Theoretical foundations for Internet regulation: Weak legitimation and reflexivity strong

Abstract

Internet governance represents a hot issue, difficult to approach, both in practice of daily
regulation and in theory if it is only based on the Corporate Governance vision. The
objective of this article is to search for theoretical foundations in order to provide
alternative regulation of this network of networks. The first part describes a state of forces
and issues raised, between two visions: “the information society” and “the knowledge
societies”. A second section presents a theoretical framework based on two concepts from
sociological research: legitimacy and reflectivity. As a result it appears that the move to two
possible scenarios, a direct democracy or a representative democracy, pass through a
newculture, that of solidarity and collective security. The discipline of information systems
should provide insight into the conditions of this inter-organizational learning