Digital Sovereignty of a Modern State: Content and Structural Components (Based on Expert Research)

Due to the high level of digital transformations, the study of the phenomenon of digital sovereignty of the state deserves great attention. Within the framework of this study, methods of expert interviews and focus group discussions were used to determine the degree of relevance and significance of ensuring digital sovereignty of Russia, as well as to identify its content and structural components, taking into account the vision of practitioners. In the course of 80 expert interviews, the vast majority of experts (83.3%) noted the extremely high relevance and significance of the problem of digital sovereignty. In their opinion, this is due to the ongoing (and to some extent forced by the conditions of the pandemic) digital transformation in many, including traditional, spheres of life of the state and society. The problem is also actualized by the extraterritoriality of digital technologies and the fact that the main lines of tension in geopolitical terms are largely associated with “technological conflicts”. Some experts expressed a generally skeptical attitude to the possibility of ensuring full-fledged digital sovereignty in the conditions of usage of global digital communications of an extraterritorial nature. The most “popular” sign of digital sovereignty, according to experts, is the right to manage digital resources operating in the national segments of the digital space independently. Digital sovereignty in the framework of this conceptual prism is presented as the ability of the state to independently determine the degree and methods of its participation or non-participation in relations associated with the use of digital technologies to realize its interests. In addition, a sign of digital sovereignty, according to some experts, is the presence of the state's own effective and highly competitive software products for solving a wide range of tasks. Another group of expert views on the phenomenon of digital sovereignty is related to its competence aspect - it focuses on the ability to use digital resources, as well as on the ability of the state to conduct an independent foreign and domestic policy in the digital space. The model of digital sovereignty includes regulatory, technological, competence, political, economic and managerial components, which, when combined into a single system, create the emergent property of digital sovereignty. The full implementation of each component is a critical condition for the formation of a sustainable digital sovereignty of a modern state. In turn, its provision is the most important strategic task, the effective solution of which is one of the key national priorities of modern Russia.

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