Old and New Authorities in Internet Governance

Abstract

In the field of internet governance, old and new authorities ‒ such as international organizations or private actors ‒ are on the rise. One the one hand, established internet governance actors attempt to expand their authority, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) via the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. On the other hand, international organizations active in other areas broaden their scope to include new or additional internet governance issues, such as the Council of Europe’s Cloud Evidence Group. Moreover, private actors try to generate new rules, thereby not only challenging existing ones but also contesting other actors’ scope of authority, such as Microsoft proposing a Digital Geneva Convention. The result is a governance space which is ever more populated by competing authorities. Why are these authorities emerging, where do they clash and how are conflicts managed? The panel aims to address explanations for the development of the authority of internet governance actors, since actor diversity challenges assumptions of state-based accounts in political science research. Furthermore, it focuses on the implications of institutional density with regard to internet norms and rules, and assesses different responses to authority conflicts.