Multilateral Approaches to Deliberating Internet Governance

Abstract

This essay tackles the question of how increased interactions among multiple actors facilitated by the Internet shape patterns of global governance, especially for the Internet itself. The paper argues that in global governance the types of actors, along with their collective understandings and deliberations, shape two different types of multilateral global orders: statist multilateralism and networked multilateralism. This paper employs the language of global governance rather than that of international regimes to distinguish three keys terms for understanding governance: global order, legitimacy and deliberations. These concepts are applied to the case of Internet governance, to the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which is characterized as statist multilateralism, the networked scenarios of the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS), and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The conclusion does not predict the demise of statist multilateralism (as do many analysts examining WSIS and IGF processes) but argues that these newer arrangements are analytically useful for understanding alternative governance arrangements likely to emerge in the future. As such, the concept of networked multilateralism could usefully be applied to cases other than the Internet.

Policy Story or Gory Story? Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of Buffalo Field Campaign's YouTube Videos

“…Garrett's () tripartite framework provides insight into the prospects for indirect conventional lobbying afforded by new media technologies. His first two categories, mobilizing and opportunity structures, emphasize new media mechanisms that enable collective action (see, e.g., Gueroguieva, ; Kahn & Kellner, ; Shulman, ; Van Aeist & Walgrave, ) and conditions that facilitate or constrain movement activities (e.g., Cover, ; Singh, ). Garrett (, p. 204) identifies a third category most relevant to this study, that is, new media's framing processes, which are “strategic attempts to craft, disseminate, and contest the language used to describe a movement.” The new media literature includes examinations of the novel opportunities presented by emerging technologies for disseminating and legitimizing frames.…”

Cyberterritory: An Exploration of the Concept

“…In this 'multilateral' governance model, driven by Russia and China in particular, cyber-related decision-making would be done by the so-called 'multilateral community', i.e. by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) (Singh 2009;Glen 2014).…”

Impact of free trade agreements on Internet domain name arbitration cases: A cross‐national comparison of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy

“…With the global expansion of the Internet, cyberspace regulation too has grown in importance to safeguard intellectual property rights (IPRs), consumer privacy, network security, and a host of other issues. However, an emergent supranational legal framework has often come into conflict with national law, as different jurisdictions have implemented different standards based on their legal traditions and level of development (Anisimov et al, 2015;Singh, 2009;ten Oever, 2019). International trade agreements, among other tools, have been used to reconcile standards of cyberspace and e-commerce regulation (World Summit on the Information Society, 2004Society, , 2005.…”