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VOL. 11, ISSUE 3 (2025)
Cyber politics: Exploring the state’s notion of cyber sovereignty
Authors
Garima Nanda
Abstract
The concept of sovereignty has evolved in the digital age, where, in
addition to its territorial meaning, it also implies cyberspace, and thus the
concept of cyber sovereignty has emerged. This article describes ways in which
states are renegotiating sovereignty in the context of increasing reliance on
digital infrastructure, worldwide data flows and cross-border cyber threats. The
main research question which will drive this investigation is: How do various
states conceptualise and operationalise cyber sovereignty within global cyber
politics? This paper takes a qualitative and comparative research design to
analyse the cyber policies of the major global players such as China, Russia,
the United States, the European Union, and India. This article engages with
international relations theory, legal instruments, cybersecurity policies and
multilateral forums to make sense of how state-centric cyberspace governance
merely mirrors broader geopolitical and ideological fault lines. The report
shows that authoritarian systems are more likely to claim a harder,
state-centric vision of cyber sovereignty, whereas liberal democratic countries
are nudging towards a more permissive, multi-stakeholder vision of cyberspace –
albeit in the direction of regulatory nationalism. India, which is operating in
a tricky digital ecosystem, seems to be developing a hybrid system, which aims
at striking a balance between national security, economic prosperity, and civil
liberties. The article ends with the assertion that time is running out to
secure an interoperable and rights-based internet architecture reconciled
against competing visions of cyber sovereignty unless the world community acts
swiftly and decisively to avert this crisis.
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Pages:96-101
How to cite this article:
Garima Nanda "Cyber politics: Exploring the state’s notion of cyber sovereignty". International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research, Vol 11, Issue 3, 2025, Pages 96-101
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