Global media and communication governance: the role of nation states

While many scholars argue that we are currently witnessing a decline of state power in global communication governance, others declare that we can observe a return of the nation state. This chapter adds to this continuing debate. Its central argument is that the state has always mattered and still matters for media and communication governance, on both the national and the global levels. Although we cannot speak of a decline of the state, its role has changed in times of globalization and digital interconnectedness. The chapter builds on a broad range of academic literature to identify different perspectives from which the role of states has been discussed. It then revisits various phases that communication scholars have described to analyse the role that states have played and adds a new and ongoing phase, in which states seek to reassert their power vis-à-vis other states as well as increasingly powerful platform providers.