Whose Digital Future? Civil Society and Alternative Imaginaries in Transnational Digital Governance

ABSTRACT

This article investigates different visions of digital futures, examining how desired futures are discursively constructed within civil society in transnational digital governance. The analysis builds on discourse theory and a growing body of research on imaginaries in digital governance. Through a discourse‐theoretical analysis of submission papers to the United Nations' Global Digital Compact, the article examines how different collective actors within civil society construct and mobilise desired futures in the institutional context of the UN. The study finds discursive elements that articulate three distinct digital futures: technological progress, societal balance and transformative change. While their objectives, obstacles and enablers are constructed in diverse ways, in all three, digital technologies are considered necessary. By illuminating different normative values and the affective potential through which individuals and collectives are positioned in relation to desired futures, these findings show a variety of articulations within civil society and offer insights into its normative and political roles. In doing so, this study contributes to an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of alternatives in digital governance.