A New Perspective on the Importance of the State in Global Internet Governance: Tracing China’s Participation

In this chapter, I argue that we need to re-consider the role of the state in global Internet governance—a crucial domain of today’s international communication—by using China as an example. I first offer a historical review of the “rise and fall” of the state in the scholarly discussion in international communication. I then discuss how the role of the state has recently become a highly contentious analytical category in the subfield of global Internet governance. Finally, I briefly trace China’s participation in global Internet policymaking in the past three decades to illustrate the complicated role of the state and call for more nuanced scholarly inquiry.