IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/iprjir/330352.html

Who's at stake? The (non)performativity of "stakeholders" in UK tech policy

Author

Listed:
  • Taylor, Maisy
  • Vollmer, Sarah
  • Ravat, Zaynab
  • Benjamin, Garfield

Abstract

The term "stakeholder" features prominently in discourses surrounding tech policy. It is used as a marker for engaging with wider organisations and publics beyond government and the companies that make technologies. But what does this term do in practice? What roles does it create or deny, what power structures does it open or close? This study of 194 tech policy documents produced by the UK government over a span of five years uncovers the different ways the term "stakeholder" is used in practice. By comparing the use of the word with whose ideas are actually cited in the documents, it highlights the discursive gaps between what is claimed and what is represented in the voices that shape policy. The results are analysed through queer performativity, including institutional non-performativity and peri-performative framings, to assess the roles that are imposed on different groups, and the different hierarchies and power structures the stakeholder constructs in current UK policy practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Taylor, Maisy & Vollmer, Sarah & Ravat, Zaynab & Benjamin, Garfield, 2025. "Who's at stake? The (non)performativity of "stakeholders" in UK tech policy," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 14(3), pages 1-31.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iprjir:330352
    DOI: 10.14763/2025.3.2033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/330352/1/1938814940.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.14763/2025.3.2033?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gorwa, Robert, 2019. "The platform governance triangle: conceptualising the informal regulation of online content," SocArXiv tgnrj, Center for Open Science.
    2. Pohle, Julia, 2016. "Multistakeholder governance processes as production sites: enhanced cooperation "in the making"," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 5(3), pages 1-19.
    3. Epstein, Dmitry & Katzenbach, Christian & Musiani, Francesca, 2016. "Doing internet governance: practices, controversies, infrastructures, and institutions," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14.
    4. repec:osf:socarx:tgnrj_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Gorwa, Robert, 2019. "The platform governance triangle: conceptualising the informal regulation of online content," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22.
    6. Pohle, Julia, 2016. "Multistakeholder governance processes as production sites: enhanced cooperation "in the making"," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 5(3), pages 1-19.
    7. Malcolm, Jeremy, 2015. "Criteria of meaningful stakeholder inclusion in internet governance," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 4(4), pages 1-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haggart, Blayne & Keller, Clara Iglesias, 2021. "Democratic legitimacy in global platform governance," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    2. Jesús Marolla-Gajardo & María Yazmina Lozano Mas, 2025. "Anti-Bullying in the Digital Age: How Cyberhate Travels from Social Media to Classroom Climate in Pre-Service Teacher Programmes," Societies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Gillespie, Tarleton & Aufderheide, Patricia & Carmi, Elinor & Gerrard, Ysabel & Gorwa, Robert & Matamoros-Fernández, Ariadna & Roberts, Sarah T. & Sinnreich, Aram & Myers West, Sarah, 2020. "Expanding the debate about content moderation: Scholarly research agendas for the coming policy debates," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 9(4), pages 1-29.
    4. Dvoskin, Brenda, 2023. "Expertise and Participation in the Facebook Oversight Board: From Reason to Will," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5).
    5. Levinson, Nanette S., 2021. "Idea entrepreneurs: The United Nations Open-Ended Working Group & cybersecurity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    6. Gorwa, Robert, 2021. "Elections, institutions, and the regulatory politics of platform governance: The case of the German NetzDG," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6).
    7. Griffin, Rachel, 2022. "New school speech regulation as a regulatory strategy against hate speech on social media: The case of Germany's NetzDG," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    8. Michalon, Barthélémy, 2025. "The role of civil society organisations in co-regulating online hate speech in the EU: A bounded empowerment," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29.
    9. Todor Tagarev, 2020. "Towards the Design of a Collaborative Cybersecurity Networked Organisation: Identification and Prioritisation of Governance Needs and Objectives," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Grover, Rohan, 2022. "The geopolitics of digital rights activism: Evaluating civil society's role in the promises of multistakeholder internet governance," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10).
    11. Gorwa, Robert, 2024. "The Politics of Platform Regulation: How Governments Shape Online Content Moderation," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 299876, January.
    12. Jiang, Guoyin & Yang, Wanqiang, 2023. "Signal effect of government regulations on ride-hailing drivers’ intention to mobile-based transportation platform governance: Evidence from China," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 63-78.
    13. repec:osf:socarx:2exrw_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. repec:osf:socarx:ubxgk_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Kemal Veli Açar, 2023. "On a global child protection fund financed by international tech companies," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(1), pages 162-172, February.
    16. Michal Kaššaj & Tomáš Peráček, 2024. "Sustainable Connectivity—Integration of Mobile Roaming, WiFi4EU and Smart City Concept in the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-37, January.
    17. Jiménez Durán, Rafael & Muller, Karsten & Schwarz, Carlo, 2024. "The Effect of Content Moderation on Online and Offline Hate: Evidence from Germany’s NetzDG," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 701, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    18. Veale, Michael & Matus, Kira & Gorwa, Robert, 2023. "AI and Global Governance: Modalities, Rationales, Tensions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 19, pages 255-275.
    19. Gorwa, Robert, 2021. "Elections, Institutions, and the Regulatory Politics of Platform Governance: The Case of the German NetzDG," SocArXiv 2exrw, Center for Open Science.
    20. Trithara, Dakoda, 2024. "Agents of platform governance: Analyzing U.S. civil society's role in contesting online content moderation," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    21. Pohle, Julia & Voelsen, Daniel, 2022. "Das Netz und die Netze. Vom Wandel des Internets und der globalen digitalen Ordnung [The net and the networks. Transformations of the Internet and the global digital order]," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 455-487.
    22. Haggart, Blayne & Iglesias Keller, Clara, 2021. "Democratic legitimacy in global platform governance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 45(6), pages 1-1.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:iprjir:330352. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://policyreview.info/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.