Digital Infrastructure, the State and Digital Sovereignty
Digital Public Infrastructure – or Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) – is a popular new term in global policy and governance. It is promoted by organisations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, large philanthropic foundations, and governments in both the Global North and the Global South. DPI is closely linked to digital sovereignty (having control over your own digital systems) and to governance (how we make decisions together).
DPIs include Cloud Storage, Networks, Data Protocols and Standards, as well as Software and Tools. Building on the India Stack model, DPIs or DPI-like infrastructures are now being implemented in over 100 countries and even within the European Union (Eurostack).
DPIs offer new ways of thinking about infrastructure, governance and the role of the state. We invite you to a panel discussion to explore the possibilities and implications of these new ways of thinking about digital sovereignty and governance.
Speakers
Niels ten Oever Assistant Professor of European Studies and co-chair of the Critical Infrastructure Lab at the University of Amsterdam. Niels studies how invisible infrastructures shape the socio-technical ordering of information societies and how this affects the distribution of wealth, power, and opportunities.
Carolina Maurity Frossard Assistant Professor of Political & Economic Geography and co-director of the Centre for Urban Studies at the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR) at the University of Amsterdam. Carolina investigates how digital devices and infrastructures shape socio-spatial politics and inequalities at different scales.
Nafis A. Hasan Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. He studies the impacts of digital technology on humans and organizations in the realm of public governance in South Asia.
Bidisha Chaudhuri Assistant Professor of Government, Information Culture and Digital Citizenship in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Bidisha conducts research on the political economy of digital infrastructures and governance in the Global South.
