Digital Dependency and Structural Power: A Political Economy Reading of Technology

This article examines how digital infrastructure has become a new space of power within the global economy. Using a political economy approach inspired by Susan Strange’s idea of structural power, it explains that digitalisation often repeats the old pattern of inequality between developed and developing countries. The study combines qualitative analysis of international policy documents with quantitative evidence on global investment and technology flows. It looks at major digital programmes such as China’s Digital Silk Road, the European Union’s Global Gateway, and the G?7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, and compares them with similar regional projects led by emerging economies. Case studies from Kenya, Indonesia, Brazil, and Nigeria show that while digital networks bring innovation and faster growth, they can also deepen economic and regulatory dependence on foreign actors. This study finds that the core problem is not access to technology, but the concentration of power over data, capital, and technical standards. The paper argues that countries in the Global South can only convert connectivity into real development if they strengthen regional cooperation, insist on transparent contractual terms, and invest in domestic research capacity and skilled labour. These measures would allow technology to serve sovereignty instead of reinforcing dependence so that countries in the Global South can use technology to strengthen their sovereignty and achieve genuine development.