Networks and States - 9780262518574

When the prevailing system of governing divides the planet into mutually exclusiveterritorial monopolies of force, what institutions can govern the Internet, with its transnationalscope, boundless scale, and distributed control? Given filtering/censorship by states and concernsover national cybersecurity, it is often assumed that the Internet will inevitably be subordinatedto the traditional system of nation-states. In Networks and States, MiltonMueller counters this, showing how Internet governance poses novel and fascinating governance issuesthat give rise to a global politics and new transnational institutions. Drawing on theories ofnetworked governance, Mueller provides a broad overview of Internet governance from the formation ofICANN to the clash at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the formation of theInternet Governance Forum, the global assault on peer-to-peer file sharing, and the rise ofnational-level Internet control and security concerns.

Internet governance hasbecome a source of conflict in international relations. Networks and Statesexplores the important role that emerging transnational institutions could play in fostering globalgovernance of communication-information policy.