Future-proofing the people? A comparative analysis of data sovereignty as a discursive practice in Western European right-wing populism’s digital policies

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of data sovereignty as a discursive practice in light of the populist idea of popular sovereignty and analyzes the digital policies of Western European right-wing populist parties (WEPs). It argues that WEPs use popular sovereignty and data sovereignty in a similar way: as discursive tools to legitimize drawing power back to the national level (with divergent and often contradictory interpretations), rather than workable foundations for policy plans. The paper also discusses how international cooperation, which populists often reject, is a useful tool to achieve data sovereignty. With this contradiction in mind, the paper develops an agent-based typology of data sovereignty as a discursive practice. It then analyzes the most recent official electoral programs of several WEPs: AfD in Germany, PVV and FvD in the Netherlands, UKIP in the UK, Vlaams Belang in Belgium, and Rassemblement National in France. It uses a comparative policy analysis to compare the cases along several data points such as the proposed roles of governments, private companies, and cyber diplomacy. Most of the WEPs under discussion see data sovereignty as synonymous with individual privacy, do not acknowledge the role of international cooperation, and use digital policy as a means of reinforcing their image as challenger parties.