Category: Cyber Policy and Digital Affairs

Since the 1990s, the growth of data flows and the broader digital transformation were often described as important drivers and accelerators of a global integration and the formation of a post-territorial world. However, this vision of an open and networked world quickly came up against geopolitical realities. Authoritarian states – in particular Russia and China – were the first to assert in the 2000s their desire to exercise their regal power in the digital domain. Over the past decade or so, this idea has spread throughout the world, taking very different forms from one country or region to another. The concept of “digital sovereignty” has emerged as the catalyst for this new strategic posture of States, but it gives rise to many and sometimes antagonistic discourses. Far from being a neutral and universal concept, “digital sovereignty” appears rather as a protean representation used by national and international actors to legitimize policies and practices, and to spread their values in the digital space.

            For more than two years, the GEODE center (Geopolitics of the Datasphere) at the University of Paris 8 and the “Discourses and Practices of Digital Sovereignty” project at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg have brought together some forty researchers in the humanities, social sciences and computer science to establish a panorama of the different approaches to “digital sovereignty” around the world. The results of these discussions will be published in an international book to be released in 2022.

We invite you to come and discover this collective work, during a round table with some of the authors on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 – 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm.

The event will take place in a hybrid way :

• On site at the Condorcet Campus (Centre des Colloques, Salle 100, 2 rue des Fillettes 93300 Aubervilliers). Covid certificate mandatory
• In videoconference (link sent upon registration)

On Wednesday, August 18, several GEODE researchers presented the results of their research during the 34th edition of the International Geographical Congress.

From 12:30 to 1:30 pm, Amaël Cattaruzza chaired the first part of the panel “Geopolitics of the Datasphere” which focused on the politics of data:

• Clotilde Bomont and Amael Cattaruzza – “From a technical Component to a geopolitical object : cloud computing, a security issue for France”.
• Charlotte Escorne – “Strategic issues of 5G deployment in French-speaking Africa”.
• Ilan Scialom – “Bringing the concept of coopetition into the field of political geography: the example of Israel and Saudi Arabia in digital security”.
• Margot François – “Analyzing the Cuban connection: several ‘digital spaces’ for a geopolitical approach”.

From 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. (GMT), Alix Desforges chaired the second part of the panel on the theme “Mapping the Routes of the Internet: Data, Topologies, Power” which included the following presentations:

• Louis Pétiniaud, Loqman Salamatian and Colin Gérard – “On a collaborative effort to map the internet”
• Loqman Salamatian, Louis Pétiniaud and Kavé Salamatian – “The journey, not the destination matters: Untangling data and sovereignty in the Far West”
• Hugo Estecahandy – “The geopolitical stakes for cryptocurrencies in Russia through the analysis of their mining industries in Eastern Siberia”

Take a look at the special issue of the Journal of Cyber Policy which contains a selection of papers published in French by Herodote in June 2020 :

• “Mapping the spread of Russian and Chinese contents on the French-speaking African web” co-authored by Frédérick Douzet, Kevin Limonier, Selma Mihoubi and Elodie René.
• “Free and open source software in the new digital public policies in Russia” by Marie-Gabrielle Bertran.
• “The strategic surprise of Russian information operations on social media in 2016 in the United States: mapping a blind spot”
  by Camille Francois & Herb Lin.
• “Cryptocurrencies and processing power in Russia: a new strategic territory in eastern Siberia?” by Hugo Estecahandy & Kevin Limonier.
• “Cyberspace is used, first and foremost, to wage wars: proliferation, security and stability in cyberspace.” by Frédérick Douzet & Aude Gery.

On June 24, 2021, Charlotte Escorne and Hugo Estecahandy presented their research at the Commission on Geography of Governance’s Annual Conference.

Hugo Estecahandy spoke in the morning on the topic: “Centralization of power and decentralization technology. Critical analysis of the implementation of blockchain technology in electronic voting solutions in the city of Moscow”.

Charlotte Escorne spoke in the afternoon to present her research on “The deployment of 5G in Africa: a technological lever to improve local development?”.