Sovereignty for whom? Between digital (in)dependence and Big Tech expansionism#

Signe Sophus Lai and Sofie Flensburg (University of Copenhagen)

• Why: Not technical, but it argues the sovereignty debate is missing the layer the PM works on — who owns the submarine cables and routing economics underneath "sovereign cloud" marketing. Strategic context for infrastructure decisions, from researchers who focus on the physical layer.
• What: An academic analysis of how "digital sovereignty" is deployed politically — by governments (including Denmark's "liberation" of the public sector) and by hyperscalers selling sovereignty as a service — arguing that a persistent focus on applications and services over underlying infrastructure obscures the real power structures. Illustrates with research on global submarine data cable ownership changes and the conditions around global internet routing. (from abstract only)
• How: Social-science research synthesis — stakeholder analysis of the sovereignty debate tied to concrete infrastructure examples.
• Where applicable: EU/Danish policy and procurement context; strategic framing rather than operational technique. Worth the PM's time precisely because it connects cable ownership and routing to the policy language increasingly attached to infrastructure budgets.