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New special issue call on Governing "European values" inside data flows

  • 1.  New special issue call on Governing "European values" inside data flows

    Posted 05-03-2020 13:35

    The ACES Governing Europe theme group and the Institute for Information Law at the University of Amsterdam and the research project "The Governance of Big Data in Trade Agreements" at the University of Lucerne invite you to submit abstracts for a special issue on *'Governing "European values" inside data flows'.

    Transnational data flows pose significant challenges for sovereignty at large as well as for discrete public policies. In the last decade, the cross-border movement of digital services and products, as well as the underlying data have been disruptive to a range of European legal frameworks, such as in particular personal data and consumer protection, and have strongly impacted on critical public interests, such as cultural diversity or democratic elections. At the same time, Europe's connectedness is beneficial for digital trade and a critical prerequisite for data-driven innovation and growth, which are high on the agenda on the European Union (EU) and its member states.

    Identifying approaches and concrete strategies that can protect human rights and certain societal values inside global data flows could strike a balance between the rule of law and innovation policy that crucially undergirds a robust information civilization. The disintermediation of human rights in transnational settings is well documented in the case of data privacy which has led to the shoring up of the EU's data protection law. Transnational algorithmic systems will pose new challenges to individual rights guaranteed under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Aside from individual rights, there are European societal values, such as cultural diversity and democratic participation, which need to be reconciled with the economic rationale of contemporary data-driven societies.

    It is precisely the aim of the proposed special issue to encourage out-of-the box thinking and generate ideas that can make the reconciliation between certain values and flows. Contributions will identify the concrete individual or societal value in relation to which they will develop innovative approaches to its governance without disrupting otherwise beneficial data flows. Questions that will arise in this context include: How do transnational data flows undermine public ordering in Europe? What forms of private ordering, including for instance regulation through platforms, emerge that might complement, replace and/or conflict with existing forms of public ordering? What can we learn from personal data protection in transnational settings and are there ways to translate these experiences to other contexts? What are the implications of these developments for other fundamental rights, which are key to the EU? Can unilateralism cope with transnational data flows? How can Europe pursue its "third way" inside transnational data flows and is the "Brussels effect" unfolding, and if so, with what consequences? What is the role of international public and/or private law, as well as of multi-stakeholder governance? What other models beyond command-and-control can be operationalised? 

    We invite paper abstracts/pitches, to be developed per invitation into an article. The outcome will be a special journal issue on 'Governing "European values" inside data flows', in Internet Policy Review, which is an open access and peer-reviewed journal on internet regulation. We expect a substantial added value to the current literature as well as distinct take-aways for policymakers and others interested in the topics in various capacities. The call for abstracts and associated timeline can be found here: https://policyreview.info/node/1467 

    Scope of the special issue

    The special issue will explore innovative governance designs and instruments which aim to identify and protect "European values" that can also adequately perform under conditions of transnational data flows. Data and consumer protection will certainly be core topics to be explored but the special issue will seek to go beyond this classic point of interest collusion and explore other values that underlie the EU's societal structures. 

    The call for abstract/pitches invites theoretical, empirical, and methodological papers on the topic of 'Governing "European values" inside data flows' to discuss an emergent phenomenon via the lens of interdisciplinary research. Based on extended abstracts, a selection of contributions will be prepared based on regular open peer review for the special issue.

    All authors of the selected manuscripts that are submitted on time (see deadline below) will be invited to present and discuss their draft papers at an international workshop held in Amsterdam on 29 January 2021. We are planning for an onsite, one-day event but we will also seek opportunities for authors to participate online. The purpose of the workshop is to enable an interdisciplinary conversation and exchange of ideas on this timely issue, and provide peer-feedback for the finalisation of the manuscripts for submission to the special issue.

    Focus of the papers

    We invite conceptual, empirical and methodological papers in particular from law, digital humanities, data science, governance research, media and communication studies, science, technology and society studies, and related fields. Topics may include any of the following, or related issues:

    • Actors, norms and processes which contribute to a governance sub-system
    • Corporate social responsibility, compliance incentives and new modes of governance
    • Transnational legal theory and multi-stakeholder internet governance
    • Digital human rights, not limited to data privacy
    • Novel concepts of "liquid" governance which can negotiate values and data flows
    • Data governance, compute to data, ethical licensing, or politics of data
    • Transparency, accountability, or algorithmic auditing
    • State sovereignty, technological sovereignty, or actor sovereignty
    • Data flows, digital trade, global values chains and transnational digital systems
    • Emerging forms of multi-stakeholder governance and their challenges
    • The role of governance by information infrastructure, including standardization processes

    Special issue editors

    • Mira Burri, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Lucerne
    • Kristina Irion, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam (corresponding editor, k.irion@uva.nl
    • Stefania Milan, Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam
    • Ans Kolk, Professor, Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam

    Important dates

    Deadline for expression of interest and abstract submissions (500 word abstracts) via THIS FORM: 19 June 2020

    Feedback/Invitation to submit full text submissions: 10 July 2020

    Full paper submissions deadline: 12 November 2020. All details on paper submissions can be found under http://policyreview.info/authors.  

    Peer review process: 12 November 2020 – 15 January 2021

    International Workshop in Amsterdam: 29 January 2021

    Paper revision period: 1 February – 26 March 2021

    Second editorial review and final publication decision: 29 March – 16 April 2021

    Readying for publication: 19 April – 30 April 2021

    Publication of special issue: mid 2021



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    Prof.dr. Ans Kolk | Full Professor | Amsterdam Business School | University of Amsterdam | Plantage Muidergracht 12, 1018 TV Amsterdam - The Netherlands | www.anskolk.eu
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