VARIETIES OF DIGITAL CAPITALISM AND THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN INTERNET GOVERNANCE: A VIEW FROM LATIN AMERICA

Technological change is transforming the world economy. Progress in telecommunications and the increasingly widespread use of the internet has reinforced the trend towards globalization and transnationalization of the world economy that marked the end of the 20th century. However, the study of the governance of technological infrastructure that facilitates the rise of digital capitalism and the analysis of economic activities taking place on the internet have often been treated as separate issues. Generally, internet governance is understood as the management of critical technical resources, regardless of the fact that technical options are political and promote certain types of economic balance. However, literature on the current transformation of capitalism largely ignores the governance of the network’s technical infrastructure. This presentation reconciles studies on internet governance and analysis of the regulation of digital capitalism, focusing on the role of the State as a key agent in both areas. A perspective based on the varieties of digital capitalism is proposed in order to study how the role of the State in the governance of the internet and in the regulation of digital capitalism differs from one country to another. Drawing on comparative capitalism studies, the presentation uses Latin America as a case study to explore different national translations of the «return of the state» in internet governance and digital capitalism. In the case of Latin America, different models can be outlined that correspond to a greater or lesser degree of State intervention that is consistent with the longer-term institutional trajectories.