GIGARTS2018 Conference

GIGARTS 2018 - The Second European Multidisciplinary Conference on Global Internet Governance Actors, Regulations, Transactions and Strategies

Overcoming Inequalities in Internet Governance: framing digital policy capacity building strategies

GIG-ARTS 2018 - The Second European Multidisciplinary Conference on Global Internet Governance Actors, Regulations, Transactions and Strategies

26-27 April 2018, Cardiff

Overcoming Inequalities in Internet Governance: framing digital policy capacity building strategies

Organised by: Centre for Internet and Global Politics / School of Law and Politics / Cardiff University

In partnership with: DiploFoundation, The ECPR Standing Group on Internet and Politics, The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet), IAMCR Communication Policy and Technology Section, ICA Division Communication Law & Policy

Conference Description

After having explored “Global Internet Governance as a Diplomacy Issue” at its first edition in Paris in 2007, the Second European Multidisciplinary Conference on Global Internet Governance Actors, Regulations, Transactions and Strategies (GIG-ARTS 2018) addresses power inequalities in internet governance, and digital policy capacity building strategies aiming at overcoming gaps in digital policy developments.

Connectivity infrastructure is constantly expanding, while internet access is incessantly growing across countries, regions and socio-political contexts. In this context, new and crucial questions emerge from a governance and security perspective. As for the latter, new connectivity calls for cybersecurity capacity building strategies aiming at secure digital infrastructure. At the same time, from a governance perspective, traditional powers in the governance of the internet are increasingly challenged from newly connected actors who demand more influence in the transnational debate around digital policy development. As a result, despite claims for equal representations and diversity since the first World Summit on Information Society in 2003, the narrowing of the digital divide opens new and key questions: Whether and what inequalities exist in internet governance decision making? How is the rapidly changing internet geography and sociography reflected in the governance of the internet? Moreover, in order to increase awareness and enhance involvement of newly connected countries in national and transnational digital policy developments, what are the best internet governance capacity building strategies available? How do newly connected countries and actors build their digital policy capacity, and do they develop an active role in the transnational internet governance debate? Whether in newly or early connected countries, various kinds of divides persist across socio-cultural and political contexts, reflecting if not extending societal and socio-economic inequalities. Are such renewed forms of inequalities and discriminations adequately addressed in internet governance debates? What are the requirements for digital policies to actually empower people and uphold their individual and collective rights online?

In order to answer these crucial and manifold questions, the conference program includes more than 20 scholarly presentations and contributions from policy makers from the European Commission, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Chatham House, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ICANN, UNESCO, DiploFoundation and the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace.

The conference will also benefit from the contribution of Professor JP Singh, Chair of Culture and Political Economy / Director of the Centre for Cultural Relations at the University of Edinburgh, and author of the forthcoming book Development 2.0:  How Technologies Can Foster Inclusivity in the Developing World (Oxford University Press), who will deliver the keynote speech.

Please find more information about the program below, or via the conference website: https://www-npa.lip6.fr/gig-arts/conference/programme/

Program Chair

Andrea Calderaro
Centre for Internet and Global Politics, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom

Program Committee

William J. Drake, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Marianne Franklin, Goldsmiths University

Katharina Höne, DiploFoundation, Malta & Switzerland

Nanette S. Levinson, American University Washington DC, USA

Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom

Meryem Marzouki, CNRS & Sorbonne Université, France

Ben Wagner, UW Vienna, Austria

GIG-ARTS 2018 Communication Details

Website: events.gig-arts.eu | www.cigp.eu

Registration

Limited number of seats are available, so please register by 20th April:

https://www-npa.lip6.fr/gig-arts/conference/registration/

Or, contact:

- Conference Format: events@gig-arts.eu | Andrea Calderaro (CalderaroA@Cardiff.ac.uk)

- Logistics: Verity Marsterson (MarstersonVL@cardiff.ac.uk)

Venue

The conference will be held in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, at the Centre for Internet and Global Politics, hosted at Cardiff University / School of Law and Politics.

Address:

Cardiff University - Main Building
Park Pl - CF10 3AT

Conference program [PDF]

Day 1 – Thursday 26 April 2018

09:15-09:30     Welcome Session
Andrea Calderaro (Cardiff University)

09:30-11:00     Session 1:Inequalities in Internet Governance
Chair: Meryem Marzouki (CNRS France)

• Global Informal Governance, Non-State Actors, and Models of National Policy-Making: Explaining Standard Developing Organisation (SDO) Decisions Through Multiple Streams
  Alison Harcourt (Exeter University)

• Lost in (IANA) Transition: Inequalities and Discursive Struggles Within The “Global Multistakeholder Community”
  Mauro Santaniello, Francesco Amoretti and Nicola Palladino (University of Salerno)

• Participation Matters: Potential Effects of the IGF on Internet Governance Capacity Building
  Dmitry Epstein (University of Illinois) and Brandie Nonnecke (UC Berkeley)

11:00-11:30     Coffee Break

11:30-13:00     Session 2 – Cyber Capacity Building: Security
Chair: Robin Mansell (London School of Economics)

• Cyber Security Capacity Building: Strengthening Policy Advice
  Madeline Carr & Alex Chung (University College London), Atif Hussain & Siraj Shaikh (Coventry University)

• Cyber Security a Shared Responsibility? The Role and Likelihood of Public Private Partnerships in National Cyber-Security Strategies as a Capacity Building Tool of Power Politics
  Madeleine Myatt and Detlef Sack (University of Bielefeld)

• Cyber Security Strategies: a Comparative Analysis
  Domenico Fracchiolla (LUISS University) and Mara Morini (University of Genova)

• The Necessity and Pitfalls of Cybersecurity Capacity Building for Norm Development in Cyberspace
  Zine Homburger (Leiden University)

13:00-14:30      Lunch Break

14:30-15:30      Roundtable: Politics and Policy of Cyber Capacity Building
Chair: Andrea Calderaro (Cardiff University)

The cyber dimension is increasingly central in foreign policy, and discussions around how to develop a sustainable internet infrastructure have become key to regulatory strategies at the transnational and national level. New levels of connectivity are welcomed as opportunities, but also increase vulnerability from a security and human rights perspective. Therefore, there is a growing demand to securitize connectivity, which is at the center of urgent demands to develop cyber capacity across actors, newly connected countries and beyond. CCB Strategies will be discussed by:

- Panagiota-Nayia Barmpaliou (European Commission, DG Int. Cooperation & Dev.)
- Robert Colliet (UK Cabinet, Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
- Emily Taylor (Chatham House)

15:30-16:00     Coffee Break

16:00-17:30     Session 3 – Cyber Capacity Building: Human Rights
Chair: Ben Wagner (Vienna University of Economics and Business)

• The Repressive Potentials of Social Media Regulation: a Warning From Turkey To the World
  Sefa Ozalp, Chiara Poletti and Daniel Gray (Cardiff University)

• Content Control Contestations: Why Authoritarian States Challenge the Internet Freedom Norm
  Daniëlle Flonk (Hertie School of Governance)

• Two Generations of Online Speech Controls in Russia: from Filtering and Blocking to Creating a Copy of the National Internet Infrastructure?
  Liudmila Sivetc (University of Turku)

18:00-18:30     Key Note Speech at the Wales National Museum
Speaker: Professor JP Singh (University of Edinburg)

18:30-20:00     Conference Reception at the Wales National Museum

Day 2 – Friday 27 April 2018

09:00-09:30      UNESCO’s “Internet Universality Indicators”
Xianhong Hu (UNESCO)

09:30-11:00      Session 4 – Cyber Capacity Building: Economy and Trade
Chair: William Drake (University of Zurich)

• WTO Digital Trade Discussions: Identifying the Way Forward
  Marilia Maciel, Jovan Kurbalija and Roxana Radu (DiploFoundation)

• Data Flows & National Security: a Conceptual Framework to Assess Restrictions on Data Flows Under GATS Security Exception
  Martina Francesca Ferracane (University of Hamburg)

• The International Political Economy of Digital Catching-Up: New Trade Agreements and Digital Latecomers
  Shamel Azmeh (University of Bath), Christopher Foster and Jaime Echávarri Valdez (University of Sheffield)

• Towards a New Tech Meritocracy? World Society, Technological Capacity and Participation in Global Internet Governance
  Thomas Winzen and David Weyrauch (Mannheim University)

11:00-11:30       Coffee Break

11:30-12:30       Roundtable: Power Struggles in Internet Governance
Chair: Andrea Calderaro (Cardiff University)

Discussions on how to enhance inclusiveness in digital policies decision making processes has been at the centre of internet governance debate since its origins. Enhanced connectivity has however made it even more pressing that newly connected actors are represented in the debate. As a result, there is an increasing need to expose existing forms of inequalities and understand how they impact on agenda setting and decision making capacities. Discussions on internet governance inequalities and strategies to overcome this gap will benefit from the contribution from:

- Marilia Maciel (DiploFoundation / Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace)
- Andrea Beccalli (ICANN)
- Mike Nxele (UN International Telecommunication Union - ITU)
- Xianhong Hu (UNESCO)

12:30-14:00       Lunch Break

14:00-15:30       Session 5 – Identifying the gaps: Actors, Diplomacy, and Regulation
Chair: Katharina Höne (DiploFoundation)

• Big Data – Big Capacity Gaps? Towards Capacity Building for Big Data in Diplomacy and Development Cooperation in the Context of Small and Developing Countries
  Katharina Höne (DiploFoundation)

• Who Owns the Internet, and Why Does it Matter? An Analysis of ISP Ownership in Africa
  Tina Freyburg, Lisa Garbe and Veronique Wavre (University of St. Gallen)

• Artificial Limitations and Meaningful Access: How Artificial Limitations on the Internet Affect Digital Inequalities
  Massimo Ragnedda and Hanna Kreitem (Northumbria University)

• Who direct Social Media governance? An empirical study of actors performing the controversy around Social Media and content regulation
  Chiara Poletti (Cardiff University)

15:30                 Concluding Remarks