National web histories at the fringe of the web: Palestine, kosovo, and the quest for online self-determination

While much scholarly attention is given to web histories of nations from the Global North, this chapter focusses on web histories of countries struggling for statehood at the fringe of the web. It analyses differences in the formal web presence of Palestine and Kosovo as shaped by the changing geopolitics of the internet in the past two decades. Subsequently, it reflexively narrates one possible web history for Kosovo, a country that does not have a Country code top-level domain. The chapter therefore critiques both the notion of the national web as well as existing methods for its demarcation as harbouring hidden assumptions about sovereignty.