Digital Actors and Digital Platforms in the System of International Relations: Between Complex Interdependence and Online Sovereignty

The article analyzes deep changes in international relations that are taking place in the context of the increasing role of digital actors and platforms in shaping the global agenda. The emergence of the Internet was a turning point in the development of the entire system of global communications. The Internet changed the way information is spread and public opinion is shaped, while digital platforms became a new factor of globalization. At the same time, as the authors demonstrate, the original nature of the Internet, which was viewed by the United States and the West as an integral part and technology of the liberal order, in the end started to reflect the increasing confrontation between states, and became a space for the spread of political conflicts, stereotypes and information wars. In addition, new digital oligopolies began to shape the digital space based on their corporate interests, prioritizing their market share rather than the quality of online discussions and the strengthening of the civic democratic culture. The weaponization and securitization of the Internet is a logical continuation of the crisis of the global liberal order. The complex interdependence, which was strengthened by digital actors and digital platforms, is increasingly being replaced by the idea of digital sovereignty. States aim to decouple from a single communicative space and to create norms protecting them and their citizens from the excessive influence of the Big Tech. The authors conclude that we are experiencing the sunset of the era of information openness. Depoliticization of the Internet is impossible without reducing international tension and reviving the spirit of rationalism in world politics. Only through getting back to reason can we return to the Internet the role of a creative, rather than destructive technology.

1. Goldstone, Jack. Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850. Moscow: Gaidar Institute Press, 2014 [In Russian].

2. Danilin, Ivan V. “Fighting Internet Monopolies in China and the U.S.” World Economy and International Relations 66, no. 10 (2022): 73–80 [In Russian].

3. Denisov, Igor Y. Kitajskaja Strategija “Bol’shih Dannuh”: Reforma Upravlenija, Innovacii i Global’naja Konkurencija. Moscow: MGIMO-University Press, 2023 [In Russian].

4. Zuboff , Shoshana. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Moscow: Gaidar Institute Press, 2022 [In Russian].

5. Nye, Joseph S. “Vzaimozavisimost’ i Izmenjayuschajasja Mezhdunarodnaja Politika.” World Economy and International Relations, no. 12 (1989) [In Russian].

6. Parshin, Pavel B. Soft Power in the Labyrinth of Discussions. Moscow: MGIMO-University Press, 2020 [In Russian].

7. Petrov, Kirill Y. “Vyzovy Agori Cifrovogo Obschestva.” Politiya 4 (2023): 7–30 [In Russian].

8. Sergeev, Victor M., Kazantsev, Andrey A., Petrov, Kirill Y., and Svetlana M. Medvedeva. “Krisis Partijno-Politicheskoj Sistemi v SShA i Stranah ES: Prichini i Harakteristiki.” Polis. Political Studies 2 (2018): 130–149 [In Russian].

9. Состоятельность государства и национальные интересы России в глобальном мире: материалы круглого стола // Вестник Московского университета. Серия 12: Политические науки. 2017. № 3. С. 90–136. “The Viability of the State and the National Interests of Russia in the Global World: A Moscow University Political Science Round Table.” Moscow University Journal. Political Sciences 3 (2017): 90–136 [In Russian].

10. Applebaum, Anne. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. Anchor, 2020.

11. Bro, Peter, and Filip Wallberg. “Digital Gatekeeping: News Media versus Social Media.” In The Future of Journalism: In an Age of Digital Media and Economic Uncertainty, edited by B. Franklin. Routledge, 2015.

12. Chadwick, Andrew, Dennis, James, and Amy P. Smith. “Politics in the Age of Hybrid Media: Power, Systems, and Media Logics.” In The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics, edited by Axel Bruns, Gunn Enli, Eli Skogerbo, Anders Olof Larsson, and Christian Christensen. Oxon: Routledge, 2016: 7–22.

13. Chi Ling Chan. “Fallen Behind: Science, Technology, and Soviet Statism.” Intersect 8, no. 3 (2015): 1–11.

14. Dahlgren, Peter. “The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication: Dispersion and Deliberation.” Political Communication 22, no. 2 (2005): 147–162.

15. De Ridder, Jeroen. “What’s so Bad about Misinformation?” Inquiry (2021): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2021.2002187.

16. Diamond, Larry. “Liberation Technology.” Journal of Democracy 21, no. 3 (2010): 69–83.

17. Farrell, Henry, and Abraham L. Newman. “The Janus Face of the Liberal International Information Order: When Global Institutions Are Self-Undermining?” International Organization 75 (2021): 333–358.

18. Fukuyama, Francis. Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.

19. Habermas, Jürgen. A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2023.

20. Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.

21. Howard, Philip N. The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam. Oxford University Press, 2010.

22. Kerr, Pauline. “Diplomatic Persuasion: An Under-Investigated Process.” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy 5, no. 3 (2010): 235–261. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187119110X508512.

23. Kokas, Aynne. Traffi cking Data: How China is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty. Oxford University Press, 2023.

24. Kumar, Sangeet. The Digital Frontier: Infrastructures of Control on the Global Web. Indiana University Press, 2021.

25. Pigman, Geoff rey A. Contemporary Diplomacy. Maiden, MA: Polity, 2010.

26. Pomeranz, Kenneth. The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton University Press, 2000.

27. Popov, Artem, and Daria Iakovleva. “Adaptive LookAlike Targeting in Social Networks Advertising.” Procedia Computer Science 136 (2018): 255–264.

28. Simmons, Beth. “International Studies in the Global Information Age.” International Studies Quarterly 55, no. 3 (2011): 589–599.

29. Smyrnaios, Nikos. “The GAFAM, between Structural Infl uence and Hegemonic Crisis.” Pouvoirs 185, no. 2 (2023): 19–30.

30. Thompson, John B. “Mediated Interaction in the Digital Age.” Theory, Culture & Society 37, no. 1 (2020): 3–28.

31. Thussu, Daya K. “BRICS De-Americanizing the Internet?” In BRICS Media, edited by Daya K. Thissu, and Kaarle Nordenstreng. Routledge, 2020: 280–301. https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429468759-21.

32. Wiseman, Geoff rey. “‘Polylateralism’ and New Modes of Global Dialogue.” Center for the Study of Diplomacy. Discussion Papers 59 (1999).