Prénom de l'expert

Julien

Nom de l'expert

NOCETTI

For more than a decade, Russia’s foreign policy has sought to challenge the international consensus on a number of issues. Today, as the international internet ecosystem is becoming more volatile, Moscow is eager to shift the western narrative over the current global internet governance regime, in which the United States retains considerable leverage. In a context wherein states increasingly forge links between cyberspace and foreign policy, this article explores Russia’s deepening involvement in internet governance. The disclosure by Edward Snowden of the US government’s wide net of online surveillance contributed to legitimize the Russian approach to controlling online activity. While the struggle around the narrative of internet governance has been heating up since then, Russia actively seeks to coordinate internet governance and cyber security policies with likeminded states in both regional forums and the United Nations. By introducing security concerns and advocating more hierarchy and a greater role for governments, Moscow is contributing to the politicization of global cyber issues and seeking to reshape the network in accordance with its own domestic political interests. Indeed, the Russian leadership has come to consider the foreign policy of the internet as the establishment of a new US-led hegemonic framework that Washington would use to subvert other sovereign states with its own world views and values.

Washington occupe une place prépondérante dans la gouvernance de l’internet, ce qui ne surprend guère compte tenu des origines de ce dernier et de la prééminence technologique américaine. La majorité des internautes se trouve toutefois dans des pays non occidentaux.

Il est peu de dire que les réseaux sociaux ont transformé les échanges entre individus et les rapports entre États et citoyens, conférant à ces derniers une puissance d’information et de mobilisation inédite. Les profits des entreprises qui les développent témoignent de la croissance ultrarapide du nombre d’inscrits et des montants investis. Le Web participatif, les blogs, Facebook et Twitter, peu coûteux et faciles d’utilisation, donnent à chacun la possibilité d’être informé et d’informer lui-même en temps réel.