Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 1, 2023

 

National Digital Capacity: Building National Governance Capacity in the Digital Revolution

(Abstract)

 

Gao Qiqi

 

National governance capacity is mainly composed of capacity for national order, capacity for national empowerment and capacity for national innovation. The digital revolution has put forward new requirements for national digital capacity building, including the three components above. On the basis of an evaluation system of autonomy and embeddedness, four types of national digital capacity can be distinguished: strong two-sided balance; strong state control; societal flexibility; and two-sided vulnerability. At present, the strengthening of national digital capacity has become a global issue. China’s national digital capacity shows the features of societal flexibility, represented by the fact that its governance goals are mainly realized through delegating governance authority to platform enterprises and by stimulating the digital participation of society, which means that it faces the inherent risk of delegated governance. National digital capacity-building should be oriented toward strong two-sided balance and pay more attention to dynamic autonomy and embeddedness.