Digital Sovereignty: The Power to Decide (Perspectives)

Around the world people are increasingly asking their leaders a simple question: “Why can’t you fix this?” The frustrations vary across governments and organisations, but they share a pattern. Benefits systems buckle under stress. Platforms shape public discourse with little public accountability. Critical infrastructure depends on vendors no one remembers choosing, and those dependencies surface when something breaks. These are not technology problems. They are symptoms of something deeper: institutions that have lost sight of how they work, who they rely on and whether they still have the means to shape themselves as the world shifts beneath their feet. That world is changing faster than ever. New technologies reshape industries and institutions before the old ones have been understood. Geopolitical pressures add urgency, and expectations grow. Yet as the stakes get higher, many leaders find that their room to act has quietly narrowed. Vendor relationships lock in, legacy systems accrete, and rules and processes ossify. The ability to decide, and to keep deciding as conditions change, has never mattered more. Sovereignty is not something you secure once and forever. It is the agency and capacity to shape your digital future as circumstances change. It is a condition that institutions can maintain, grow or lose. And the goal is not independence, because no government, company or institution operates alone. The real question is whether you are choosing who you depend on and on what terms, or whether those choices have already been made for you. "Digital Sovereignty" is for leaders across government, the private sector and international development who need to operate successfully in the constrained space they find themselves in today, while building their capacity to act differently tomorrow. The book is structured around the questions senior leaders actually face and the forces that shape those questions. Digital sovereignty is a muscle that strengthens only through regular use. This book is the place to start building.

Mike Bracken CBE is the co-founder of Public Digital and former executive director of the UK Government Digital Service.

Andrew Greenway is the co-founder of Public Digital, a former UK senior civil servant, and a global expert on state capacity and institutional reform.

Lauren Kahn is Partner and Head of Global Impact at Public Digital, advising governments, development banks and UN agencies on digital transformation.

Raine Lester is a communications specialist and Public Digital network member, with a background in corporate communications and PR spanning Asia and Europe.

James Stewart is Partner and CTO at Public Digital and a co-founder of the UK Government Digital Service, where he led the technical architecture behind GOV.UK.