Abstract
In this chapter, I argue that we need to re-consider the role of the state in global Internet governance—a crucial domain of today’s international communication—by using China as an example. I first offer a historical review of the “rise and fall” of the state in the scholarly discussion in international communication. I then discuss how the role of the state has recently become a highly contentious analytical category in the subfield of global Internet governance. Finally, I briefly trace China’s participation in global Internet policymaking in the past three decades to illustrate the complicated role of the state and call for more nuanced scholarly inquiry.
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- 1.
Despite its growing regional and international power, China might still be considered a country of the global South, for its relatively low Human Development Index score, its semi-colonial history, its sociologist revolution, and its participation in the South-South cooperation projects. For a detailed discussion, see Bhuiyan (2014).
- 2.
For the famous debate between Ralph Miliband and Nicos Poulantzas on the role of the state in the 1960s and its influence in communication studies, see Mosco (1982).
- 3.
Note that in the communication literature, countries that participated in the NWICO movements were commonly known as the “Third World states,” which refer to the nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were not aligned with either the Soviet Union or the United States during the Cold War. This term was then incorporated into the more general term of “global South” after the end of the Cold War. I used the term “Third World” here to help more easily contextualize in the literature.
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Shen, H. (2022). A New Perspective on the Importance of the State in Global Internet Governance: Tracing China’s Participation. In: Ganter, S.A., Badr, H. (eds) Media Governance. Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research - A Palgrave and IAMCR Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05020-6_10
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