United to be Effective - The European Union in negotiating global Internet governance principles

Sammanfattning

The Internet’s importance and the threats it faces make the global governance system crucial. The EU’s influence on these global governance principles is understudied, making the level of unity and effectiveness indefinite. This thesis aims to uncover this gap in the research, leading to the research question: How can the EU unite and be effective when negotiating global internet governance principles? The factors explaining the unity and the connection to effectiveness are traced, relating to the core assumptions of rational choice institutionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism and social constructivism theories. NETmundial negotiation in 2014 is analysed as a representative case which influenced the internet governance principles present today. The year 2024 is pivotal in terms of upgrading these principles resulting from the new threats of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) as well as the challenges identified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the EU’s effectiveness and unity in the upcoming debates requires going back to one of the most influential moments affecting the internet today. A multi-method approach combining qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis provides a complementing approach to the analysis of the EU’s official resources and the negotiations. This thesis argues that the EU acted as united and effective in negotiating many of the internet governance principles we can identify today, affirming the liberal intergovernmental assumptions of the member state preferences as a significant factor.