The struggle for communication rights: Global civil society and Internet govenance

Unrestricted With over two billion users worldwide, the Internet is arguably the most important communication infrastructure of the information age. Its near ubiquitous spread has raised questions about who controls and how to govern the Internet. This study analyzes the historical evolution of Internet governance institutions and discusses three phases of governance approaches to the Internet. During the first phase, governance of the Internet was self-regulatory and involved a community of users that made decisions through rough consensus. During the second phase the technical issue of domain name and addressing began debates over “Internet governance.” Larger issues of Internet governance emerged during the third phase that was marked by the World Summit on the Information Society, the existence of which illustrates the shift towards accepting the need for a global, more formal framework of governance. A main theme is the conflicting relationship between the global Internet and the traditional centralized system of authority of the territorially bound nation state.; In the age of global governance, global political processes are no longer exclusively the domain of governments. Civil society, while not as powerful as state power, has become a more active player in international politics. This dissertation documents how civil society organizations engage in global governance and analyzes the influence of civil society organizations on international negotiations of Internet governance.; The research involves a case study of Internet governance debates, with a focus on the role played by civil society organizations during the World Summit on Information Society and Internet Governance Forums from 2001 – 2009. The exploratory research involved multiple methods, including interviews, participant observation, organizational ecology, and an analysis of primary documents.; There are three main ways in which civil society organizations influenced the international Internet governance debates. First, they were involved with the democratization of Internet governance processes. Evidence for this was seen in the evolution of procedural rules regarding non-state actors. There was a qualitatively different level of civil society participation during the WSIS, representing a move to a multi-stakeholder model.; The second main influence of civil society organizations was their impact on the concept of Internet governance. Civil society reframed the understanding of Internet governance from a focus on technical and infrastructural issues to a humanistic perspective based on human rights and civil liberties. Civil society organizations were the main drivers of the shift in focus and the widening of policy parameters. The international negotiations resulted in a fundamental reassessment of the scope and nature of Internet governance.; The third main influence of civil society organizations involved how they impacted substantive issues during the negotiations, notably human rights. This finding was supported by analysis of civil society inputs reflected in the UN Summits’ final texts. The international negotiations led to a formal recognition about the need to base an Internet governance arrangement on the human rights framework. The study suggests that civil society will increasingly win seats at the negotiation table, and this could impact the practices and processes of international diplomacy on communication and information policy issues, as well as broader international issues, in the future.全球互联网用户规模超20亿，堪称信息时代最为重要的通信基础设施。其近乎无远弗届的普及，引发了谁掌控互联网、该如何治理互联网的诸多争议。本研究剖析了互联网治理机制的历史演进，并探讨了互联网治理路径的三个阶段。第一阶段，互联网治理以自治为主，由用户社群通过粗略共识做出决策。第二阶段，域名与寻址技术议题引发了关于“互联网治理”的讨论。第三阶段则以信息社会世界峰会（World Summit on the Information Society）为标志，彼时涌现出更多互联网治理层面的重大议题，该峰会的召开也体现出全球治理转向接受构建更正式的全球性治理框架的必要性。本研究的核心主题之一，是全球互联网与领土边界束缚下的民族国家传统集权权威体系之间的冲突关系。 在全球治理时代，全球政治进程不再仅由政府主导。公民社会虽不及国家权力强大，却已成为国际政治中愈发活跃的参与主体。本论文梳理了公民社会组织参与全球治理的路径，并剖析了其对互联网治理国际谈判的影响。 本研究以2001年至2009年间的互联网治理辩论为案例，重点聚焦公民社会组织在信息社会世界峰会及互联网治理论坛（Internet Governance Forums）中所扮演的角色。本探索性研究采用了多元研究方法，包括访谈法、参与式观察法、组织生态学分析以及原始文献研究。 公民社会组织对国际互联网治理辩论的影响主要体现在三个维度。其一，推动了互联网治理进程的民主化。相关证据可从非国家行为体相关程序规则的演变中窥见：信息社会世界峰会期间，公民社会参与程度出现了质的提升，标志着互联网治理向多利益相关方模式转型。 其二，重塑了人们对互联网治理的概念认知。公民社会将互联网治理的关注点从技术与基础设施议题，转向基于人权与公民自由的人文视角。公民社会组织是这场焦点转移与政策边界拓展的核心推动者。国际谈判最终促成了对互联网治理范畴与本质的根本性重新评估。 其三，影响了谈判进程中的实质性议题，尤以人权议题最为突出。这一结论得到了联合国峰会最终文件中所体现的公民社会建言的支持。国际谈判最终正式认可了互联网治理框架需以人权体系为基础的必要性。本研究表明，公民社会在谈判桌上的话语权将持续提升，这或将在未来影响通信与信息政策乃至更广泛国际议题的国际外交实践与进程。