Transcript Slide 1

Civil Society and the
Shaping of Information
and Communication
Policy
Milton Mueller
Syracuse University School of
Information Studies
General Concerns

Communication-information policy (CIP)
as a dependent variable
• Technological convergence and change,
interest group advocacy, globalization

Rise of new international governance
regimes and new institutions in CIP
• ICANN, WIPO treaties, WSIS, WGIG
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New, more important role for non-state
actors
• Civil society, private sector self-regulation
Current Research Activities

US Public Interest Groups and CIP,
• 1960s - 2002
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Transnational collective action in CIP
• WSIS, Social network analysis
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The UN Secretary-General’s Working
Group on Internet Governance (WGIG)
• Analysis of existing Internet governance
activity
• “Internet Governance Project”
www.internetgovernance.org
Theories Invoked

Classical collective action theory
• M. Olson
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Institutionalism
• NIE and sociological
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Social movement theory
Interest group theory, pluralism
International regime theory
Theories of civil society
New models of “global governance”
• Co-regulation, multi-stakeholderism, etc.
Reinventing Media Activism
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Empirical study of U.S. public
interest groups and communicationinformation policy, 1961 – 2002
Released July 15, 2004 http://dcc.syr.edu/ford/tnca.htm
Organizational ecology
Congressional hearings data
U.S. Congressional
Hearings on CIP,
1969CIP,
- 2002 1969 - 2002
U.S. Congressional
Hearings
on
140
Count of Year
120
Search_Term
100
Telephone
Telecoms Regulation
Right of Privacy
Multiple search terms
Internet
Intellectual Property
Freedom of Info Act
Computer and Telecoms
Cable TV
Broadcasting
80
60
40
20
0
69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02
Year
U.S. Congressional Hearings
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Congressional activity around CIP has
grown significantly
• 1997 – 2001 peak
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Exceeds environmental issues, women’s
rights, and other social movement issues
More hearings classified under multiple
search terms from mid-1980s
Mix of issues has changed over time
Public
interest
CIPPopulation
org population,
Public
Interest Organization
in U.S. Comm-Info Policy,1969
1961- 2002 - 2002
130
120
107
103
100
103
105
100
97
96
Number of Organizations
115
113
110
92
90
91
80
76
70
66
62
60
54
50
49
40
35
30
29
25
20
10
18
13
0
1961
1965
1969
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
Year
Foundings
Disbandments
Cumulative (Unadjusted)
Cumulative (All Sources)
1997
2001
93
Public Interest Groups vs. Commercial-Professional Interest Groups
Absolute numbers
Growth rate
“Political opportunity”
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Population of public interest groups
responds most strongly to structural
changes in the conditions of access
The relevant structural changes took place
in mid-1960s
Economic interest group population
responds to different variables
Number of Congressional hearings
negatively correlated with births
• Positively correlated with population size
Advocacy Modes in CIP
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Content
• Advocacy organized around criticizing or
problematizing the messages produced by the
media
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Economic
• Advocacy that attempts to influence the
conditions of supply of communication and
information products and services
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Rights
• Advocacy that asserts individual rights related
to communication and information
Historical narrative
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Late 1960s – 1970s
• Focus on mass media, content mode of
advocacy dominant
• United Church of Christ litigation
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The 1980s
• Telecom infrastructure issues
• Public interest groups adjust slowly
• First signs of computer-oriented advocacy
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The 1990s and early 2000s
• Major shift towards rights-oriented modes
• More interdependence among issues
Changing Modes of Advocacy
Content
Econ
Rights
Combination
1960s
40%
20%
34%
6%
1970s
51%
20%
20%
8%
1980s
50%
17%
23%
10%
1990s
44%
19%
29%
9%
2000s
33%
23%
33%
11%
The 1990s: CIP comes into its own
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Major changes in the composition of the
population
Dominance of ACLU replaced with
“oligopoly” of rights-oriented and
consumer advocacy organizations
• EPIC, CDT, Consumers Union, ACLU
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Issues and media seen as more
interdependent
• Privacy, infrastructure regulation, censorship,
open source, intellectual property, digital
identity and government information policy
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Transnational issues and collective action
Next:
Transnational collective action
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Transnational collective action
• Collection and analysis of data about
international advocacy orgs in CIP
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Use of social network analysis
• Issue networks vs. social movements
• Will move beyond web links
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WSIS provides a useful data source
• Accredited organizations
Internet Governance
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UN SG-’s WG on
Internet governance
Controversies
surrounding ICANN
• US supervision
• Privatization of
governance
• Civil society
participation
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Matrix of the “state of
play”
• Conceptual framework
for relating issue-areas,
activities, and
multilateral actors
Figure 1 - (Some) Internet Governance Regimes
U.S. JUSTICE DEPT.
(FBI, FTC)
WHOIS
WIPO
UDRP
TRIPS
WTO
BTS
ITU
ICANN