Networks and States

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

Internet
governance has become a source of conflict in international relations.
Networks and States explores the important role that emerging
transnational institutions could play in fostering global governance of
communication-information policy.