6 Degrees of Separation: The Topology of E-commerce Governance

E-commerce and the digital economy are issue areas of geostrategic and economic importance to a wide range of countries. This paper employs tools drawn from network analysis to map the historical and future evolution of the topology of the global e-commerce regime. The study finds that the e-commerce governance architecture is complex, has become less fragmented over time, and is increasingly dominated by a series of network oligarchs. The structural contours of the e-commerce governance system have implications for governance outcomes within that system. Network effects could reinforce the structural positions of central states while increasing structural oligarchy could facilitate the promulgation of distinct models of e-commerce governance while simultaneously locking out developing countries.