Digital Sovereignty Index [v. 1.0]: An expert-coded country ranking of Digital Sovereignty
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article proposes a theory-driven Digital Sovereignty Index (DSI) designed to measure how states accumulate and exercise technological power across hardware, software, cognition, and governance dimensions. The research asks how states position themselves within the emerging global technological order and to what extent they can govern, produce, regulate, and strategically coordinate digital infrastructures and systems. Using a comparative, expert-coded methodology grounded in levels of technological dominance and domains of autonomy, the study evaluates countries through a multilevel scoring framework combining infrastructural, cognitive, and governance capacities. Preliminary findings reveal a persistent divide between the Global North and Global South, the growing importance of governance and cognitive sovereignty, the strategic role of critical resources, and the emergence of China and Russia as alternative technological poles challenging the historical concentration of technological dominance within the Atlantic world. Keywords: Digital Sovereignty, Multipolarity, Technological Governance, Data Colonialism, BRICS+.
Authors: Rocha-Dashicheva, Isabela Wagnerovna, Dashichev, Aleksandr Denisovich, Ludovico, Laura Beatriz, Piazza, Felipe Camargo, Silva, Ergon Cugler de Moraes, Vaz, José Carlos, Lucena, João Pedro Falcão de Oliveira, Carneiro, Giovana, Teixeira, Letícia, Rocha, Israel, Magalhães, Natália, Camello, João, Simoni, Caio Ivo, Rael, Robson Cunha, Silva, Iasmim Verônica Cardoso Alves de Souza e, Téllez-Zepeda, Claudio Andrés
Institutions: Universidade de Brasília, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Universidade de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, University Center of Brasília, Universidade Católica de Santos, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7161603162
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