Explaining the outcome of China's proposal for a new Internet Protocol with the multiple streams framework

Abstract

The penetration of the Internet in society is causing Internet standard-setting to become a geopolitical arena. China is increasingly active in Internet standard-setting. China invested significantly in the International Telecommunication Union, and in 2019 submitted a proposal to initiate discussions on a New IP. The New IP was the cause of technical and political concerns in the standard-setting community. This dissertation explores the New IP proposal through the Multiple Streams Framework. Through process tracing and the analysis of documents, academic articles, reports, and interviews, the dissertation tries to answer the question of Why China's New Internet Protocol proposal was unsuccessful? The research concludes that the New IP proposal was unsuccessful because the problem stream, the policy stream, and the political stream were not ripe for coupling.