Digital Sovereignism: A Comparative Analysis of Italian Parties’ Positioning on Transnational Data Governance

This article examines the positioning of political parties on the issue of transnational data governance, with a special focus on sovereignist parties, through the case study of Italy. With digital policy being increasingly high on Italy’s political agenda, the country finds itself in a delicate balancing act between guarding itself from external interference, and opening up to global key players in data governance, including international corporate actors. While the literature on Italy’s domestic data governance is relatively well developed, party-specific stances on its external dimension are understudied. Given their sovereignist ideology, it is expected that populist radical right parties prioritise sovereignty-focused stances, with concerns around data security and state control over digital policy. However, the populist radical right government’s flirtation with radical right tech entrepreneur Elon Musk poses a significant research puzzle. Through a qualitative analysis of Italy’s parliamentary debates covering the 12 months prior to the approval of the Space Law in June 2025, this article investigates how the incumbent sovereignist populist radical right positioned itself on digital sovereignty in the context of cross-border data governance, compared to opposition parties occupying different dimensions on the political spectrum. This case study will especially focus on the most prominent topic in current parliamentary debates on external data governance: Italy’s proposed deal with Musk’s SpaceX for the acquisition of Starlink technology.