The article argues that the post-Cold War era of U.S. unipolarity, established by the perceived invincibility demonstrated during the Gulf War, has ended. This decline is driven by globalization and technological diffusion, which have democratized advanced military capabilities, allowing regional actors to challenge major powers. Consequently, policymakers must prepare for a more volatile international order marked by frequent crises, heightened costs for securing global trade chokepoints, and reduced predictability from American power. The new rules dictate that great powers can no longer effortlessly impose their will through force.
The End of the Open Internet
English Summary
The article argues that the era of the open, unregulated internet is ending as liberal democracies — led by Europe — shift from promoting internet freedom as a geopolitical ideal to asserting digital sovereignty and applying offline legal standards to online spaces. This reversal is traced from the optimism of the Arab Spring, when social media was seen as inherently liberalizing, to the current consensus that platforms require regulation to counter disinformation, hate speech, and foreign interference. The implication is a fragmenting global internet governance landscape, where even democracies now pursue regulatory frameworks that constrain platform behavior, potentially narrowing the ideological gap with authoritarian models of internet control and complicating transatlantic tech policy coordination.
中文摘要
本文主張開放、不受管制的網際網路時代正在終結，以歐洲為首的自由民主國家正從將網路自由視為地緣政治理想，轉向主張數位主權並將線下法律標準適用於網路空間。這一轉變可追溯自阿拉伯之春時期的樂觀氛圍——當時社群媒體被視為天然具有自由化效果——到當前各方已形成共識，認為平台需要監管以應對假訊息、仇恨言論及外國干預。其意涵在於全球網路治理格局日趨碎片化，即便是民主國家現在也在推行約束平台行為的監管框架，這可能縮小與威權網路管控模式之間的意識形態差距，並使跨大西洋科技政策協調更加複雜。
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