EU’s leadership in Digital Governance: Perspectives from Japan, Korea, and India

In the current context of great power competition between the US and China, technology has become an area of confrontation. Over the past decade, the European Union (EU) has claimed a leadership role in the field by creating its distinct, human-focused, rights-based regulatory model for digital governance, and demonstrating its unwillingness to fall in line with either the US or China’s proposed models. But leadership is also understood as a process of interaction between leader and followers. This paper examines the Asian perspective of the EU’s role as a regulatory power, through analysis of perceptions and narratives in Japan, Korea, and India. This paper investigates the extent to which the three case studies perceive the EU as an influential regulatory leader. In doing so, it sheds light on the extent to which the EU has managed to cement its position as a leader in digital governance amidst the existing great power dynamics.