Shaping the Digital World Order: Norms and Agency along the Digital Silk Road in Southeast Asia (NORM)

Recognising the imperative to fill this knowledge gap, NORM takes a comparative approach to examining how relevant stakeholders in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines navigate the opportunities and risks presented by China’s digital technology investments. In this interdisciplinary project, we focus our empirical analysis and theoretical development on the political and social consequences of DSR projects in recipient developing countries, as well as for the digital world order.

In WP1, we develop a theoretical framework to analyse international norms governing cyberspace and how these are interpreted by actors along the Digital Silk Road.

In WP2, we build comparative knowledge on how stakeholders from government, business and civil society in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines negotiate DSR investments to serve their interests and agendas.

In WP3, we determine if the three countries align with the Chinese or the Western technological and normative model, or if they create their own, and what the implications are for the digital world order.

In WP4, we manage communication activities through targeted channels to scholarly, policy and public audiences. In doing so we realise and communicate our objective of identifying how China’s Digital Silk Road shapes the digital world order and its norms.