No-one can say the topic of sovereignty hasn't been debated in the UK. It has been discussed, and analysed, and argued - oh the arguments - until the very mention of the word sends shivers down the spine.

But, arguably, the entire debate has been conducted on the wrong terms, framed as it has been by eighteenth-century concepts of nationalism and 19th century ideas of free trade.

It's told us very little about what sovereignty will mean in the 21st century - an era many powerful people believe will be defined by the challenge of achieving "technological sovereignty".

The idea that modern sovereignty requires technological autonomy has long been promoted by autocrats such as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who earlier this month passed a wide-ranging "sovereign internet" law giving officials extensive powers to restrict traffic on the Russian web.

Now, democratic leaders are beginning to follow their lead.

Last week, Emmanuel Macron gave an interview to The Economist. The headline was the French president's warning that, as he put it, we are witnessing "the brain death of NATO".

What got less coverage was his proposed response: sweeping European technological sovereignty for "artificial intelligence, data, digital technology and 5G, all forms of technology which are both civilian and military".

Making this happen would involve nothing less than a complete reinvention of the way European countries approach technology. No longer would they buy equipment and software from abroad, creating long-lasting dependencies on the two tech superpowers, America and China.

No longer would citizens allow Silicon Valley firms to, as Mr Macron put it, decide "what shapes your life, from your relationship with your girlfriend, to managing your children's daily lives and your accounts, etc..."

Instead, in his vision, European nations should build and rely on their own technology - not because it is better, but because it is European.

Making this plan a reality will be difficult. European countries are divided on a number of tricky tech questions, most notably 5G infrastructure, which Mr Macron wants to be built with kit from European manufacturers Ericsson and Nokia, rather than Chinese Huawei.

But this week Mr Macron received the backing of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who urged the EU to seize control of data from Silicon Valley tech giants, saying the bloc should claim "digital sovereignty" from the US.

The idea that modern sovereignty requires technological autonomy has long been promoted by autocrats such as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin...Now, democratic leaders are beginning to follow their lead. Rowland Manthorpe

"So many companies have just outsourced all their data to US companies," Mrs Merkel told German business leaders, calling for an "EU cloud" to be built so data could remain on the continent.

That may sound unlikely right now, but with China and the US both using technological superiority to pursue greater power politics it's far from impossible. The need is strong, even if the will is weak.

What does this mean for the UK, as it stumbles towards Brexit? Perhaps the fullest analysis of this question has been conducted by Ian Hogarth, co-founder of concert alert service Songkick.

In an essay published in 2018, he predicted that an accelerated arms race in machine learning would drive the emergence of "a new kind of geopolitics" akin to the one created by the invention of nuclear weapons in the 20th century.

Assessing the UK's readiness for this "AI nationalism", he found it deeply lacking, as large swathes of the nation's talent and data had been sold to foreign countries.

There are many examples, but the most obvious is DeepMind, the world's leading AI lab. Built in the UK, but owned and operated by Google's umbrella organisation, Alphabet.

"Is there a case to be made for the UK to reverse this acquisition and buy DeepMind out of Google and reinstate it as some kind of independent entity?" Mr Hogarth asked.

In a world of technological sovereignty, there almost certainly is, but, at present, none of our politicians are even contemplating the question.

It is not pleasant to contemplate the rise of technologically-fuelled nationalism. But when a future becomes increasingly inevitable, it's better to face it directly.

We - the people who are, at least in theory, the source and purpose of all this sovereignty - have a month left of this election campaign to make that happen.

Previously on Sky Views: Beth Rigby - This election is a choice between Brexit identity and party allegiance

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Sky Views: Sovereignty? If it's not technological, it won't count - Sky News