[(Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance )] [Author: Milton L. Mueller] [Feb-2013]

by Milton L. Mueller

When the prevailing system of governing divides the planet into mutuallyexclusive territorial monopolies of force, what institutions can govern theInternet, with its transnational scope, boundless scale, and distributed control?Given filtering-censorship by states and concerns over national cyber-security, itis often assumed that the Internet will inevitably be subordinated to thetraditional system of nation-states. In Networks and States, Milton Mueller countersthis, showing how Internet governance poses novel and fascinating governance issuesthat give rise to a global politics and new transnational institutions. Drawing ontheories of networked governance, Mueller provides a broad overview of Internetgovernance from the formation of ICANN to the clash at the World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS), the formation of the Internet Governance Forum, theglobal assault on peer-to-peer file sharing and the rise of national-level Internetcontrol and security concerns. Mueller identifies four areas of conflict andcoordination that are generating a global politics of Internet intellectual property, cyber-security, content regulation, and the control ofcritical Internet resources (domain names and IP addresses). He investigates howrecent theories about networked governance and peer production can be applied to theInternet, offers case studies that illustrate the Internet's unique governanceproblems, and charts the historical evolution of global Internet governanceinstitutions, including the formation of a transnational policy network around theWSIS. Internet governance has become a source of conflict in internationalrelations. Networks and States explores the important role that emergingtransnational institutions could play in fostering global governance ofcommunication-information policy.

Paperback

First published September 3, 2010

About the author

Milton L. Mueller is Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy. He is the author of Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2002) and other books.

Reviews

[Joel Beebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

So boring ugh idk why I read this

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently I forgot I read this, so clearly it made a big impression. I think I remember it being decent, if dry, and informative, if long-winded.