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According to these main controversies the book is organized in three sections:
Section I addresses the debates on human rights as they have been highly controversially discussed at WSIS. One of core debates dealt with the question whether the existing set of human rights suffice as an answer to the new challenges posed to freedom of speech,  privacy and access to information and knowledge, or whether they rather have to be reinforced by a new "right to communicate."
Section II is about the role that civil society is able to play within a model of participatory governance. What conclusions can be drawn from the experiences of WSIS for the future development of participatory governance models that more adequately answer hitherto unsolved problems of representation, legitimacy and transparency?


Section III contains assessments of the WSIS development agenda and introduces new concepts for knowledge sharing and dissemination, capacity building, and adequate frameworks for media and ICT infrastructure regulation.
While each article can be seen to focus on one of these debates in particular, it becomes clear that there are vital connections among these issues: While human rights and development priorities are often seen as unrelated or even opposed to each other, the articles show how the two should be linked in sustainable strategies. And they demonstrate as well that the success of these strategies will depend upon how the diverse group interests will be taken into consideration and mediated through the involvement and participation of all relevant stakeholders.


This book offers a timely and in-depth reflection on main aspects of the debates on WSIS that will be of prime relevance for years to come. It is addressed not only to UN and WSIS experts, but aims to contribute to a broad public understanding of the significance of this World Summit. For WSIS "newcomers" the Appendix provides introductory information on the WSIS process, structures and terminology.


The World Summit on the Information Society
Geneva 2003 – Tunis 2005
Edited by Olga Drossou and Heike Jensen
Published 2005


 
 
 
   
 
 
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