The Internet Protocol was borne out of conflict and that legacy is only intensifying and more visible beyond the expert community as technical infrastructure is increasingly a proxy for political and economic power. After 20 years on the front lines of some rather public, but also very private battels around Internet policy at both the national and international levels, I wanted to offer a fact-based accounting of events. Partnering with a thoughtful, smart, and supportive team of experienced academics on Geopolitics at the Internet’s Core provided that space for me.

Uniquely co-authored by a trio of academics that span both sides of the Atlantic and one former government policy practitioner allowed for the blending of academic analytical research and, on the ground, firsthand policy experience. My participation as a co-author resulted in a drafting process that could be likened to having a “permanent interviewee” as part of the writing team. Crafted over a 4-year period via Google Docs and weekly Zoom meetings, the drafting process was full of spirited discussion, debate, and coordination.

Using the ecosystem approach that is a mainstay of theoretical frameworks from science and technology studies, the Internet Protocol ecosystem can defined as a combination of virtual resources, abstract specifications, tangible infrastructure, functionally specific systems, and the institutions and rules that design, operate, and coordinate these systems. This allows the Internet Protocol to be used as a lens into the governance structure of the Internet, which – while highly decentralized in many aspects – has a few centralized coordination points.

Understanding five key elements is crucial to appreciating what exactly it is about the Internet Protocol that generates so much geopolitical attention. These include the technical criticality of the systems themselves to the Internet, as well as the fact that there is a finite pool of resources prompts concerns of equity. The reality that these resources can be used for personal identification, and if tapped in the right manner can also be a choke point for control, makes them an attractive target for governments, irrespective of impact or effectiveness. Lastly, the not historically market-based approach used to distribute these resources via multistakeholder, or privatized processes raises questions of legitimacy.

The progression of the Internet Protocol has endured crises all along the way and detailing the stories of its foundational struggle (the choice of TCPIP over OSI), the expansion struggle (IPv4 to IPv6), and the oversight struggle (the privatization of the management of the domain name system) clearly demonstrates this point. Weaving in numerous illustrative mini case studies to make different complex issues more accessible, as well as several insights ‘from the field, illustrate how the contemporary policy issues of content, security, and inclusion relate to the IP ecosystem. Stories covered include, the pollicization of IP addresses in Russia’s war on Ukraine, content-blocking efforts to mediate societal concerns related to human safety during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Internet standard bodies capacity development efforts.

Geopolitics at the Internet’s Core concludes by offering a taxonomy of eight levers of power within the IP ecosystem drawn from the case studies presented and suggests this framework could be used for other technologies. Observing that the Internet Protocol ecosystem – rightly or not – has occupied a unique place at the center of many public policy issues in the digital era, controversies around core Internet architecture are a feature of our sociotechnical world. How these conflicts unfold has had and will continue to have enormous consequences for human rights, national security, economic stability, and the very heart of the Internet, which continues to have the Internet Protocol at its core.

Fiona M. Alexander is a Distinguished Fellow at the Internet Governance Lab, American University. She previously worked in the U.S. government at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This blog post by Fiona M. Alexander summarizes a presentation she made to the Public Interest Technology Group on November 10, 2025, on a book she co-authored with Dr. Laura DeNardis, Dr. Nanette S. Levinson, and Dr. Francesca Musiani.