The Age of Digital Interdependence? A Critical Discourse Analysis of EU, US and ASEAN Digital Strategies

This paper examines the implicit assumptions underlying the language of digital policy-making in the digital strategies of three different policy actors: the European Union (a political union), the United States of America (a nation state), and ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations (a trading block). Digital development is increasingly taking center stage in economic and foreign policymaking, evidenced by the debates surrounding surveillance, the construction of 5G networks, electoral interference, disinformation, trade wars or antitrust investigations. These point to the elevated status of digital transformation in global economic competition and in geopolitical debates with a new emphasis on digital sovereignty and rising fears of internet fragmentation accompanied by the emergence of a new, multipolar world order. Meanwhile, in international fora the necessity of co-operation among governments, the private sector and civil society is increasingly emphasized, along with the need for acknowledging the mutual interdependence of the different actors and stakeholders involved in global policy fields, such as digital or climate governance, where challenges are the most pressing. The paper conducts a critical discourse analysis of key strategic EU, US and ASEAN digital policy documents spanning the period from 1984 to 2020, and studies them along four conceptual keys. These are: i) SENSITIVE INVERSION, where economic agents have needs while humans are treated as functional; ii) TECHNOLOGICAL SENTIMENTALITY, where technology is seen as a threat or an opportunity rather than a tool, iii) VERTICAL FASCINATION, where competitive, vertical power relations have primacy over co-operative, horizontal ones; and iv) SOVEREIGNTY ASSERTION, where actors strive for independence rather than acknowledging their interdependence. Expressions mapping into these conceptual keys are traced in key strategic policy texts from all three actors, revealing the extent to which their digital strategies rely on economic thinking, focusing on competitiveness and leadership, rather than co-operation and human well-being, including the green transition. Historical analysis of the strategies also helps us to understand the evolution of the actors’ positions and priorities. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the future of global digital co-operation and governance.