Information Technologies and Global Politics

Description

Returning to the fundamentals of political science, namely power and governance, this book studies the relationship between information technologies and global politics. Key issue-areas are carefully examined: security (including information warfare and terrorism); global consumption and production; international telecommunications; culture and identity formation; human rights; humanitarian assistance; the environment; and biotechnology. Each demonstrates the validity of the view now prevalent within international relations research—the shifting of power and the locus of authority away from the state. Three major conclusions are offered. First, the nation-state must now confront, support, or coexist with other international actors: non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations; multinational corporations; transnational social movements; and individuals. Second, our understanding of instrumental and structural powers must be reconfigured to account for digital information technologies. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, information technologies are now reconstituting actor identities and issues.
List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Acronyms

Important Terms

I. Introduction: Information Technologies and the Changing Scope of Global Powers and Governance
J. P. Singh

2. Global Networks and Their Impacts
Jonathan Aronson

Part I: The Changing Scope of Power

3. Public Eyes: Satellite Imagery, The Globalization of Transparency, and New Networks of Surveillance
Karen Litfin

4. Informational Meta-Technologies in International Relations, and Genetic Power: The Case of Bio-Technologies
Sandra Braman

Part II: The Changing Scope of Power and Governance

5. Circuits of Power: Security in the Internet Environment
Ronald J. Deibert

6. The Global Political Economy of Wintelism: A New Mode of Power and Governance in the Global Computer Industry
Sangbae Kim and Jeffrey A. Hart

7. New Technologies and Consumption: Contradictions in the Emerging World Center
Edward Comor

Part III: Governance in Telecommunications

8. Capitalism, Technology, and Liberalization: The International Telecommunications Regime, 1865–1998
Mark W. Zacher

9. Understanding Shifts in the Form and Scope of Telecommunications Governance: Canada and the United States in the 20th Century
Stephen D. McDowell

10. Negotiating Regime Change: The Weak, the Strong, and the WTO Telecom Accord
J. P. Singh

Conclusion

11. Information Technologies and the Skills, Networks, and Structures that Sustain World Affairs
James N. Rosenau

List of Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Sciences appliquées
• Ingénierie
• Sciences appliquées
• Sciences appliquées
• Ingénierie
• International relations

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791489451
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGIES

A ND G LOBAL P OLITICS

SUNY G P SERIES IN LOBA L OL IT ICS

James N. Rosenau editor

I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGIES AND G LOBAL P OLITICS

The Changing Scope of Power and Governance

edited by J AMES N. R OSENAU and J. P. S INGH

S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k P r e s s

Published by

S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY

© 2002 State Universit y of New York

All rights reser ved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of t his book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever wit hout writ ten permission. No part of t his book may be stored in a ret rieval system or t ransmit ted in any form or by any means including elect ronic, elect rostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or ot her wise wit hout t he prior permission in writing of t he publisher.

For information, address State Universit y of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production and book design, Laurie Searl Marketing, Michael Campochiaro

Librar y of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Information technologies and global politics : the changing scope of power and governance / edited by James N. Roseanau and J.P. Singh. p. cm. — (SUNY series in global politics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5203-4 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5204-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Power (Social sciences) 2. Information technology—Political aspects. 3. Information societ y—Political aspects. 4. State, The. 5. International relations. I. Rosenau, James N. II. Singh, J. P., 1961– III. Series.

JC330 .I54 2002 327.1—dc21

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C ONTENTS

L IST OF F IGURES AND T ABLES P REFACE A CRONYMS I MPORTANT T ERMS I NTRODUCTION : I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGIES AND THE C S G P G H ANGING COPE OF LOBAL OWER AND OVERNANCE J. P. Singh G N T I LOBAL ETWORKS AND HEIR MPACT Jonathan Aronson

PART I: THE CHANGING SCOPE OF POWER

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P E : S I , G UBLIC YES ATELLITE MAGERY THE LOBALIZATION OF T , N N S R ANSPARENCY AND EW ETWORKS OF URVEILLANCE Karen T. Litfin I NFORMATIONAL M ETA -T ECHNOLOGIES , I NTERNATIONAL R ELATIONS , AND G ENETIC P OWER : T HE C ASE OF B IOTECHNOLOGIES Sandra Braman

PART II: THE CHANGING SCOPE OF POWER AND GOVERNANCE

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C IRCUITS OF P OWER : S ECURIT Y IN THE I E NTERNET NV IRONMENT Ronald J. Deibert

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I NFORMATION T ECHNOLOGIES AND G LOBAL P OLITICS

T G P E W : HE LOBAL OLITICAL CONOMY OF INTELISM A N M P G G EW ODE OF OWER AND OVERNANCE IN THE LOBAL C I OMPUTER NDUSTRY Sangbae Kim and Jeffrey A. Hart N T C : C EW ECHNOLOGIES AND ONSUMPTION ONTR ADICTIONS E W O IN THE MERGING ORLD RDER Edward Comor

PART III: GOVERNANCE IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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C , T , L : T APITALISM ECHNOLOGY AND IBER ALIZATION HE I NTERNATIONAL T ELECOMMUNICATIONS R EGIME , 1865–1998 Mark W. Zacher U S F S NDERSTANDING HIF TS IN THE ORM AND COPE OF T G : C ELECOMMUNICATIONS OVERNANCE ANADA AND THE U NITE S TATES IN THE T WENTIETH C D ENTURY Stephen D. McDowell N EGOTIATING R EGIME C H ANGE : T HE W EAK , THE S TRONG , AND THE WTO T ELECOM A CCORD J. P. Singh

CONCLUSION

11 I T S , N , NFORMATION ECHNOLOGIES AND THE KILLS ETWORKS S S W A AND TRUCTURES TH AT USTAIN ORLD FFAIRS James N. Rosenau

L IST OF C ONTRIBUTORS

I NDEX

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F IGURES AND T ABLES

1.1 The Information Industr y

FIGURES

10.1 Comparison bet ween the WTO Telecommunication Liberalization Offers and Domestic Telecommunication Liberalization Programs of Developing Countries

2.1 Content Issues

2.2 Conduit Issues

TABLES

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P REFACE

The essays that follow are the product of lengthy processes of conferring, writing, and rewriting on the part of their authors. From the beginning our goal was to bring together scholars who had contributed seminal work on the complex rela- tionships bet ween information technologies and global politics and who would then pool their expertise to clarify and further extend understanding of phenom- ena that seem ever more relevant to the course of events. While readers will have to decide for themselves whether we have, collectively, achieved this goal, the edi- tors are persuaded that the lengthy collaboration has been a fruitful and reward- ing experience. The collaboration went through three face-to-face iterations. The first oc- curred in August 1996, with a workshop composed of both comparativists and in- ternational relations (IR) specialists in San Francisco sponsored by the Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics, section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The second involved a one-day conference on Information, Power and Globalization held on Januar y 24, 1998, in Memphis and funded by the BellSouth Foundation and the Universit y of Mississippi. On this occasion outlines of the various projects and the papers they might yield were thoroughly discussed. During the summer of 1998 the authors circulated first drafts of their chapters to others, with each writer assigned as a “referee” for at least t wo other chapters. The third iteration of our collaboration, another workshop sponsored by the Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics section of the APSA, then occurred on September 2, 1998, at the Association’s meeting in Boston. Subse- quently, the final drafts were prepared and sent out for review by SUNY Press. During this lengthy and complex process the editors incurred a number of debts which they are pleased to be able to acknowledge. Needless to say, we are grateful to APSA’s Science, Technology, and Environmental Politics Section for sponsoring the t wo workshops on the issues and papers discussed in this vol- ume. Woody Kay, Frank Laird and Vicki Golich were especially helpful with workshop logistics and funds. Likewise, without the support of BellSouth Foun- dation we could not have convened the second iteration under such conducive circumstances. Our thanks go also to the referees for SUNY Press who, while

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