A Social and Historical Perspective of Multistakeholderism: Results from a Survey at ICANN 52 (2015)

Internet governance is a shifting object and this is partly due to the multistakeholder model onto which it is based. Yet, events and increasingly wide-based debates on Internet governance issues are structuring discourses and alliances between actors and organisations that influence trajectories of global internet governance (GIG). Based on a case-survey conducted at ICANN 52 (2015), we map the opinions of participants to this event on the multistakeholder model of governance and its evolution through time. We consider particularly events that have been very significantly shaping and structuring the debate around GIG. Our goal is to test few hypotheses on the socio-political institutionalization of Internet that has become a key element of new transnational digital capitalism that could well be the pillars of a transnational society sharing core principles and values.