The Communication Networks & Social Change (CNSC) research group is pleased to invite you to the seminar “Entre debilidad y dependencia: hacia una agenda comparada sobre gobernanza digital en América Latina”, given by Ronald Sáenz-Leandro, political scientist and member of the CNSC research group.
The seminar will be held, in hybrid format, on Wednesday, July 22 at 10:00 am (CEST) in room C1.14 of the Interdisciplinary R&I Hub (building C).
Venue
Interdisciplinary R&I Hub (building C - room C1.14)
Rambla del Poblenou, 154
08018 Barcelona
Espanya
When
22/07/2026 0.00h
Organized by
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Communication Networks & Social Change (CNSC) research group
Program
The present work seeks to position an interdisciplinary dialogue for the study of digital governance in Latin America, based on the intersection of two perspectives: institutional weakness and digital dependence. The main thesis is that the institutional challenges triggered by the rapid expansion of platforms, data infrastructures, algorithmic systems, and the implementation of national artificial intelligence plans in the region cannot be understood solely as a problem of regulatory lag, lack of normative updating, or technical insufficiency of the States. Instead, it proposes to analyze them as a contemporary expression of historical tensions within Latin American institutionality inside a new context of technological subordination, characterized by the transnational corporate concentration of innovation, and the extraction of resources, data, and knowledge in the countries of the region.
The work reviews some regional examples where variations of institutional weakness can be observed in different areas of digitalization, such as platform work, data governance, the regulation of artificial intelligence, and financial technology (fintech). After examining these variations, the trap of de facto deregulation is introduced as a conceptual contribution. This concept arises from evidence generated in my doctoral research on the regulation of ride-hailing platforms mediated by digital applications in Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica, and is proposed here as a transferable tool to study other arenas of digital governance.
Political scientist and member of the CNSC research group. He has a degree in Political Science (University of Costa Rica) and a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies (University of Salamanca). Among his main research areas are: comparative politics with a focus on Latin America stand out; Social research methodology; protests, collective actions and technopolitics; and the Social Studies of Science and Technology (CTS).