This book focuses on the history of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. ITU was the first international organization ever and still plays a crucial role in managing global telecommunications today. Putting together some of the most relevant scholars in the field of transnational communications, the book covers the history of ITU from 1865 to digital times in a truly global perspective, taking into account several technologies like the telegraph, the telephone, cables, wireless, radio, television, satellites, mobile phone, the internet and others. The main goal is to identify the long-term strategies of regulation and the techno-diplomatic manoeuvres taken inside ITU, from convincing the majority of the nations to establish the official seat of the Telegraph Union bureau in Switzerland in the 1860s, to contrasting the multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance (supported by US and ICANN). History of the International Telecommunication Union is a trans-disciplinary text and can be interesting for scholars and students in the fields of telecommunications, media, international organizations, transnational communication, diplomacy, political economy of communication, STS, and others. It has the ambition to become a reference point in the history of ITU and, at the same time, just the fi rst comprehensive step towards a longer, inter-technological, political and cultural history of transnational communications to be written in the future.

Information and communication technologies are networked. Exchanging information between two points in a network requires both the definition of what kind of information is to be exchanged (standardization) and the definition of rules and procedures of how this information is produced, circulated, and received (regulation). As such, processes of standardization (the negotiation and definition of technical standards) and regimes of regulation (their implementation and control by a legally and/or politically recognized institution) are at the heart of techno-political diplomacy, because they involve a multitude of actors (technical, economic, and political) and arenas (platforms of negotiation) on national, international, and transnational levels. As the term techno-diplomacy suggests, these processes are characterized by strategic actions, and tactical maneuvers among all actors involved and generally require a high degree of both technical knowledge and diplomatic skills by the negotiating parties. This book aims at studying the role of one specific actor in the field of standardization and regulation of information and communication technologies, the International Telecommunication Union from its origins in the mid-19th century to nowadays. In this technodiplomatic game, ITU has been indeed an actor and had a key-role in different realms such as regulations of tariffs, technological standardization and homogeneity, establishment of shared norms, promotion and support of projects and studies for example in developing countries.

This volume provides an up-to-date analysis of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The book analyses the organizations' development from inception to the present, mapping the major changes that have occurred in communication transmission. The volume will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students, policy-makers, government officials and administrators, and legal staff in telecommunication and postal organisations.