Global Governance of Information Communication Technology

Excerpts from the Introduction follow (footnote numbers omitted):

In parallel with globalisation of political and economic processes, there is considerable evidence pointing to the emergence of a transnational, even global, civil society. Numerous studies attest to the enormous growth and volume of civil society organisations active internationally, including estimates of over 47,000 international NGOs in existence in 2001 compared to just 13,000 in 1981 (Anheier & Themudo, 2002). True, this is not the first time that strands of civil society have gone beyond national borders to build coalitions with transnational reach and indeed have constructed a shared ethical and conceptual understanding transcending national circumstances. Trade-unionism, the antislavery movement and the struggle for women's suffrage are just a few examples. But there can be little doubt that the breadth of more recent civil society mobilisation, the range of issues addressed, and the depth of interaction is recent.

The reasons for this growth are many, and include a renewed globalisation of economic activity, the emergence of many issues of truly global concern, and the growing role and authority of multilateral and international governance institutions. Most studies agree, however, on a central role for enhanced communication in facilitating this development, and indeed the other related dynamics. There is a broad consensus that electronic communication and the expansion of the Internet were critical to the growth of a transnational civil society...

This paper considers only the intersection of these three trends:

• the emergence of a global civil society and the proliferation of transnational civil society organisations (TCSOs);
• the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support networking within and between TCSOs; and
• the evolution of the various international governance structures and entities that impact on such networking.

...The central conclusion is that most TCSO networking is currently relatively free of governance-related constraints that specifically and exclusively target it. Most relevant governance factors impact on far wider constituencies and capabilities than those associated with TCSO networking per se. Trends are summarised from a strategic perspective under the three layers, and found to have a direct and inordinate impact in descending order - i.e. the control layer is the most serious. Some very disturbing trends are identified that suggest that the current relative freedom might become a thing of the past. The growth of corporate power and censorship, emerging struggles within civil society and alliances outside, and the intensification of 'national security' frameworks in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centre all could play a part...

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