A Starting Point for Re- thinking: “Sovereignty” for the Online Environment

Abstract

The traditional binary conception of sovereignty-in the sense of an act either violating sovereignty, or not-is incompatible, or at least a poor fit, with the realities of the interconnected, and largely border-disregarding, online environment. The time has come to challenge the reliance on binary distinctions such as this, and the related binary distinction between territorial on the one hand and extraterritorial on the other. Having analyzed these matters in detail, this chapter proceeds to advance a conception of sovereignty anchored in the notion of state dignity. In doing so, it also comments on the recent focus on terms such as “digital sovereignty” and “data sovereignty.”.