The Internet Policy project group (POLI) at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center investigates the dynamics of the emerging Internet policy domain. Its research agenda primarily focusses on two dimensions of Internet policy: 1) the institutionalisation of Internet-related regulatory competencies and resources in the public and the private sector, including networks of relevant actors; 2) the consolidation of collective ideas, categories, and problem perceptions embodied in public and political discourses. The group's empirical and conceptual research aims to contribute general conceptual insights into the emergence of policy fields as well as empirical findings about Internet policies, an area of rising political importance.In addition, the group’s members conduct
research on different topics related to Internet regulation and its societal consequences, such as big data as a resource for government and as a subject of regulation, the securitisation of Internet policy discourses on both the national and international level, and the impact of international policy debates (WSIS, IGF, NetMundial) on Internet regulation. In general, the WZB Berlin Social Science Center conducts fundamental research on problems of modern societies in a globalised world, focussing in particular on education, markets, society and
economic dynamics, international politics and law, dynamics of political systems, migration and diversity. The research is theory-based, problem-oriented, often long-term and mostly based on international comparisons.