Geopolitical Union : Europe's Attempt to Take Back Control of Technology Regulation

This book explores how geopolitics shapes how the EU regulates technologies, from microchips to social media to data. It focuses on the European Commission's concerns around the economic power of the US and China, its own security vulnerabilities, and how dependent it is upon technologies produced outside of its territory.

From the rise of China as a technological superpower, to wars on its eastern borders, to the belief that the US is no longer a reliable ally, the European Commission sees the world as more unstable than at any other time in recent history. As such, the Commission has become the Geopolitical Commission, working to serve the interests of the Geopolitical Union. Central to many of these conflicts is technology – who produces it, where it is produced, and who controls it. These questions are central to the Commission's pursuit of digital/technological sovereignty, Europe's attempt to regain control of technology regulation. Focusing on topics such as setting technological standards, ensuring access to microchips, reining in online platforms, and securing rules for industrial data and AI, this book explores the EU's approach to lawmaking in this field; increased regulatory oversight and promotion of industrial policy at home, while exporting its rules abroad.