A new form of governance, if that is what it can be called has grown up over the past few decades, which has the potential to challenge individual state’s power structures. Some say it already is. This is called The Internet.
Professor Milton Mueller from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, author of the influential books: 'Networks and States: The global politics of Internet governance' and 'Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace' explains the existence of a struggle between sovereign states which operate within a limited territory, and the Internet, which knows no borders. Such a struggle can be equated in terms of political perception to the tension between realism and libertarianism. He points out that the Internet is not a mere tool and an object itself of political action. The mere existence of a means of communication that exists across borders and cultures cannot help to erode away political differences. The ‘Peer Production’ that the Internet brings creates the opportunity for a new kind of economy that thrives on collective use of intellectual resources not based in the same geographical location.
How quickly the Internet will grow, and how fast will governments try to claw back elements of their own sovereignty is the subject matter of this programme.
