, and the roll-out of crypto-assets as a tool for (monetary) state sovereignty in El Salvador and Georgia. Thinking these different dimensions of digital transformation together, the panel will investigate how sovereignty, and the ideas of territory, population and history that it entails, are re-configured when it is mediated by digital technologies.

Panelists:

Dr. Tobias Boos, University of Vienna
Dr. Juan Grigera, King’s College London
Dr. Ia Eradze, Ilia State University
Prof. Dr. Manuela Bojadzijev, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin