The Analysis of International Communication Order Accordingto International Regime Theory

The international regime theory assumes that in international politics where there is no supreme/central authority, actors can cooperate with mutually agreed regulatory elements/mechanisms. These regulatory elements, covering principles, norms, rules and decision-making processes, are tools used to maintain order in an anarchic international environment. Cooperation-based regimes involve three different approaches. The liberal regime approach suggests that regimes can be established with the existence of common interests in a world where there is interdependence. With common interests and costs minimized, regimes can be a solution for problem areas in international politics. Realist theory, as a power-based approach, does not regard cooperation as warmly as liberals. The reason for this is the idea that conflict and competition are inevitable in international politics. However, they support the formation of regimes in areas where there is a coordination problem. The cognitive approach explains the formation of regimes with epistemic communities. They think that through social processes, epistemic communities will change the system by constructing regimes. Telecommunications, internet, postal services and intellectual property are elements of international communication, each of which has specific principles, rules and organizations. This situation supports the existence of regimes in these issue-areas. In this study, international communication regimes are explained separately as telecommunication regime, internet regime, postal regime and intellectual property regime and their regulatory mechanisms are discussed according to the realist, liberal and cognitive approaches of the international regime theory.