Communication Seminar Series

jointly organized with the C-Centre  

Global Internet Governance and China

Nowadays the Internet has become an essential part of daily life for almost half of the world’s population, including China, and there is consensus on the general idea that the Internet bears a character of public interest.  With growing concern on cybersecurity issues, and the realization that freedom of speech and global inequalities are at stake, the sensitivity of Internet governance is now coming to light.

But how to regulate activities online is a matter of controversy, as economic and political interests diverge, as well as normative preferences.  This is further complicated by the great number of layers that the Internet is composed of, and therefore the great number of actors implicated in making and managing it.

Meanwhile the global balance of powers is also changing, with the advent of new powerful states, non-state and private actors.  Among them, the emergence of China as a « new cyberpower » has increasingly affected discussions of global Internet governance, and raised a new set of questions to Western liberal democracies, not only because the Chinese government and businesses have become much more visible and assertive on the global stage.

In this seminar, Dr. Arsène will describe the main components of global Internet governance and discuss the increasingly important role China has played in this framework so far, and highlight how the Chinese case points to democratic cracks in the current Internet governance system.

For enquiries, please contact the C-Centre (+852 2943 7701)

Please register here.  The Seminar will be held in English.