01.-12.2019. University of St.Gallen─Basic Research Fund (HSG-GFF) "Ownership of Telecom Companies and Internet Control" (Principal Investigator: Tina Freyburg, Project members: Lisa Garbe & Véronique Wavre)
Ownership
of the internet infrastructure, in particular internet service
providers (ISP) is critical to understanding a state’s capacity to
control the internet since most direct forms of control require ISP to
comply with government requests. We study the relationship between ISP
ownership and intentional disruption of the provision of internet
services in sub-Sahara and North Africa. Our project makes at least two
scientific contributions. First, it produces a more realistic
understanding of the internet as tool of repression or liberation,
taking into account the role of telecommunication companies. Second, it
produces new datasets that allow to analyse more accurately the
political and economic determinants as well as effects of internet
diffusion. The findings have important practical implications for the
assessment of the political effects of internet use, including the
corporate responsibility of telecommunication companies.
2016-2018. Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS), "Telecommunications Politics in Authoritarian Developing Countries" (Principal Investigator: Tina Freyburg; Co-PI: Cinzia dal Zotto, University of Neuchâtel; Project members: Lisa Garbe, Aicha Hammami & Véronique Wavre)
This
project offers a comprehensive analysis of political effects of
information and communications technologies (ICT) in authoritarian
developing countries focusing on the influence of varying types of
ownership of commercial internet service providers (ISP). We explore how
and when authoritarian rulers are restricted in their control of ICT if
the state is no majority shareholder through theory-guided and rigorous
empirical research in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We use large-N analysis
[all SSA; 1970-2015] to identify determinants of the effect of
ownership on the likelihood of internet shutdowns, and small-N case
studies to investigate how different types of ownership restrict a
state’s coercive use of ICT.
2013-2017. Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), NCCR Democracy, "Democratic Governance in and through Transgovernmental Networks" (Principal Investigators: Tina Freyburg and Sandra Lavenex, University of Geneva; Project members: Ivo Krizic & Ciaran O'Flynn)
While
research into transgovernmentalism has hitherto mainly focused on the
effectiveness of this inter-administrative cooperation in terms of
political problem-solving, this project studies whether (a) this kind of
cross-border rule-making poses a challenge to democracy, or (b) whether
it contributes to greater democratic governance and legitimacy in
global politics. The project tackles these questions not just by
analyzing EU and global transgovernmental networks in isolation but also
by studying both citizens’ perception of them and their representation
in the media. In doing so, the project intends to reach a more profound
understanding of the democratic quality and challenges of such rather
novel forms of political cooperation.