Trend-Oriented Analysis Of Cyberspace Policies In Iran: A Balanced Approach To Promoting Governance

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Governance, Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

3 PhD Student of Public Policymaking, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jppolicy.2025.105203

Abstract

This study investigates the 15-year trend of various pillars of cyberspace governance, highlighting that although some balance has been achieved in recent years, the country’s policies remain largely one-dimensional and short-term. The need for evidence-based policymaking has been emphasized, as previous solutions have often lacked proper evaluation. For the first time, through in-depth interviews with 44 senior experts from various fields of cyberspace governance, a wide range of policy options were thematically analyzed and categorized. In the final stage, these options were prioritized using trend estimation, expert judgment, and the improved IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) method. The findings suggest that an effective approach to improving cyberspace governance in the country includes a combination of developing social platforms through a genuine private sector, reforming the internet service tariff system, and establishing a framework for balanced regulation. This comprehensive strategy aims to address existing gaps and promote a more sustainable and effective governance model in the digital sphere.

Keywords


  1. Ahmadi Fesharaki, R. (2024). The Internet From the People's Perspective. Tehran: Governance and Policy Think Tank [In Persian].
  2. Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
  3. Communications Regulatory Authority. (2024). ICT sector statistics and information dashboard: Fixed-line and mobile telephony sections. Communications Regulatory Authority website [In Persian].
  4. Creemers, R. (2015). Cyber China: Upgrading propaganda, public opinion work and social management for the twenty-first century. Journal of Contemporary China, 24(93), 85-100.
  5. Duflo, Esther (2017), The Economist as Plumber, Working Paper 23213, March 2017, Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
  6. E-Commerce Development Center. (2023). E-commerce Report of Iran 2023 [In Persian].
  7. Eslami, R, Jafari, H. (2020). Government Structure and Virtual Space Policy in Iran. Iranian Journal of Public Policy, 6(4), 151-171 [In Persian].
  8. Firouzabadi, S, Ahmadabadi Azadi, J (2020). Analysis of the History of Cyberspace Governance in Islamic Republic of Iran. Journal of Political Knowledge, 16(2), 563-598 [In Persian].
  9. Fukuyama, Francis (2013), What Is Governance?, Washington DC: Center for Global Development.
  10. Ghorbani, A, Hamzehpour, M, Kia, A. (2023). Identification and Strategic Analysis of Effective Factors on Improving the Governance of Cyberspace in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Journal of New Media Studies, 9(36), 1-43 [In Persian].
  11. Ghoreyshi, S, Motallebi Korbekandi, H, Kalantari, A. (2022). The Governance of Cyberspace in according to the Concept of Technical-Scientific Legitimacy. Journal of Interdisciplinary Civilizational Studies of the Islamic Revolution, 1(3), 115-133 [In Persian].
  12. Haddadi, A, Kazemi, M (2024). Series of Governance Social Capital Monitoring Reports. Report No. 9: Monitoring Social Capital in the First Half of 2024 Through Cyberspace. Islamic Parliament Research Center [In Persian].
  13. Hallsworth, M., Kirkman, E. (2020). Behavioral Insights. United Kingdom: MIT Press.
  14. Hlatshwayo, M. (2022). Online learning during the South African COVID-19 lockdown: University students left to their own devices. Education as Change, 26(1), 1-23.
  15. Iranian Students Polling Agency. (2024). Iranians’ Use of Messaging Apps and Social Networks [In Persian].
  16. Jordan, S. (2017). A critical survey of the literature on broadband data caps. Telecommunications Policy, 41(9), 813-837.
  17. Kuner, C. (2017). The General Data Protection Regulation: A commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  18. Lee, K. (2019). The Art of Economic Catch-Up: Barriers, Detours and Leapfrogging in Innovation Systems. India: Cambridge University Press.
  19. Liaropoulos, Andrew N. (2017), Cyberspace Governance and State Sovereignty, In Democracy and an Open-Economy World Order, edited by George C. Bitros and Nicholas C. Kyriazis, Cham: Springer.
  20. Mueller, M. (2010). Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Cambridge: MIT Press.
  21. Naficy, A., Ashari, M., Tahmasbi, S. (2021). Nudge for Iran: Case Studies of Behavior Change Policies in Iran and the World. Tehran: Milkan [In Persian].
  22. Naficy, A, Haddadi, A, Ganji Azad, A. (2025). Tare Natarz: A Report on the State of Balance in Cyberspace Governance in Iran. Tehran: Hokmrani Publishing [In Persian].
  23. Oh, H. (2001). Revisiting importance–performance analysis. Tourism management, 22(6), 617-627.
  24. Qiang, X. (2019). The Road to Digital Unfreedom: President Xi's Surveillance State. Journal of Democracy, 30(1), 53-67.
  25. Schneider, A., & Ingram, H. (1990). Behavioral assumptions of policy tools. The journal of politics, 52(2), 510-529.
  26. Singh, S., Nanda, V., Sen, R., Ahmad, S., Sengupta, S., Phokeer, A., ... & Gummadi, K. P. (2017, June). An empirical analysis of facebook's free basics. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGMETRICS/International Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems (pp. 37-38).
  27. Statistical Center of Iran. (2023). Statistical Yearbook of Iran – 2023 [In Persian].
  28. Thaler, R. H., Sunstein, C. R. (2021). Nudge: The Final Edition. United Kingdom: Yale University Press.
  29. UNDP (1997), Governance for sustainable human development: a UNDP policy document, New York: UNDP.
  30. Van Dijck, J. (2013). The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  31. World Bank (1994), Governance: The World Bank’s Experience, Washington DC: World Bank.
  32. Zibandeh, H, Atarodi, M. (2022). Explaining the Change in Iran's Cyberspace Policies based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Case Study: Fixed Internet Bandwidth Policy Determination). Journal of Public Administration, 14(2), 235-256 [In Persian].