The (Critical) Geopolitics of Internet Infrastructure

Abstract

This paper draws on literature from geography, (critical) geopolitics and computer science in order to investigate the physical Internet infrastructure and its implications for the (political) control of information flows. Based on a critical overview of geopolitical reasoning in the 20th century, this paper argues that this period’s simplistic and often over-deterministic geopolitical assertions are unfit to inform meaningful research in the 21st century. However, this paper acknowledges the continued relevance of geography in today’s interconnected world by reminding the reader that the very physical and geographically bounded underpinnings of today’s Internet can be and, in fact, already are co-opted for both intra- and extraterritorial power projection.

Linus Sehn

Graduate Student in International Relations

I am interested in all the ways computer technology reconfigures the political landscape