A Multilateral Negotiations Challenge: International Management of the Communications Commons

The community of nations faces the task of governing many new global commons issues, including information access and availability, and common property resources. One approach to addressing this challenge arises from current efforts to create an international legal regime for the global communications commons. The context for international collaboration involving a communications commons regime is defined by identifying and describing (a) the stakeholders; (b) the characteristics of a global commons and a communications commons; (c) the prevailing political, economic, and legal principles that influence behavior in both the international system and the communications commons; and (d) typical barriers to collaboration. The evolving governance structure of the global communications commons is analyzed, and suggestions are offered for creating effective legal regimes to manage similar challenges in international relations.