International Norms and Socio-technical Systems: Connecting Institutional and Technological Infrastructures in Governance Processes

This paper looks at the challenges posed by ICT critical infrastructures in their interaction with governance processes. The authors argue that, in order to develop better understanding of how (global) governing arrangements are made in a highly mediatised environment, adequate frameworks should be elaborated to study the interrelation between institutional and technological infrastructures. In this context, institutions are conceived as collections of norms including a mix of rules and practices while technological infrastructures are seen as instruments that transform governance processes, also enabling different actors’ participation. Adopting a constructivist approach, combined with a focus on governance networks the authors introduce a multi-dimensional analytical framework to investigate governance processes where institutions and technologies converge to create socio-technical systems.