Digital Sovereignty in a Fragmented World: Power, Control, and the Future of Global Order

In this public lecture, Przemyslaw Roguski, assistant professor at the Jagiellonian University Chair for Public International Law, will explain how the digital revolution has reshaped how nations govern, compete, and interact with each other. It has also changed States’ abilities to exercise power – both regulatory and direct – without regard to distance and borders. For instance, the US passed legislation allowing it to compel cloud storage companies to hand over data stored anywhere in the world – irrespective of the citizenship of the data holder. China requires its companies to cooperate with the PLA and intelligence services in the use of any technical equipment, both at home and abroad. And Japan passed legislation allowing its police to remotely “disinfect” or even shut down servers located abroad, without the consent of the owner or the territorial State. What does this mean for us users, businesses, Swiss and Europeans?

This lecture explores the urgent global debate over digital sovereignty: the struggle by states to control data, technologies, and infrastructures within their borders. Drawing from a comparative analysis of Europe, the United States, China, and Russia, we examine how divergent visions of sovereignty are rewriting the rules of international law and geopolitics. From the TikTok ban to cross-border cyber operations, this talk will unpack the clash between democratic values, state control, and corporate power. We will confront critical questions: How do China’s “cyber sovereignty” policies and Russia’s “sovereign internet” model challenge Western ideals of an open internet? Can nations balance security and innovation without sacrificing civil liberties? Is a “Sovereignty 2.0” framework possible in an era of escalating U.S.-China rivalry? And how should small nations navigate their interests in this new digital economy.

Dr. Roguski is an assistant professor at the Jagiellonian University Chair for Public International Law and Principal Investigator at the “Sovereignty 2.0 – ‘digital sovereignty’ in light of public international law” project, which is financed with a grant from the Polish National Science Council (NCN). His research focuses on the law of peacetime cyber operations and different aspects of international law relating to cybersecurity, ICT and internet governance. Dr. Roguski holds law degrees from the University of Mainz (Germany), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) and a PhD in international law from Jagiellonian University. He is a Senior Advisor at ICT4Peace Foundation.