Lecture 4 - Francqui Chair - Prof. Dr. Stefania Milan

Lecture 4:

Francqui Chair - Francqui Foundation

"Sovereignty Rewired: Public Authority and Corporate Power in the Data-Driven State"

As states rely ever more on corporate infrastructures to collect, process, and interpret vast amounts of data, sovereignty itself is being rewired. This lecture examines how governments, corporations, and international bodies co-produce the data-driven state through infrastructures that define what counts as knowledge, compliance, and public value. It traces how technical architectures and governance frameworks—often shaped by corporate interests—quietly redistribute authority and accountability. While standards and interoperability remain key instruments in this process, they are part of a broader struggle over who sets the rules of the digital order. Examples such as the EU Digital Identity Wallet, GAIA-X, and India’s Aadhaar reveal how data infrastructures blur the line between public mandate and private power. The lecture asks: what becomes of democracy when core functions of governance are delegated to infrastructures that are neither fully public nor transparently accountable?