Preface

The first edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) focused on participation in internet governance processes. Published in 2007, it came to the conclusion that effective participation was still out of reach if you were from the global South, or from civil society. Still in its infancy at that point, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), mandated to ensure the participation of all stakeholders, was the one platform which people believed could actually achieve this goal.

2017 Special Issue - Internet governance from the edges: National and regional IGFs in their own words

National and Regional Internet Governance Forum Initiatives (NRIs) emerged in response to the success of the first two global Internet Governance Forums (IGFs). The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, the outcome document of the final phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), alongside the call for the creation of the IGF, served as the foundations for the model of bottom-up, multistakeholder internet governance.