Multistakeholder Internet governance: A pathway completed, the road ahead

In a new paper, Stuart N. Brotman reviews the potential barriers facing the US and others in pursuit of multistakeholder governance of the Internet -- an authority shift that the US and its allies argue is necessary to preserve the Internet's openness, flexibility, and global scalability. This approach, articulated over the course of several multilateral Internet governance meetings in the last several years, is opposed by some particularly authoritarian countries that would prefer greater government control over how the Internet functions within their borders. Despite this opposition, the US and its allies are moving forward with this historic transition in Internet governance.

Multistakeholder governance can work in practice, but akin to so many start-up companies, the chances for failure are high and the prospects for success low. Measuring success, calibrating failure and making the necessary course corrections are activities that the multistakeholder Internet governance model inevitably will require over time.