Cyberspace is one of the most critical resource domains in
contemporary society. The principle of state sovereignty is one of
the most important concepts underpinning the world’s governance
institutions. This lecture will examine the relationship between the
two. Based on an analysis of the techno-economic features of the
domain, it questions the desirability and practicality of sovereignty
in cyberspace, and explores the applicability of global commons
models to cyberspace. While I will show that self-governance by
a transnational Internet community is both possible and in many respects already exists, the
military significance of the cyber domain and the mounting tensions between national authority
over information and communications and the globalized capabilities of the Internet means
that governance in cyberspace must take state power into account. But does this mean we are
doomed to revert to the territorially fragmented governance of a sovereignty-based model? Or
can some way be found to reconcile the two?
