Siddhi Wadekar, a Ph.D student working with  Dr. Aakansha Natani presented a paper on Free Data Flow vs Data Sovereignty: Concerns of Digital Autocracy and Global South Responses at the 28th World Congress of Political Science organised by the International Political Science Association (IPSA) held in Seoul, South Korea from  12 – 16 July on the theme “Resisting Autocratization in Polarized Societies”. Here is the summary of the paper as explained by the authors:

Data governance has emerged as the newest ideological battleground in geopolitics today. The liberal approach of free cross border data flows raises issues of digital monopolies, capture of political sovereignty by digital platforms, etc. The data sovereign approach also has its own concerns such as excessive state control over citizens data, state surveillance etc. Interestingly, with increasing transnationalisation of data localisation polices, free data flow isn’t free and data sovereignty tends to oscillate between protecting legitimate sovereign interests and tending to authoritarian tendencies. The paper seeks to investigate autocratic tendencies across both spectrums of the geopolitical debate on data governance. The paper further explores global south responses to the debate between free data flow vs data sovereignty, especially considering that global south countries like India seek aspirational engagement that encompasses characteristics across both spectrums and its impact on India’s digital policies. The methodology involves a qualitative comparative analysis of global data governance frameworks, agreements, data protection laws and trade agreements from select countries across both spectrums from a policy practice perspective. The references involve official policy documents, white papers by international organisations and governments, research papers, government websites and media reportings.

July 2025