Digital Globalization
Politics, Policy, and a Governance Paradox

Digital technologies reshape the global economy and ignite a new politics of globalization that complicates cooperation over its governance.

Stephen Weymouth (Author)

9781108978361, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 June 2023

75 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.4 cm, 0.123 kg

Digital technologies are reshaping the global economy and complicating cooperation over its governance. Innovations in technology and business propel a new, digitally-driven phase of globalization defined by the expansion of cross-border information flows that is provoking political conflict and policy discord. This Element argues that the activities of digital value chains (DVCs), the central economic actors in digital globalization, complicate international economic relations. DVC activities can erode individual privacy, shift tax burdens, and cement monopoly positions. These outcomes generate a new politics of globalization, and governments are responding with increasing restrictions on cross-border data flows. This monograph: 1) explains the new sources of political division stemming from digital globalization; 2) documents policy barriers to digital trade; 3) presents a framework to explain digital trade barriers across countries; and 4) assesses the prospects for international cooperation on digital governance, which requires countries move beyond coordinated liberalization and toward coordinated regulation.

1. Introduction
2. The global digital economy
3. Policy impediments to digital globalization
4. Digital trade politics
5. Institutional prerequisites for digital globalization
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]