A Comparative Perspective on Internet Governance – Russia and the United States

Abstract

The Internet is a space that, contrary to its primary efforts, has not managed to escape regulation. Also, the question Can the Internet be controlled? has been replaced by the question In what way is the Internet governed?, because the possibility of control has already been confirmed. Contrary to popular belief that only authoritarian regimes use control mechanisms, even the restrictive ones, liberal countries also have the same possibilities of control and often apply them, although in a more sophisticated way. The aim of this paper is to compare internet governance in Russia, as the representative of the authoritarian regime, to the United States of America, as the representative of the liberal system, and answer the question: What are the differences in internet governance between authoritarian and liberal regimes?