The current issue of the journal DER STAAT (1/2025) features an article by Prof. Dr. Margrit Seckelmann. It addresses the question:
‘Is sovereignty determined by mastery of interoperability standards? Smart federalism, platform management and “digital sovereignty”’ (DER STAAT, 64 (2025), pp. 117–133).
The article is based on the assumption that statehood in the digital age is not only dependent on offline conditions, but must also prove itself anew in the digital space. In this context, digital sovereignty refers to the goal of preserving (or regaining) the capabilities of an integrative electronic government.
Against this backdrop, the article addresses the problem of how statehood can be rethought under the conditions of digital transformation – particularly with regard to federal responsibilities, the European digital constitution and the growing role of private-sector gatekeepers, whose influence is increasingly taking on state-like dimensions.
A specific occasion for this is the first meeting of the Advisory Board for an Interoperable Europe on 5 December 2024 in Brussels – a milestone following the GAIA-X programme, which coined the term ‘digital sovereignty’ at the European level.
This article focuses on this very concept, analysing its implications for state theory and constitutional law in light of current developments – from the Interoperable Europe Act to GAIA-X and the federal digitisation of public administration.
The starting point is the thesis that state sovereignty in the digital space depends largely on the ability to define and enforce interoperability standards. This creates a new state task in the digital space in the sense of an infrastructural guarantee state.
The article is available here.
