Digital Sovereignty and Development Who Owns the Future?

"Digital Sovereignty and Development: Who Owns the Future?" is a critical exploration of how digital power, governance, and data ownership are reshaping the development landscape of the Global South. Author Dorendra Bahadur Thapa examines the transition of power from traditional state institutions to a small group of global technology corporations that now control the world's core digital infrastructures, including cloud services, platforms, and algorithms.
The book moves beyond the optimistic narrative of "digital transformation" to highlight a structural "architecture of dependency". Thapa argues that while technology offers immense potential for transparency and efficiency, it often deepens existing inequalities when local governance is weak. Through four key dimensions-data, infrastructure, platform, and knowledge sovereignty-the work provides a framework for countries to move from passive adoption to active digital governance.
By integrating practical toolkits, policy diagnostic tools, and case studies from regions like Nepal, the book offers a roadmap for building equitable digital systems that prioritize local agency, dignity, and justice. It is an essential call to action for policymakers and practitioners to intentionally design the digital futures they wish to inhabit.