Internet Governance: A Primer

This primer offers an overview of internet governance, discussing its history, the issues at stake and the various actors involved. It shows how governance decisions can have social and economic ramifications, and it suggests steps that can be taken to enhance developing country participation in internet governance. This primer is part of the e-Primer for the Information Economy, Society and Policy Series, and was developed as part of the Open Regional Dialogue on internet Governance (ORDIG), an Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) initiative.

Section I of the primer attempts to provide some definitions, and offers an analytical scheme by which to conceptualise the topic. Internet governance, it suggests, can be understood through a metaphor of “layers” – a division of issues and actors into three broad categories, each of which corresponds to a different facet of the network. As the text explains, there exist many possible layers. This primer chooses to divide the network into three layers: infrastructure, logical, and content. Section II addresses some of the specific issues at stake in internet governance. It also discusses some of the actors – the bodies, institutions and fora – involved in these issues. In order to provide a certain amount of order to the crowded field of issues and actors, the discussion is organised by the previously mentioned layers. Section III discusses an issue of particular relevance to readers in the Asia-Pacific region: the interaction of internet governance and development. It attempts to show how governance decisions can have social and economic ramifications, and it suggests some steps that can be taken to enhance developing country participation in internet governance. Section IV returns to the broader picture. It explains a number of concepts, and evaluates some models for governance. Finally, Section V, the conclusion, offers some best practices, and considers the future of internet governance.