An Assessment of the Contribution of the Lebanese Universities in Internet Governance

Abstract

Internet governance is defined as the development and application of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet. According to the same definition, the list of players includes the governments, the private sector and civil society. While the number of researches and international conferences concerned with the governance issue is increasing, very little has been done to evaluate, at the national level, the role of each agent. Universities are one of the important agents belonging to civil society. This study aims to assess the role of the universities in internet governance in Lebanon. It consists of two parts: the description of the current state of affairs, and the framework of assessment. The role of the universities is to be investigated in all the initiatives and projects that run in Lebanon in the last 5 years. Lebanon was among the first Arab countries in using the internet and its universities were the pioneers. Comparative studies show that currently Lebanon lacks behind some of these countries in internet capacity, exploitation and governance. At the conceptual level, Lebanon has policies and strategies but not enough laws. In addition to the projects led by the governmental bodies, few initiatives are proposed and run by different non governmental organizations, international or national. On the other hand, as a developing country, Lebanon is highly affected by the global trends, especially in technology. This should be taken into consideration in constructing a framework for the assessment of the universities’ contribution. This framework should include the innovation issues according to which universities should participate in creating the vision, strategy and the environment that enables and promotes the use of the internet in the society. The challenges that are faced by the universities should also be included in the framework. These challenges include infrastructure, bandwidth, staff, regulatory framework and political instability. The last component of the framework is the expectations from universities that include: contributing in building literacy, developing local and national content, providing incubation centers, and participating in the process of policy development. The existing reports show that the contribution of the universities is not so big. A survey of the researches in the major 6 universities in Lebanon is carried to reveal the interest of academicians in internet governance or related issues.