What is civil society and who represents civil society at the IGF? An analysis of civil society typologies in internet governance

For 15 years, the UN-mandated Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has brought different stakeholder groups together to engage in debate and discussion on public policy issues relevant Governance, but who are ‘civil society’ that is treated as one of cornerstones IGF? This paper aims provide two contributions discussions norm entrepreneurship internet governance. First, it contribute growing body literature multistakeholderism, notably by furthering debates role civil society institutions global governance (in this instance, IGF). Second, we aim future IGF(+), digging into group try understand actually present discussions. By creating a typology 2830 Civil Society Organisations have participated IGFs between 2006 2019, nuance heterogeneity debates. exploratory study shown there hidden wealth available statistics IGF can inform our policymaking capacity terms topics, representation also providing access ensuring outreach specific communities.