Abstract
The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), ending in 2005, was the most recent in the series of global United Nations (UN) summits that started with the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.1 The main objective of the WSIS was to discuss the effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on modern society.2 The unique feature of the WSIS was its two-phase organisation, including two main summit events: one at Geneva in 2003 and the other in Tunis in 2005. The Geneva summit aimed at identifying main issues, principles and lines of action. The Tunis summit, often described as a ‘Summit of Solutions’, focused on implementing the broad framework agreed upon at the Geneva summit.3 The Tunis summit also finalised the WSIS negotiations on internet governance and financial mechanisms, two issues that had remained unresolved after the Geneva phase. The overall WSIS process lasted between May 2002 (the first African Regional WSIS Conference) and November 2005 (the Tunis summit).
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Notes
Kremenyuk and Lang stated the following criteria for classifying a UN event as a summit: (1) the event is global in nature and open to all governments; (2) it covers global issues with multi-disciplinary aspects; and (3) new actors, in addition to national states, are involved in various capacities. The WSIS fulfilled all of these criteria. See Victor A. Kremenyuk and Winfried Lang (1993) ‘The Political, Diplomatic and Legal Background’, in G. Sjostedt, ed., International Environmental Negotiation, London: Sage, 1–16.
The reference to a ‘Summit of Solutions’ was frequently made by Yosio Utsumi, Secretary General of the ITU and Secretary General of the WSIS. See Daniel Stauffacher and Wolfgang Kleinwächter, eds (2005) The World Summit on the Information Society: Moving from the Past into the Future, New York: UN ICT Task Force Series 8, xviii.
For empirical research on the importance of agenda setting for negotiations, consult Charles R. Plott and Michael E. Levine (1978) ‘A Model of Agenda Influence on Committee Decisions’, American Economic Review 68: 14–160
Michael E. Levine and Charles R. Plott (1977) ‘Agenda Influence and Its Implications’, Virginia Law Review 63: 561–604.
For more information about internet governance issues and the WGIG agenda consult Jovan Kurbalija and Eduardo Gelbstein (2005) Internet Governance: Issues, Actors and Divides, Malta: DiploFoundation, available from http://textus.diplomacy.edu/textusbin/env/scripts/Pool/GetBin.asp?IDPool=641.
For a comprehensive review of criticism of the current positions of internet communities consult WillyJansen (2005)‘Internet Governance: Striking the Appropriate Balance Between all Stakeholders’, in William J. Drake, ed., Reforming Internet Governance: Perspectives from the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), New York: UN ICT Task Force Series 12, 35–40.
Sometimes, the choice of a particular type of document is a diplomatic signal, particularly in bilateral relations. For more details on the use of types of documents in diplomatic negotiations consult, G.R. Berridge (1995) Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, London: Prentice Hall, 161.
The Dutch government used a non-paper in a similar way in the UN Security Council discussion on a professional, rapidly-deployable UN force. For more on this consult Johan Kaufmann (1996) Conference Diplomacy: An Introductory Analysis, 3rd edn, London: Macmillan, 151.
Volker Kitz provides an argument for the analogy between administration of telephony systems and internet names and numbers. See Volker Kitz (2004) ICANN May Be the Only Game in Town, But Marina del Rey Isn’t the Only Town on Earth: Some Thoughts on the So-Called ‘Uniqueness’ of the Internet, available from http://www.smu.edu/csr/articles/2004/Winter/Kitz.pdf.
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© 2008 Jovan Kurbalija
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Kurbalija, J. (2008). The World Summit on Information Society and the Development of Internet Diplomacy. In: Cooper, A.F., Hocking, B., Maley, W. (eds) Global Governance and Diplomacy. Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230227422_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230227422_12
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