Special session 2:
Algorithmic governance, digital sovereignty, and public-private data regimes

Organisers: Yuko Aoyama (Clark University), Ricardo Barbosa, Jr. (Clark University), and Matthew Zook (University of Kentucky)

​Contact: RiBarbosa@clarku.edu

This session interrogates the entanglements of public/private actors and data in algorithmic governance across multiple scales. The growing use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI, such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek) make data ownership, rights, and location increasingly contentious. Cities and regions struggle with the opacity of proprietary AI technologies dictating decision-making. Meanwhile, national governments seek to assert digital sovereignty to safeguard security interests amidst transnational supply chains, technological development, and cryptocurrency markets. Furthermore, despite the growing importance of data access, ownership, and security, AI regulations that ensure public accountability are still in development and remain highly geographically variable. 

We invite papers that critically engage with the political economy of algorithmic governance, examining the tensions, contradictions, and possibilities emerging from public and private sector initiatives, regulatory shifts, and territorial entanglements. How do different data property regimes shape these entanglements? How do governance structures mediate public and private claims over data and digital infrastructures? What role does the nationality of tech firms play in shaping the regulation and social acceptance of AI deployment? What are the geopolitical stakes of digital sovereignty? In what ways and to what extent can emerging technologies empower civil society actors against big-tech dominance? What are the economic and environmental consequences of emerging technologies?

Acknowledging AI-enabled decision-making tools are simultaneously diverse and specific in applications, we call for theoretical and empirical contributions that interrogate spatialization of algorithmic governance, digital sovereignty, and contested public vs. private interest boundaries.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Public vs. private interests in algorithmic governance

Negotiating public accountability and corporate secrecy in AI-driven decision-making;

Successes and failures of public-private collaborations: case studies on smart technologies, smart cities, smart agriculture, digital natures, and AI-driven infrastructures;

Privatization of public data and politicization of platforms;

Open vs. proprietary digital systems (e.g., data, software) and implications for digital sovereignty, participation, and economic viability.

Digital sovereignty and techno-nationalism

Technology as a tool of geopolitical power: weaponizing interdependence and nationalizing digital infrastructures;

State-sponsored tech development vs. big-tech and entrepreneurship;

Corporate nationality and national security: when private companies are framed as threats to digital sovereignty (e.g., TikTok in the US, X in Brazil);

Strategic professionalization of the workforce and deployment of generative AI for digital economies.

Regulatory regimes for algorithmic governance

Regulation vs. disruption: institutional constraints on emerging technologies (e.g., AI, autonomous vehicles, cryptocurrencies);

The role of state and corporate actors in shaping regulatory frameworks for AI and digital platforms (e.g., how governments compete to attract and regulate big-tech);

Terms of Use agreements and regulatory frameworks (e.g., right to repair vs. corporate control).

Alternative digital futures

Reclaiming public digital infrastructure and challenging data monopolies;

Rectifying inequalities and left-behind places of algorithmic governance (e.g., digital entrepreneurs in the Global South);

The political economy of digital extractivism;

Digital nature: environmental monitoring and digital solutions for ecological challenges;

Alternative governance models, collective ownership, democratic participation, and broadening of political imaginations.

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Papers submitted for this session will be considered for a potential Special Issue in a relevant scholarly journal.