ABSTRACT
Over the past quarter-century, the world has developed a dependence on an open, relatively insecure computer network for a whole range of critical infrastructure and functions. In the early years of the Internet, there was an assumption that the organization and governance of this network was simply an issue of technical coordination. Over time, it became evident that Internet governance, situated as it is at the interface of a whole range of global resources, is, in fact, deeply political. Internet governance raises many of the same fundamental questions that animate the concerns in this volume with international organization and global governance. What and who governs the Internet? Where does global Internet governance take place? And what is understood to be the purpose of global Internet governance, its structures and its practices? The answers to these questions reveal a complex, multidimensional matrix of actors, institutions, mechanisms, and interests—sometimes conflicting and competing with one another. 1
