The Global Internet Governance Trajectory: Actors and States of Play

Abstract

Global governance and the evolution of policy making from an international to a transnational paradigm has generated a lot of scholarly interest from different disciplines and in various sectors, such as human rights, health, finance, trade, security or, most notably, environment. More recently, the global governance of the Internet has also raised numerous research questions dealing with its institutional transformations and the politicization of its related issues, previously seen as technical only and thus confined to specific spheres and actors. Examining ten years of Internet governance developments in global perspective, this panel presents research highlighting key stakeholders (governments, privae sector, cvil society, technical community, international organizations) including their visions and evolution during this decade. Particular attention is paid to trends emerging in the last two years and to the roles of nongovernmental actors. Each paper contributes a specific lens on power relations and political change in the internet governance arena. The panel will also analyze critically new initiatives and global governance arenas including the Internet Governance Forum (since 2006); the World Conference on International Telecommunications held in Dubai in 2012; the NetMundial convened jointly by ICANN and the Brazilian governement held in Sao Paulo in 2014; the Technical community-led “1Net” multistakeholder initiative launched in 2013; The “NetMundial Initiative” launched as a follow-up to the NetMundial meeting with the World Economic Forum; and many others, not to mention regional or issue-specific initiatives led by some governments.‬‬‬‬‬ Addressing outcomes of these initiatives and arenas, panelists from a range of disciplinary and cultural backgrounds present theoretical and empirical work that identifies emergent redefinitions of powers and balances in the global Internet governance regime complex and explores the IG state of play ten years after the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society’s Working Group on Internet Governance forged a focus on ‘multistakeholderism’ .

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Dismantling and Assembling a Governance Regime: An Institutional Theory-Based Perspective on the Internet Governance Forum	View Paper Details
IOs and the Technical Communities In The Internet Governance Institutional Complex: Strategies and Perspectives	View Paper Details
The Politicisation of the Internet’s Domain Name System - Implications for Internet Security, Universality, and Freedom	View Paper Details