Iran and the global politics of internet governance

This article analyses the internet governance agenda pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) since 2003. Surveying the official documents of five major global events on internet governance, the article illustrates that the IRI agenda has been preoccupied with three major issues: first, the digital divide and the significant potential of the internet for economic development; second, the dominant role of developed countries in the management of critical internet resources; and third, the role of non-state actors in internet governance. The latter issue constitutes the main area of contention between different Iranian presidents. The IRI’s state-centric agenda for internet governance under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–2013) sought to limit the role of non-state actors in order to enhance the hegemony of the state vis-à-vis Iranian society. During the presidencies of Mohammad Khatami and Hassan Rouhani (1997–2005 and 2013-present, respectively), however, the IRI agenda has acknowledged the role of non-state actors and been more open to the multi-stakeholder framework of internet governance. The article concludes that the overemphasis on these three issues has led the IRI to ignore the complexity of the emerging regime of global internet governance and, consequently, to overlook prevalent issues such as transnational cybercrime.