Internet Governance: A Complex Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze, using the complexity criteria, the Internet governance process, in particular the relationship between different stakeholders (governments, private sector, civil society) and the levels of governance (self-regulation, state sovereignty, international law), which have to find a new way by which to express themselves and harmonize their different perspectives. The thesis I would demonstrate is that the UN process about Internet governance, started in 2006, could be helped in its future developing by a complex approach. As I'll try to explain, it represents the most relevant global laboratory we have had until now, in which we are experimenting and defining new governance models, more adapted to our global and complex society. According to me, Internet governance process could also be exported to other sectors of public policies, in which we need an involvement of different stakeholders, not only states or formal institutions, and a broader and shared consensus.