Technology, Politics and Globalization

1
Technology, Politics and Globalization

• Mike Ryckman

2
Defining Globalization

• Decreasing Importance of Geospatial Realities
• Distance doesnt matter AS MUCH anymore
• In other words a lot of classic problems must be
  reevaluated or are changing
• Linguistic/Cultural Barriers
• Geographic Boundaries (Mountains, Oceans,
  Deserts, etc.)

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Things to Remember

• Globalization is not necessarily new
• Most agree that technology is changing the pace
  of globalization
• Not just economics!

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What Drives Globalization

• Economic Equilibrium
• Social Forces
• Technology Facilitates Globalization
• Transportation
• Telegraph/Phone Service
• Information Communications Technologies (ICT)

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Critiques

• Short Run Losses
• Inequality Local and Global
• US Hegemony
• Ethnocentrism Everybody takes western values

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Why China and India

• Cause theyre big
• Comparative advantage in labor intensive
  industries
• Marketing
• Interesting governmental structures
• Which is more effective?
• Economic booms tied to technology

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Introducing Technology and Politics

• Interest in technology in politics is not new
• Advanced ICT is new
• ICT must change how we think of governance

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Building the Internet

• Tech boom in the late 1990s
• (This would mean annual growth of gt1000...
  Actually it was more like 100 annually)
• Huge investments in high speed lines even to SE
  Asia WorldCom, MCI
• Busted! - 345 Internet companies file for
  bankruptcy in first 6 months of 2001

Internet traffic doubles every 100 days!
US Department of Commerce, 1998
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What happened in SE Asia?

• After dot-com bust, basically free high-speed
  Internet lines
• Export of goods AND SERVICES
• Outsourcing everything
• Tremendous growth of US companies in China and
  India

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Internet Use

• April 3, 2006 Announced that China has passed
  US in number of hours online

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Controlling Information

• Private information power
• Internet technologies are hard to block
• "The Net interprets censorship as damage and
  routes around it." John Gilmore (EFF)

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Security Concerns - China

• Great Firewall of China Example Banned Searches
• Zhao Ziyang supported protestors
• Tibet independence
• Tiananmen incident
• Freedom and Democracy Forum

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Security Concerns India

• Mostly relate to state secrets
• Google Earth image shows Sukhoi 30 MK1 aircraft
  at Indian airports

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Concluding Points

• Globalization brings growth and wealth
• Globalization is facilitated by ICT
• ICT is VERY hard to regulate
• This trouble for governments