Multistakeholderism and Internet Governance: A Gateway to Open Democracy in Latin America?

How is the momentum toward multistakeholderism in Internet governance playing out in Latin America? What broader implications does this have to open democracy in the region? In this report, Internet Policy Observatory affiliate Celia Lerman, analyzes the distinct evolution of the multistakeholder model in the context of Latin America’s democracies, which traditionally have not incorporated deliberative processes and multistakeholder participation into governance structures. Lerman asserts that this evolution can be explained by the effect of external events rather than by internal driving forces, concluding that this policy evolution moved from the international to the regional and national due to the fact Internet policy issues only recently became a matter of perceived importance to citizens in the region. The study looks at Latin America as a whole, highlighting several national case studies and exploring in greater depth Brazil’s much earlier adoption of the multistakeholder model.