Internet governance is representative of new modes of transnational and semi-privatized governance. It is often described as being a multistakeholder process. Various stakeholders such as states, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, the technical community, academics and civil society are able to participate to the elaboration of common rules for the Internet in forums such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers or the UN-sponsored Internet Governance Forum. According to several observers, this process is an embryonic form of transnational democracy. In this paper, I argue that Internet governance is better described as an elitist process. I will first assert that it is useful for a critical approach to international relations to focus on transnational elites as key actors in new forms of governance. Transnational elites are a way to criticize both state-centered and liberal/pluralist visions of global governance without assuming the a priori existence of a unified transnational capitalist class. I will then combine critical international relations with elite theory and classical sociology to outline a definition of the concept of transnational elites. This part represents an attempt to ''transnationalize'' some key concepts of classical political sociology to study global politics rather than interstate relations. Finally, I will try to explain to what extent the concept of transnational elites applies to my case study and discuss the democratic character of Internet governance. In this last part, I will draw upon C. Wright Mills and his concept of “power elite” and use some data on the history of Internet governance and use network analysis to re-construct the emergence of this political issue in the light of elite theory.
