Global Economy and International Telecommunication Networks

Wilson, Katherine

17/09/07

Prof. Ibahrine

INTL COMM

Outline Chapter 3:

Global Economy and International Telecommunications Networks

1. Pre-modern World
1. Foreign products were rare in the 13^th century- everything was produced locally.

i. Shoemaker- limited amount of shoes per day.

2. Division of Labor
1. Leads to factories- output increases exponentially.
2. Flip side= creates interdependencies, requires coordination.
3. Devil’s bargain- increase productivity via specialization (creates problems of coordination and control).

i. Henry Ford’s factory in Michigan, employed more than 10,000 workers

4. The global division of labor is intricately tied to modern communication technologies.
2. Imperialism
1. Multipolar world in the 13^th century

i. China, Egypt, India, Italy, Iraq dominated trading circuits.

ii. 14^th/15^th century changed: Spanish, Dutch, French, Portuguese and British

2. Developments in science lead to transitioning of power

i. Guns in Asia and Africa.

3. These new empires were different from the old ones in these ways:

i. They were far flung and disjointed.

ii. The economic relationship between the imperial powers and the subject territories changed.

iii. Gain access to raw materialsàfactoriesàcaptive markets

iv. Brute military power

1. Also more subtle techniques: co-opt the native elite into the colonial administrative apparatus.

4. Electronic Imperialism
1. Global Media Flows

i. Age of imperialism ended after WWII, with colonies winning independence.

ii. Center of world moved to the United States.

1. US had more powerful economic strength

iii. Some argue that global political structures created during age of imperialism still exist.

1. Create a relationship between the rich and the poor countries.

2. US dominates media market- movies, music, TV…

a. CULTURAL INVASION

b. one way flow

i. NWIO- goes against the 1^st Amendment of the Constitution

2. Transborder Data Flow

i. The movement of industries across the global in search of locational advantage is in many ways an extension of what happened din the US.

ii. Developing countries suspicious of free trade and free flow of communication.

1. position of permanent dependency

iii. Both imperialism and electronic imperialism exhibit a strong center-periphery relationship with few lateral connections, the center dominates the periphery….

1. DIFFERENCE= center uses employs more subtle means to dominate, not brute force.

5. Emerging Network Flows
1. Will decentralized technologies like the internet strengthen or loosen US control over world communications?

i. Internet seems a democratic medium.

1. structural inequities- rich countries have 97% all internet hosts

2. ISPs (internet service providers)

6. Toward a New World System?
1. Nature of the center-periphery relationship has changed significantly.

i. Global division of labor on unprecedented scale

ii. US projects its power over periphery in subtle ways

iii. Will center pass from US to other country, or will there be an emergence of a multipolar world like that of 13^th century?