In person icon The EU as a global actor in the age of digitalisation

Abstract

The unfolding digital revolution constitutes a formidable challenge to states and global society, posing the capacity to transform our economy, politics, and security in myriad ways. European states acknowledged the challenge of tackling this phenomenon alone, drawing upon the EU to address the threats, opportunities, and complexities brought about by this development. Under the banner of “European digital sovereignty”, the EU has committed itself to become a forward looking, prominent cyber actor in global affairs. What does this look like in practice? The proposed papers consider how the EU grapples with digitalisation in diverse policy arenas, issue areas, and institutional settings, in view of how these developments have shaped the EU’s relationships with other actors—and its own global role. Cosmina Moghior’s paper explores the institutional changes triggered by the fear of foreign technological penetration in the internal market. As a result of these exogenous factors, the Commission established itself as the principal policy aggregator on telecom/digital policy. Julia Carver’s paper examines how EU external relations policies on cybersecurity and cyber defence produced during the contemporary era of ‘European digital sovereignty’ have departed in degree and substance from earlier policies, and implications for the EU’s identity as a global actor. Elke Schraik’s research focus is on how the EU as a global actor deals with states and regions that are digitally more or less advanced than the EU. The paper at hand focuses on the latter and analyses the EU’s (planned) relevant policies towards Africa. In sum, we propose to highlight the significant influence of digitalisation on the evolving trajectory of the EU’s global role in international affairs. The overarching theme is thus how the EU behaves and operates as a global actor within the digital sphere at different times, within different fields, and vis-à-vis other global actors.

Title	Details
Fear of Technological Dominance: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of the European Digital Policy Change	View Paper Details
Mainstreaming a maverick? European digital sovereignty discourse and the EU’s evolving external relations policy towards cyberspace	View Paper Details
Risk vs. Threat-based cybersecurity: the case of the EU	View Paper Details
The EU as a global actor in the digital sphere: the case of EU – Africa relations	View Paper Details