Abstract
The Internet developed very rapidly over the past few years and diffused in to many aspects of human life by way of trade, education and communication. This diffusion will continue to get deeper with the growth of the Internet, as will the problems get more complicated and serious. Internet governance is an initiative to handle these problems, in order to make Internet safer and more useful for the future. In this thesis I discuss the importance of international cooperation in the context of the Internet governance discussion with a perspective from international law and politics.
This thesis explains self regulation which lies at the heart of Internet governance discussion, in order to understand the need for Internet governance and the importance of international cooperation on Internet governance. Then, the thesis explains; international cooperation in international law, its reflection to Internet governance, Internet governance models and also some of the main current organizations involved in Internet governance such as UN and ICANN. Furthermore, the thesis discusses the legitimacy of Internet Governance, how legitimacy can be achieved (its relation with democracy), and obstacles against legitimate international Internet governance such as digital divide and disagreements between nations on the subject of Internet governance.