About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of digital sovereignty in the context of Big Tech's control over essential infrastructures.

Event Tickets: Political Economy in a Time of Monsters Welcome back to After Order - a series from Macrodose and the Alameda Institute - exploring power, sovereignty, and crisis in today’s unstable world. In this week’s episode, we turn to Digital Sovereignty in the age of Big Tech. What does it mean that the infrastructures underpinning our everyday lives - from search and cloud computing to communication and logistics - are owned and controlled by a tiny handful of Silicon Valley elites? What does that concentration of power mean for democracy, for states, and for the possibility of political autonomy in the digital age? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Joining host James Meadway to explore these questions are Cecilia Rikap and Paolo Gerbaudo. Cecilia is Professor of Economics and Head of Research at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. Paolo is Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at the Complutense University of Madrid, and author of The Great Recoil: Politics after Populism and Pandemic. In 2025, Cecilia and Paolo co-authored a major report for the Alameda Institute titled Reclaiming Digital…

People in this episode

Host: James Meadway

Guests: Cecilia Rikap, Paolo Gerbaudo

Topics covered

• Digital Sovereignty
• Big Tech
• Political Economy
• Democracy
• Political Autonomy
• Digital Infrastructure

Keywords

• Digital Sovereignty
• Big Tech
• Political Economy
• Democracy
• Digital Infrastructure
• Public Good
• Social Need

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London, Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, Complutense University of Madrid

Books & works: Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty: A Roadmap to Build a Digital Stack for People and the Planet

More episodes of Macrodose

• Domination Without Hegemony? w/ Juliano Fiori · May 7, 2026 · 54 min
• Psychedelics - The New Frontier Of Profit w/ Kojo Koram · May 6, 2026 · 13 min
• BP's Iran War Mega Profits · April 29, 2026 · 16 min
• Six Weeks of Fuel in Europe · April 22, 2026 · 17 min
• Order as Fiction w/ Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla · April 16, 2026 · 48 min
• Starmer's Shifting Rhetoric · April 15, 2026 · 10 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Macrodose podcast page.