Conclusion: Reflections on a Global Issue Domain

The final chapter sums up the findings of the book and highlights the contributions of this study to international relations and to Internet governance, both theoretically and empirically. It clarifies how the findings of this research fit in the ongoing policy debates and in the global governance scholarship, while providing clues for understanding current trends and developments in the field. Reflecting on the value of the research agenda proposed here, this chapter notes the theoretical implications of studying the origins and articulation of global fields of power over time. Last but not least, it offers analytical directions for future explorations of governance emergence and structuration in nascent policy domains.