Open source has long been celebrated as a global commons — a space where collaboration transcends borders. But what happens when states start curating their own open stacks? From India Stack to the emerging “Deutschland Stack,” governments are assembling and exporting open-source components as part of their digital public infrastructure strategies. These stacks aren’t just technical blueprints — they’re instruments of digital sovereignty, industrial policy, and geopolitical influence.

This talk explores how open source has become a site of stack diplomacy: where nations intentionally assemble, govern, and export open technologies to shape global standards and alliances. Drawing on examples from India, China, and the EU, we’ll unpack how “stack curation” works — how the choice of APIs, identity frameworks, or governance models can reflect national philosophies, and how this transforms open infrastructure into soft (and sometimes hard) power.

We’ll discuss what this means for open source communities:

How do we navigate the line between openness and national interest?

Can open collaboration coexist with state-led curation?

And what responsibilities do open source maintainers have in this new landscape?

By the end, participants will have a clearer understanding of how open stacks are reshaping global cooperation — and how the open source community can respond to ensure openness remains a principle, not just a branding tool.