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The Transmutation of Sovereignty: Digital “World of Warcraft” and Innovation in the Chinese Legal Order

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2025

Weidong Ji Open the ORCID record for Weidong Ji [Opens in a new window]
Weidong Ji*
Affiliation:
China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article analyses the paradoxical relationship between the relative decline and resurgence of national sovereignty in the context of economic and informational globalisation, the rise of mega-platforms, the sovereign individuals hidden within blockchains, and large model behemoths free from the feature design of programming. It highlights how the decline of sovereignty has given rise to concepts such as “the digital sovereignty” in Europe and “the sovereign blockchain” in China, while the resurgence of sovereignty has led to theories like the “surveillance society” in North America and the “electronic forbidding leave” metaphor in China. In any case, with the AI-driven era, “the Algorithmic Leviathan” is becoming an extremely powerful dominating force that countries and laws must confront. To prevent its runaway abuse, it is necessary to consolidate a basic consensus through global digital compacts and institutionalise it through legal and technical due process—this is the essence of the digital rule of law.

Keywords

digital sovereigntyplatform governancelarge model behemothsthe sovereignty individualthe Algorithmic LeviathanGlobal Digital Compact
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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