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Abstract
This paper situates Canada–China relations in the context of recent internet developments and debates about information and communication technologies (ICTs) infrastructure. I argue that protest events in Hong Kong surrounding the #occupycentral movement help us understand the tension between internet access, technological innovation and state centric forms of internet governance. By foregrounding the tension between the horizontal exchange of ideas and national surveillance and control, it is possible to identify important similarities between Canadian and Chinese state and the experience of internet users. In the wake of the Hong Kong occupy protests, it is possible to see how the internet promotes the practices of ‘Other Diplomacies’, functional relationships between citizen, market and foreign actors that present challenges for national regulation and traditional diplomatic mechanisms. The paper proposes a revival of the concept of Cyber-Diplomacy to better explain the challenges of state-to-state relations in an era of ICT innovation.
Notes
1 TCP/IP is the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Dan Bousfield
Dan Bousfield is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. He examines intersections of social movements, protest and critical political economy, with an emphasis on psychoanalysis, gender, technology, pedagogy and resistance. He has articles published in the Review of International Studies, the American Review of Canadian Studies and Historical Materialism.