Internet Communities in Argentina and Brazil: Origins, Networks and Institutional Development

Abstract

This work attempts at describing and explaining the differences and similarities of the Internet governance institutional ecosystem in two middle income developing countries, Argentina and Brazil. It does so by examining the main players involved in the origins of the Internet in each country, as part of what could been defined as the national “Internet community”. This concept has been used but has little explanatory potential. Instead, alternatives from policy networks and governance frameworks are employed to provide further insights into an emerging policy arena, which is the national domain for Internet governance. The work addresses the origins of the Internet in these two countries in order to understand the values and interests that initially shaped these networks.

Keywords: GigaNet