BODIES AND DATA: THE DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIAN STATE

In February 2019, the Government of India released a draft e-commerce policy that boldly proclaimed, “India and its citizens have a sovereign right to their data,” (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, 2019) a right that could not extend to non-Indians. The draft policy was one of many in recent years that have mandated data localization, protectionism or other measures of greater national control over the digital economy in India. These actions are widely read as a nation-state asserting its sovereignty in the digital realm against the power of US-based global tech firms. They are sold in geopolitical terms, a digital sovereignty that challenges digital colonialism. I argue that the Indian state’s project of digital sovereignty must also be understood as biopolitical. I connect the Indian state’s regulation of the digital economy, exemplified by the 2019 draft of the e-commerce policy to its regulation and control of bodies, specifically through the biometric ID, Aadhaar, and its proliferating uses. I read these state actions collectively as a process through which the Indian state is engaged in altering what it is to be sovereign and its subject. When “digital” appends sovereignty, it is not merely a new terrain upon which to exert power, nor is it an unbridled force that the state must contend with, it is the means through which the Indian state enacts its project(s) of domination.

Ottoman Commercial History

The Ottoman empire, which at its height stretched around the Mediterranean from Albania to Morocco, from Egypt in the south to Crimea in the north, and from Iran in the east to Hungary in the west, represented an enormous trading bloc. Its internal trade, which was always much greater than its external trade, consisted largely of agricultural products with some manufactures, in particular textiles, which were traded both locally and to distant parts of the empire. External trade was dominated by agricultural products, which were exported to the West, and manufactured goods such as textiles, carpets and ceramics, and the import of textiles from the West, silk from Iran, spices from the East, and coffee from Yemen. Many of these commodities transited through the empire. There was also a significant trade in slaves into the empire from the Black Sea region and from sub-Saharan Africa. Commerce, which influenced Ottoman conquest policy, brought considerable revenues to the state, and Ottoman rulers invested heavily in infrastructure to support trade and to protect traders. They also attempted to control commodity exchange, imposing trade embargoes, fixing prices, and establishing a system of provisioning. The expansion of the world market in the 19th century affected the nature of Ottoman commerce. The empire became an exporter of raw materials and importer of manufactured products. Controls on internal trade were removed, allowing foreign merchants to operate freely, and its markets were opened up to an influx of goods from Europe, in particular from Britain.

External and Internal Trade Barriers of the Russian Far East

Recently, the Russian Far East has been receiving close attention from the government of the Russian Federation. Accelerated economic development of the Far Eastern regions requires trade intensification with foreign and domestic markets, which implies a reduction of various barriers. The study aims to assess the external and internal trade barriers of the Russian Far East using a consistent dataset and relevant econometric model for estimations. The assessment of trade barriers, expressed as values of the relative trade intensity and transport costs in the framework of modern gravity models, confirmed the trade bias of the Russian Far East in favour of the domestic market in the long term. High values of relative transport costs were offset by a high relative trade intensity between the Russian Far East and the domestic market. The conducted analysis shows that the reduction of external trade barriers between the Russian Far East and foreign markets can significantly increase their turnover. The obtained estimates revealed a trend of linking the regions of the Russian Far East to the domestic market due to the barrier reduction in the form of transport costs. This study can be further developed, as the presented methodology for qualitative assessment of internal and external barriers can be applied to analyse the costs of trade in commodity markets, to decompose export and import barriers, as well as to determine the potential for expanding regional trade with foreign countries.

Trade in services of member states of the Eurasian Economic Union

The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, which became effective since January 1, 2015, establishes the principles and the purposes of integration consolidation and also provides free movement of goods, services, the capital and labor power in the internal market and coordinated, approved, uniform to policy in the designated spheres of economic activity. In the article, the analysis of foreign and internal trade in services in the Eurasian Economic Union is given. The structure and import volume and export of member countries of EAEU are considered. The relevance of a subject is connected with the fact that free movement of services is one of the main directions of integration within the Eurasian Economic Union. As a result of the conducted research, the corresponding conclusions were drawn on leaders in volume among EAEU member countries. Top trends and problems of development of trade in services of member countries are revealed.

Internal Trade in Canada

This paper assesses the costs of internal trade barriers and proposes policies to improve internal trade. Estimates suggest that complete liberalization of internal trade in goods can increase GDP per capita by about 4 percent and reallocate employment towards provinces that experience large productivity gains from trade. The positive impact highlights the need for federal, provincial and territorial governments to work together to reduce internal trade barriers. There is significant scope to build on the new Canadian Free Trade Agreement to more explicitly identify key trade restrictions, resolve differences, and agree on cooperative solutions.