The scissors and the magnifying glass: Internet governance in the transitional Tunisian context

Abstract

As the importance of online media content grows in Tunisia and as Internet infrastructure increasingly supplants or overlaps with traditional telecommunication systems, the issue of Internet governance has become a key component in understanding the media environment. This study investigates the structures undergirding the governance of the Internet within the context of political transition in Tunisia. These structures are identified as legal, institutional and architectural. The combined functions of these three structural levels (which are not necessarily coordinated) regulate the online landscape within the country including what users can see and do, how responsibilities and rights are distributed and how economic activities are coordinated.