Regulating the Broadband Internet: Towards an Interdisciplinary Analysis

Abstract

This monograph's thesis is that interdisciplinary approaches provide the necessary insight to analyze the development of Internet markets, policies and consumer demand. It is not possible to analyze from a narrowly legalistic basis, nor from an economic analysis of the law. Addition of technological insight is of course necessary but not a sufficient addition to the disciplinary and theoretical skillset. Though several authors achieve this much of a skillset, they do not typically take the necessary additional contextual leap to consideration of the socio-political analysis of the field. Only in adapting to, and taking cognisance of, all these disciplinary elements can one analyze the field of inquiry with any hope of successfully capturing the meta-analysis or even macro-analysis. I do not claim a return to the nineteenth century tradition of political economy, even were that possible within the specialisations and quantitative modelling techniques of the various elements of the social sciences. I do claim that the insights from the various developments in quantitative modelling from each discipline can be brought to bear, for instance the modelling of individual choice and collective action from sociology and political science, that of econometrics from economics, the social psychology of consumers, and the socio-economic analysis of the law and the legislative process.

It is perhaps obvious from the former argument that a combination of theoretical and empirical elements, qualitative and quantitative methods is necessary. In the field of research chosen, the development of a global network for information sharing, there are several other fields necessary to consider. One rather obvious case is international political economy (IPE), a field of international relations much neglected until the end of the Cold War and increasingly influential. Another is information management and management science.

The book is organised as follows: the first three chapters outline the challenges of the Internet as a new information medium, the models adopted for Internet regulation, especially self-regulation, and the challenges of the regulatory forms adopted for freedom of expression. The following four chapters examine in depth case studies, explaining the methodological approach adopted. The final chapter explain the significance of the results for further research. I begin by outlining the basis for Internet self-regulation.

Keywords: Broadband policy, telecommunications law, communications policy, European communications law

JEL Classification: H41, K00, K23, L13, L44, L96