Journal of Cyberspace Studies

Journal of Cyberspace Studies

Co-creating cyberspace governance: A boundary critique perspective on digital participation and policy legitimacy

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original article

Authors
Seyed Mohammad Sobhani 1
Mohammad Reza Fathi 2
Shima Ghadimi 3
1 Department of Business Policy Making at SR.C., Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qum, Iran.
3 Department of Accounting, Daneshestan Institute of Higher Education, Saveh, Iran.
10.22059/jcss.2026.418413.1260
Abstract
Background: Cyberspace governance has become a complex socio-technical field where sovereignty, cybersecurity, digital participation, and policy legitimacy intersect. Although previous studies have extensively examined digital sovereignty, e-participation, and co-creation, limited attention has been paid to how boundary judgments shape stakeholder inclusion, decision authority, knowledge recognition, and legitimacy in cyberspace governance, particularly in the Iranian context.
Aims: This study aims to examine how Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH) can reveal and reconstruct the boundary judgments shaping co-created cyberspace governance, digital participation, and policy legitimacy in Iran.
Methodology: A qualitative exploratory case study design was adopted, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 26 experts and analysis of policy, regulatory, and strategic documents. Data were analyzed using Ulrich and Reynolds’ CSH framework by distinguishing current “is” conditions from desirable “ought to be” arrangements across the dimensions of motivation, control, knowledge, and legitimacy.
Findings: The analysis indicates that current cyberspace governance is primarily bounded by security, sovereignty, infrastructural control, regulatory authority, and technical expertise. However, affected stakeholders, including citizens, digital businesses, educators, researchers, civil society actors, vulnerable groups, and future generations, remain weakly represented in governance processes.
Conclusion: The study argues that legitimate cyberspace governance requires a transition from primarily control-oriented arrangements toward structured co-creation based on stakeholder inclusion, plural knowledge, transparent accountability, and participatory boundary governance.
Keywords
boundary critique
critical systems heuristics
cyberspace governance
digital participation
policy legitimacy
Subjects
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Journal of Cyberspace Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 12 September 2026

  • Receive Date 12 July 2026
  • Revise Date 07 August 2026
  • Accept Date 28 August 2026
  • First Publish Date 12 September 2026
  • Publish Date 12 September 2026