Global Digital Governance and Digital Trade: Study Group

Description: Digital trade is a critical yet often under-explored element of global governance. While discussions around data privacy, AI policy, and antitrust dominate the policy agenda, the binding rules of digital trade quietly shape national regulations and global digital governance. Digital trade rules impact not just economic sectors but also broader governance issues such as human rights and democracy.

This study group will explore the complex relationship between digital trade and global digital governance, focusing on how binding digital trade rules impact broader governance frameworks. Through peer-led discussions, case studies, and simulations mirroring real-world dilemmas in global policy-making, participants will critically examine how tech companies shape digital markets and global policies. Key topics include global governance of data flows, digital markets and competition policy, regulation of AI, and digital trade rules. 

Session 1:       Tuesday, October 22, 2:00 – 3:30 pm (Allison Dining Room)

Session 2:      Tuesday, November 5, 2:00 - 3:30 pm (Zoom, Register for this session here!)

Session 3:      TBA (Zoom)

This study group is open to HUID holders only. Preregistration is required. Please be sure to register for EACH session you plan on attending.

Recommended Readings:

Session 1 - October 22 – Global Digital Governance and Digital Trade

1) Kilic B., Digital trade rules: Big Tech’s end-run around domestic regulations

2) Jones E., Digital disruption: artificial intelligence and international trade policy, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 39, Issue 1, Spring 2023, Pages 70–84.

3) Transcript: CEPR Competition Policy RPN – Shifting the Trade Paradigm: Can we do Better for Global Citizens (and Democracy)? 22 July 2024

Session 2- November 5 – Digital Trade Deep-Dive

1) Relevant trade agreements and policy documents – TPP, USMCA, US-Japan Free Trade Agreement, G20 Data Free Flows with Trust

2) Yakovleva S and Irion K: Pitching trade against privacy: reconciling EU governance of personal data flows with external trade, International Data Privacy Law 10(3): 201–221.

3) Kilic B, As Global Trade Goes Digital, Trust Becomes Critical

Session 3 - TBA - Simulation of a trade negotiation

Facilitator:

Burcu Kilic is a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and a tech and human rights fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has worked with a diverse range of organizations across civil society, philanthropy, and academia. Her research and writings cover tech policy, intellectual property, and trade, and she has provided technical advice and assistance in countries across Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa.

As the former head of policy at Frontier Technology—a Minderoo Foundation initiative—Burcu shaped the organization’s approach to emerging technology, championing responsible, equitable, and just solutions. Before joining Minderoo, she directed the Digital Rights Program at Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization in Washington, DC, and led their research on access to medicines.

Her influence in tech policy, intellectual property, and trade underscores her commitment to policy entrepreneurship and rights-based advocacy. In 2015, she was recognized as one of the 300 Women Leaders in Global Health for her work on health and trade policy. From 2021 to 2022, she was a practitioner fellow with the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University.

Burcu completed her Ph.D. at Queen Mary University of London and holds LL.M. degrees in intellectual property law from Queen Mary University of London and information technology law from Stockholm University. She obtained her law degree from Ankara University, Turkey.