1 - Horizontal and Vertical Governance Models and Normativity

Summary

The idea of non-coherence theory originates from the distorted image of well-established human rights in digital settings. This distorted image appears in various ontological and epistemic aspects. It reveals an absence of clarity on whether human rights rules and principles, the possibility of their realisation and related obligations and remedies against violations as established in the offline world (human rights law and practice as we know it) continue to exist online with or without variance. If variance exists, what is the degree and consequences of such variance, whether it amounts to distortion, and if distorted, whether its degree calls into question the feasibility or limits the scope of the transposability of offline human rights law and practice to online. The ambition of the non-coherence theory of digital human rights therefore lies, among many other characteristics, in providing a conceptual framework for understanding the implications from the co-existence of multiple internet governance models.