Benjamin Farrand
Biographic Data
| ID | 4096768 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Farrand |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin |
| FAMILY NAME | Farrand |
| SIGNATURE | FARRAND B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Newcastle University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4508-0839 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 40 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Promising security, delivering dependency: The material constraints of EU semiconductor collective securitisation
This article argues that the European Union’s collective securitisation of semiconductors reveals an overlooked constraint in securitisation theory: the structural mismatch between the ‘urgency’ logic of securitisation, and the multi-year timescales required to develop material capacity in infrastructure-intensive technological domains. While the EU successfully constructed access to semiconductors as an existential threat and key strategic vulne…
Opening the Black Box of EU Digital Sovereignty: A Macro‐Level Analysis of the Concept's Development
Digital sovereignty has emerged as a central organizing principle in European Union governance, yet systematic understanding of its conceptual evolution remains limited. This article provides the first macro‐level analysis of how digital sovereignty evolves across institutional and academic domains. Through analysis of 156 academic articles and 808 EU policy documents using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling, we reveal sophisticated patte…
EU Data Sovereignty: An Autonomy–Interdependence Governance Gap
The EU has explicitly linked the concept of data sovereignty to its ambitions as an international regulatory agenda‐setter in its position as self‐described geopolitical union. In particular, the EU has expressed repeatedly its desire to ensure its strategic autonomy, reducing its dependence on third countries and their key industries. The purpose of this article is to explore EU data governance ambitions by highlighting the gap between those aut…
Regulating misleading political advertising on online platforms: An example of regulatory mercantilism in digital policy
Since its Joint Communication on Hybrid Threats, the EU has publicly recognized the risks to its security posed by non-traditional means aimed at undermining its legitimacy. The propagation of disinformation including misleading political advertising serves as a key example of how the Commission's perception of the EU's vulnerability to hybrid threats in times of geopolitical instability is shaping its regulatory policies. This article uses the f…
Cybersecurity Trends in the European Union: Regulatory Mercantilism and the Digitalisation of Geopolitics
The European Union (EU)'s cybersecurity policy has, over the past two decades, undergone dramatic changes that have positioned it not only at the forefront of the EU's security policy landscape but also as one of the most influential policies across the EU policy spectrum (Carrapico and Farrand, 2020; Christou, 2015; Dunn Cavelty, 2013; Obendiek and Seidl, 2023). Over the years, the EU has become particularly aware of its increasing reliance on d…
The new geopolitics of EU cybersecurity: Security, Economy and Sovereignty
The European Union (EU) is currently experiencing significant geopolitical shifts and is concerned that its dependence on externally produced or foreign-owned technologies risks its strategic autonomy, with implications for its security and economy. In response, it has placed sovereignty at the forefront of its agenda and at the centre of its relations with the world. Academic literature has so far paid limited attention to understanding the inte…
The EU-China security paradox: Cooperation against all odds
Journal Article The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? Get access The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? By Julia Gurol. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 2022. 220pp. £80.00. Isbn978 1 52921 963 0. Available as e-book. Benjamin Farrand Benjamin Farrand Newcastle University, UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 99, Issue 1, January 20…
Digital sovereignty and taking back control: From regulatory capitalism to regulatory mercantilism in EU cybersecurity
In recent years, we have been able to observe the emergence and mainstreaming of an EU discourse on digital sovereignty, which highlights the importance of gaining back control of EU digital infrastructure and technological production, based on the EU's perceived loss of economic competitiveness, limited capacity to innovate, high degree of dependence on foreign digital infrastructures and service providers and, related to all these factors, diff…
People like that cannot be trusted’: Populist and technocratic political styles, legitimacy, and distrust in the context of Brexit negotiations
Debates in and over the European Union (EU) are increasingly characterised as being based in arguments that are either ‘populist’ or ‘technocratic’. As systems of communication, this article argues, populism and technocracy possess dramatically different logics of argumentation, modes of communication and meaning-making, distinct narratives, with appeals to distinct sources of legitimacy. As such, actors adopting either political style construct …
When Trust Fades, Facebook Is No Longer a Friend: Shifting Privatisation Dynamics in the Context of Cybersecurity as a Result of Disinformation, Populism and Political Uncertainty
This article discusses how populism and political uncertainty are impacting on one of the main current trends in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, namely the privatisation of JHA. Through an exploration of a cybersecurity policy case study, the article proposes to understand how the privatisation of internal security, which has resulted in private actors shaping JHA policies and regulation, is currently being disrupted. Through the use o…
Discursive continuity and change in the time of Covid-19: The case of EU cybersecurity policy
This article explores the extent to which Covid-19 has impacted the trajectory of EU Cybersecurity Policy. The Covid-19 crisis has led to an unprecedent reliance on digital solutions, ranging from teleworking to virus-tracking systems, resulting in the proliferation of Covid-19 related cybercrime, critical information infrastructure attacks and dissemination of pandemic disinformation. Although the virus has been repeatedly portrayed as life alte…
Combatting physical threats posed via digital means: The European Commission's developing approach to the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of the EU's policies regarding the combatting of counterfeiting and in particular the establishment of the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy (later renamed the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights). This paper will demonstrate how 'hard' legal regimes for the management of online sales of counterfeit items have been significantly limited by the …
Bold and newly Independent, or Isolated and Cast Adrift? The Implications of Brexit for Intellectual Property Law and Policy
What happens when a breakdown in relations results in mutually possessed objectives becoming harder to achieve? This article explores the consequences of the UK's withdrawal from the EU for intellectual property (IP) law and policy. Compared with other fields such as Economic and Monetary Union and the development of the EU's ‘social chapter’, the UK has been a supportive and proactive player in internal market integration, particularly pertainin…
Intellectual Property Law
xvii, 220 pages : 21 cm
Networked Governance and the Regulation of Expression on the Internet: The Blurring of the Role of Public and Private Actors as Content Regulators
This editorial provides an overview of the themes of network governance and content regulation that are expanded upon in the subsequent articles, identifying key issues and concerns that are prevalent in the literature in this field. In particular, this text considers governance not as an Internet-specific phenomenon, but as a global phenomenon, identifying and discussing literature pertaining to governance both online and offline, and providing …
Regulatory Capitalism, Decentered Enforcement, and its Legal Consequences for Digital Expression: The Use of Copyright Law to Restrict Freedom of Speech Online
Copyright, as currently understood, is justified by the belief that the protection it grants to creators incentivizes the continued creation of works deemed culturally beneficial to society. However, its use can be less altruistic, as a means of suppressing embarrassing or controversial information. The ability to disseminate sensitive material quickly through the Internet concerns both state and non-state actors, and there are indications that, …
Discursive continuity and change in the time of Covid-19: The case of EU cybersecurity policy
This article explores the extent to which Covid-19 has impacted the trajectory of EU Cybersecurity Policy. The Covid-19 crisis has led to an unprecedent reliance on digital solutions, ranging from teleworking to virus-tracking systems, resulting in the proliferation of Covid-19 related cybercrime, critical information infrastructure attacks and dissemination of pandemic disinformation. Although the virus has been repeatedly portrayed as life alte…
When Trust Fades, Facebook Is No Longer a Friend: Shifting Privatisation Dynamics in the Context of Cybersecurity as a Result of Disinformation, Populism and Political Uncertainty
This article discusses how populism and political uncertainty are impacting on one of the main current trends in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, namely the privatisation of JHA. Through an exploration of a cybersecurity policy case study, the article proposes to understand how the privatisation of internal security, which has resulted in private actors shaping JHA policies and regulation, is currently being disrupted. Through the use o…
Cybersecurity Trends in the European Union: Regulatory Mercantilism and the Digitalisation of Geopolitics
The European Union (EU)'s cybersecurity policy has, over the past two decades, undergone dramatic changes that have positioned it not only at the forefront of the EU's security policy landscape but also as one of the most influential policies across the EU policy spectrum (Carrapico and Farrand, 2020; Christou, 2015; Dunn Cavelty, 2013; Obendiek and Seidl, 2023). Over the years, the EU has become particularly aware of its increasing reliance on d…
Regulating misleading political advertising on online platforms: An example of regulatory mercantilism in digital policy
Since its Joint Communication on Hybrid Threats, the EU has publicly recognized the risks to its security posed by non-traditional means aimed at undermining its legitimacy. The propagation of disinformation including misleading political advertising serves as a key example of how the Commission's perception of the EU's vulnerability to hybrid threats in times of geopolitical instability is shaping its regulatory policies. This article uses the f…
People like that cannot be trusted’: Populist and technocratic political styles, legitimacy, and distrust in the context of Brexit negotiations
Debates in and over the European Union (EU) are increasingly characterised as being based in arguments that are either ‘populist’ or ‘technocratic’. As systems of communication, this article argues, populism and technocracy possess dramatically different logics of argumentation, modes of communication and meaning-making, distinct narratives, with appeals to distinct sources of legitimacy. As such, actors adopting either political style construct …
Bold and newly Independent, or Isolated and Cast Adrift? The Implications of Brexit for Intellectual Property Law and Policy
What happens when a breakdown in relations results in mutually possessed objectives becoming harder to achieve? This article explores the consequences of the UK's withdrawal from the EU for intellectual property (IP) law and policy. Compared with other fields such as Economic and Monetary Union and the development of the EU's ‘social chapter’, the UK has been a supportive and proactive player in internal market integration, particularly pertainin…
Combatting physical threats posed via digital means: The European Commission's developing approach to the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of the EU's policies regarding the combatting of counterfeiting and in particular the establishment of the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy (later renamed the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights). This paper will demonstrate how 'hard' legal regimes for the management of online sales of counterfeit items have been significantly limited by the …
The new geopolitics of EU cybersecurity: Security, Economy and Sovereignty
The European Union (EU) is currently experiencing significant geopolitical shifts and is concerned that its dependence on externally produced or foreign-owned technologies risks its strategic autonomy, with implications for its security and economy. In response, it has placed sovereignty at the forefront of its agenda and at the centre of its relations with the world. Academic literature has so far paid limited attention to understanding the inte…
The EU-China security paradox: Cooperation against all odds
Journal Article The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? Get access The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? By Julia Gurol. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 2022. 220pp. £80.00. Isbn978 1 52921 963 0. Available as e-book. Benjamin Farrand Benjamin Farrand Newcastle University, UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 99, Issue 1, January 20…
Networked Governance and the Regulation of Expression on the Internet: The Blurring of the Role of Public and Private Actors as Content Regulators
This editorial provides an overview of the themes of network governance and content regulation that are expanded upon in the subsequent articles, identifying key issues and concerns that are prevalent in the literature in this field. In particular, this text considers governance not as an Internet-specific phenomenon, but as a global phenomenon, identifying and discussing literature pertaining to governance both online and offline, and providing …
Regulatory Capitalism, Decentered Enforcement, and its Legal Consequences for Digital Expression: The Use of Copyright Law to Restrict Freedom of Speech Online
Copyright, as currently understood, is justified by the belief that the protection it grants to creators incentivizes the continued creation of works deemed culturally beneficial to society. However, its use can be less altruistic, as a means of suppressing embarrassing or controversial information. The ability to disseminate sensitive material quickly through the Internet concerns both state and non-state actors, and there are indications that, …
Intellectual Property Law
xvii, 220 pages : 21 cm
Bold and newly Independent, or Isolated and Cast Adrift? The Implications of Brexit for Intellectual Property Law and Policy
What happens when a breakdown in relations results in mutually possessed objectives becoming harder to achieve? This article explores the consequences of the UK's withdrawal from the EU for intellectual property (IP) law and policy. Compared with other fields such as Economic and Monetary Union and the development of the EU's ‘social chapter’, the UK has been a supportive and proactive player in internal market integration, particularly pertainin…
Combatting physical threats posed via digital means: The European Commission's developing approach to the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of the EU's policies regarding the combatting of counterfeiting and in particular the establishment of the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy (later renamed the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights). This paper will demonstrate how 'hard' legal regimes for the management of online sales of counterfeit items have been significantly limited by the …
Discursive continuity and change in the time of Covid-19: The case of EU cybersecurity policy
This article explores the extent to which Covid-19 has impacted the trajectory of EU Cybersecurity Policy. The Covid-19 crisis has led to an unprecedent reliance on digital solutions, ranging from teleworking to virus-tracking systems, resulting in the proliferation of Covid-19 related cybercrime, critical information infrastructure attacks and dissemination of pandemic disinformation. Although the virus has been repeatedly portrayed as life alte…
People like that cannot be trusted’: Populist and technocratic political styles, legitimacy, and distrust in the context of Brexit negotiations
Debates in and over the European Union (EU) are increasingly characterised as being based in arguments that are either ‘populist’ or ‘technocratic’. As systems of communication, this article argues, populism and technocracy possess dramatically different logics of argumentation, modes of communication and meaning-making, distinct narratives, with appeals to distinct sources of legitimacy. As such, actors adopting either political style construct …
When Trust Fades, Facebook Is No Longer a Friend: Shifting Privatisation Dynamics in the Context of Cybersecurity as a Result of Disinformation, Populism and Political Uncertainty
This article discusses how populism and political uncertainty are impacting on one of the main current trends in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, namely the privatisation of JHA. Through an exploration of a cybersecurity policy case study, the article proposes to understand how the privatisation of internal security, which has resulted in private actors shaping JHA policies and regulation, is currently being disrupted. Through the use o…
Digital sovereignty and taking back control: From regulatory capitalism to regulatory mercantilism in EU cybersecurity
In recent years, we have been able to observe the emergence and mainstreaming of an EU discourse on digital sovereignty, which highlights the importance of gaining back control of EU digital infrastructure and technological production, based on the EU's perceived loss of economic competitiveness, limited capacity to innovate, high degree of dependence on foreign digital infrastructures and service providers and, related to all these factors, diff…
The EU-China security paradox: Cooperation against all odds
Journal Article The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? Get access The EU-China security paradox: cooperation against all odds? By Julia Gurol. Bristol: Bristol University Press. 2022. 220pp. £80.00. Isbn978 1 52921 963 0. Available as e-book. Benjamin Farrand Benjamin Farrand Newcastle University, UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 99, Issue 1, January 20…
Regulating misleading political advertising on online platforms: An example of regulatory mercantilism in digital policy
Since its Joint Communication on Hybrid Threats, the EU has publicly recognized the risks to its security posed by non-traditional means aimed at undermining its legitimacy. The propagation of disinformation including misleading political advertising serves as a key example of how the Commission's perception of the EU's vulnerability to hybrid threats in times of geopolitical instability is shaping its regulatory policies. This article uses the f…
Cybersecurity Trends in the European Union: Regulatory Mercantilism and the Digitalisation of Geopolitics
The European Union (EU)'s cybersecurity policy has, over the past two decades, undergone dramatic changes that have positioned it not only at the forefront of the EU's security policy landscape but also as one of the most influential policies across the EU policy spectrum (Carrapico and Farrand, 2020; Christou, 2015; Dunn Cavelty, 2013; Obendiek and Seidl, 2023). Over the years, the EU has become particularly aware of its increasing reliance on d…
The new geopolitics of EU cybersecurity: Security, Economy and Sovereignty
The European Union (EU) is currently experiencing significant geopolitical shifts and is concerned that its dependence on externally produced or foreign-owned technologies risks its strategic autonomy, with implications for its security and economy. In response, it has placed sovereignty at the forefront of its agenda and at the centre of its relations with the world. Academic literature has so far paid limited attention to understanding the inte…
EU Data Sovereignty: An Autonomy–Interdependence Governance Gap
The EU has explicitly linked the concept of data sovereignty to its ambitions as an international regulatory agenda‐setter in its position as self‐described geopolitical union. In particular, the EU has expressed repeatedly its desire to ensure its strategic autonomy, reducing its dependence on third countries and their key industries. The purpose of this article is to explore EU data governance ambitions by highlighting the gap between those aut…
Promising security, delivering dependency: The material constraints of EU semiconductor collective securitisation
This article argues that the European Union’s collective securitisation of semiconductors reveals an overlooked constraint in securitisation theory: the structural mismatch between the ‘urgency’ logic of securitisation, and the multi-year timescales required to develop material capacity in infrastructure-intensive technological domains. While the EU successfully constructed access to semiconductors as an existential threat and key strategic vulne…
Opening the Black Box of EU Digital Sovereignty: A Macro‐Level Analysis of the Concept's Development
Digital sovereignty has emerged as a central organizing principle in European Union governance, yet systematic understanding of its conceptual evolution remains limited. This article provides the first macro‐level analysis of how digital sovereignty evolves across institutional and academic domains. Through analysis of 156 academic articles and 808 EU policy documents using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling, we reveal sophisticated patte…
Political science (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Business (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies (7 works) · Economics (7 works) · The Internet (7 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Politics (6 works)