The Areas of Government

In an increasingly networked world, how does a government…

• Provide security?
• Guide foreign commercial relations?
• Ensure reliable infrastructure?
• Maintain jurisdiction?
• Exercise monetary authority?
• Ensure a clear system of property rights?
• Recognize citizenship?
• Facilitate relations between private parties?

A Government's Choices

Countries have little choice but to pool power in building a fully functioning Net, for the Net is global by nature and demands international rules. Put another way, as a country considers its role in governing the Net, it has four main choices:

1. Assert sovereignty over the whole of the Net;
2. Abdicate any claim to sovereignty over the Net and agree to some form of supranational governance;
3. Assert sovereignty over a specific territory of the Net ("zoning"); or
4. Agree to participate in a federated power-sharing arrangement, entailing a combination of zoning and supranational governance.

For the most part, countries today are choosing the fourth option, as they attempt to maintain sovereignty over some areas of the Net but concede the need to cooperate and share power to an extent.