E-Book Overview
The expansion of the Internet has been called the most revolutionary development in the history of human communications. It is ubiquitous and is changing politics, economics and social relations. Its borderless nature affects the roles of individuals, the magic of the marketplace and the problems of government regulation. As its development has increased apace, contradictions have arisen between existing regulatory regimes, private interests, government concerns, international norms and national interests. Unlike most areas where there are global institutions, and the role of governments is predominant, the Internet is a field where the private sector and civil society each have a role as important – or sometimes more important – than governments.
Based on international regime theory, this book analyses how the multi-stakeholder institutions have grown along with the Internet itself. Starting with an examination of how communications were regulated under the Westphalian system, John Mathiason shows how governance of the Internet started as a technical issue but became increasingly political as the management of critical resources began to conflict with other international regimes.
E-Book Content
Internet Governance
International institutions are evolving quickly as innovative approaches need to be adopted in order to deal with global problems that cannot be successfully addressed by the traditional system of nation-states. The expansion of the Internet has been called the most revolutionary development in the history of human communications. It is ubiquitous and is changing politics, economics, and social relations. Its borderless nature affects the roles of individuals, the magic of the marketplace, and the problems of government regulation. As its development has increased apace, contradictions have arisen between existing regulatory regimes, private interests, government concerns, international norms, and national interests. Unlike most areas where there are global institutions, and the role of governments is predominant, the Internet is a field where the private sector and civil society each have a role as important—or sometimes more important—than governments. Based on international regime theory, this book analyses how the multistakeholder institutions have grown along with the Internet itself. John Mathiason shows how governance of the Internet began as a technical issue but became increasingly political as the management of critical resources began to conflict with other international regimes and the Internet Governance Forum was a compromise solution to a governance issue that did not fit neatly into existing institutional structures. These new institutions will set precedents for other areas where governance is necessary beyond the nation-state. Internet Governance is an innovative multi-stakeholder approach to dealing with global problems and ideal reading for students, teachers, and researchers of politics of technology, digital politics, and governance. John Mathiason is Professor of International Relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. A former official of the United Nations Secretariat, he is the author of Invisible Governance: International Secretariats in Global Politics and many articles on global governance.
Routledge Global Institutions Edited by Thomas G. Weiss The CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA and Rorden Wilkinson University of Manchester, UK
About the Series The Global Institutions Series is designed to provide readers with comprehensive, accessible, and informative guides to the history, structure, and activities of key international organizations. Every volume stands on its own as a thorough and insightful treatment of a particular topic, but the series as a whole contributes to a coherent and complementary portrait of the phen