International Journal of Communications Law & Policy

INTRODUCTION - INTERNET GOVERNANCE SECTION
(in partnership with Giganet)
By Slavka Antonova

In this issue of the IJCLP, we have devoted a section to the exciting new research area of Internet Governance. The articles in that section are authored by members of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet), a developing network of scholars from around the world.
Internet Governance is a multidisciplinary research field with topics ranging from the management of the key address resources of the global Net to issues of property rights, security and privacy, and to the innovative multistakeholder collaboration in policy making.

The articles included in the Internet governance section elaborate on a broad range of organizational and substantive policy issues. They converge, though, on the view that Internet governance is an experiment in participatory democracy at the global level. To understand its innovatory potential, the authors focus on the following issues:
- the role of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in governance of the information society and the possibilities for the civil society to participate in the current structural changes;
- devising transnational safety mechanisms for children on the Internet;
- the influence of customs for the further development of multistakeholderism;
- the mechanisms of enhancing accountability in Internet Governance;
- the interplay between interoperability standards and the interests of developing countries; and
- ICANN's role in the dispute between state and non-state actors in regard to the management of ccTLDs.

Back to top