Governing Global Information and Communications Policy: Emergent Regime Formation and the Impact on Africa

This paper combines a theoretical perspective on globalization and the information society with a critical usage of international regime theory in order to better understand the current historical period of transition from an international telecommunications regime (Cowhey Int. Organiz. 45 (1990) 169) to a new and complex regime aimed at providing governance for the Global Information Infrastructure and Global Information Society (GII/GIS). The paper employs a case-study approach to explore some of the specific national responses (i.e. South Africa) to this regime transition, with an analysis of potential best practices and lessons learned for other emerging economies