The Governance of Cyberspace: Politics, Technology and Global Restructuring

The Governance of Cyberspace arose from a small conference focusing on the political and social implications of the Intemet (p. xii). Held at the University of Teesside, England, in April 1995, the conference's participants ranged from social scientists to science fiction writers (pp. ix-xii). The twelve contributors (thirteen, if we include the editor, Brian Loader, who wrote the introduction) come from diverse backgrounds, yet share one thing in common: a penchant for European-style political and social science. This style of political science tends to be more theoretical and less empirical than the political science with which most Americans are familiar. Accordingly, rather than providing definitive answers to policy questions, ale chapters of this book by and large merely raise questions for the reader to consider. Rather than covering all thirteen chapters, this Book Note focuses on specific chapters which exemplify the larger issues raised in each part o f the book. Potential readers of the book should then be able to discern the topics of most interest to themselves. The political and social implications raised by The Governance of Cyberspace center on three questions. First, what exactly is "cyberspace"? Second, what does eyberspace mean for governance? Third, what does cyberspace mean for us as citizens? These three questions are dealt with, respectively, in Parts I, II, and III of the book.