Sovereignty in the Cloud

Exploring and assessing conceptions of cloud sovereignty in the national security and defence space.

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Overview

Across government, infrastructure and industry, digital services are increasingly built on large-scale cloud platforms. This project examines how national strategies for 'cloud sovereignty' are being framed and implemented, and how they align with the realities of global hyperscale cloud services.

We consider:

How different governments define and prioritise cloud sovereignty.
The technical, legal and policy feasibility of those definitions.
The extent to which commercial 'sovereign cloud' solutions map to governmental expectations — and the implications for dependency, resilience and security.

In partnership with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative (CSI) at the Atlantic Council, this research project explores how governments define, pursue, and implement cloud sovereignty — and how these approaches align with the technical and commercial realities of global cloud ecosystems.

Contact Joseph Jarnecki josephj@rusi.org) or Noah Sylvia (nsylvia@rusi.org) if you are interested in engaging on our cloud sovereignty work.

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Aims and objectives

Over 16 months, RUSI and CSI experts will strengthen the evidence base on cloud sovereignty by engaging with expert stakeholders from government and the private sector (including hyperscale cloud providers) to: assess progress, identify gaps, and set out options for future policy approaches in relation to conceptions of sovereignty, especially in critical national infrastructure sectors.

Findings from the research will:

Inform national policies relating to cloud sovereignty.
Create a more robust evidence base for informed discussion on the tensions between capability and sovereignty.
Provide education and awareness to policymakers, the private sector, and the wider public on cloud sovereignty and national security considerations relating to the dominance of global hyperscale solutions.