ABSTRACT
Assessments of international law, and indeed multilateralism, as in crisis over cyberspace are attractive and familiar: notions of deadlock speak to Cold War divisions between control and freedom that to some extent map to sovereigntist/statist and multistakeholder paradigms for cyberspace governance. But this overlooks the multipolarity of states’ positions on digital technology. Drawing on existing internet governance paradigms, a multistakeholder model of cyber norm development has proliferated in a number of venues, of which Microsoft is one of the key proponents. As the pre-eminent actors in apparently divergent, and arguably divisive, approaches to cyberspace governance, the activities of the UN and Microsoft independently merit further investigation. Furthermore, both organisations are increasingly focused on bridging ideological and practical divisions. This chapter examines these developments, their prospects and possible synergies. It also seeks to trace a dynamic interaction with international law of state preoccupations in the exercise of internal and external digital sovereignty.
