Part V: Political Economy, Modernization, and Democratization
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Required Readings
March 19 - Introduction to political economy, modernization, and democratization
Ch. 13, "The Political Economy of Development" in Almond and Powell, Comparative Politics: System, Process, and Policy (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1978).
"Fisherman on the Net" and "Fewer buffaloes, livelier democracy" in "A survey of technology and development", The Economist,, November 10th, 2001.
March 21 - Lab class: The Internet and Democratization
Kalathil and Boas, "The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution."
"The Enemies of the Internet" (Introduction plus any 3 country profiles).
Web guides:
Development or Development of Democracy? - Joshua Jackson
Anti-globalization and the Internet - Ben Onugwai
Freedom of Expression on the Internet
Globalization and the Individual - Susan Avar
March 26 - The Internet and development
Hammond, "Digitally Empowered Development" in Foreign Affairs, March/April 2001.
Benjamin,"Community development and democratization through information technology: Building the new South Africa" in Heeks, Reinventing Government in the Information Age (London: Routledge, 1999).
Web guides:
The Digital Divide -- Aniz Alani
The Internet as a tool for Development -- Ana-Maria Alvarado
Narrowing the Digital Divide Gap: Improving Accessibility -- Aileen Flores
Telecommunication Technologies in Africa -- Kim Huhn
Internet Accessibility – Keith Lau
Can Africa Bridge the Digital Divide? - Ken Matende
March 28 (Passover) - Lab class: The Digital Divide
Important change: This is now a lab day, with classes meeting in the regular lab times and rooms. The 1pm lab meets in B114, the 2pm lab meets in B214.
Sanyal and Schön, "Information Technology and Urban Poverty: The Role of Public Policy" pp 373-93 in Schön, Sanyal et al., High technology and low-income communities : prospects for the positive use of advanced information technologies (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999).
"Access and Opportunity," pp. 20-25 in Premier's Technology Council, First Quarterly Report, November 2001.
Additional Links
Political economy — political science resources
Modernization and democratization — political science resources
- Asiaweek.com | Heroes of the Digital Divide |...
- Article with profiles of 5 philanthropists who have led projects to increase Internet access and/or use the Net as a development tool.
- Oneworld.net Digital Divide Campaign
- Lots of resources on projects to close the gap between developed/developing world access to the Internet, and projects that use technology as an engine for economic development.
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Net & International Relations
Internet and democratization
- Democracy and the Information Revolution
- A Democracy Forum report, 2001. Prepared for the international Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Looks at opportunities for using IT as democratizing agent.
- Global Internet Policy Initiative
- GIPI "supports adoption in developing countries of the legal and policy framework for an open and democratic Internet."
- Information Communications Technology for Development
- UNDP report on essential lessons learned about the use of ICT for democratization.
- Internet and economic development
- E-commerce: Accelerator of Development?
- A Sept 2002 briefing note from the Institute for Development Studies
in the UK.
Digital divide
- Bridges.org
- Bridges is an international non-profit focused on fighting the digital divide. Bridges "researches, tests, and promotes best practices for sustainable, empowering use of information and communication technology."
- ConnectNet.org
- A database that will direct users to the closest (usually free) Internet access points, and map them. Bilingual -- English/Spanish.
- Levers -- An online magazine on the digital divide
- A new magazine focused on closing the digital divide between HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and other educational institutions. Supposed to go online Feb 2002.
- NCAI Digital Divide Task Force Best Practices...
- From the National Congress of American Indians: a database of best practices on how tribes are using IT as an economic development vehicle, providing training to tribe members, using technology policy to exercise tribal sovereignty, and developing native
- The Digital Divide Network: DDN Home
- "Knowledge to help everyone succeed in the digital age." A clearinghouse for reearch and articles on the digital divide. A project of the Benton Foundation.
- Welcome to Indiantech.Org
- National Congress for American Indians web site on promoting connectivity among Native Americans.
- Improving Internet Access: The Canadian Approach
- Paper by Philippa Lawson of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, for the April 1999 conference on "Computers, Freedom and Privacy: The Global Internet."
- Intel® Education: Intel Computer Clubhouse
- A project aimed at setting up 100 computer access and learning sites for young people in different communities.
- NGA Center for Best Practices
- A few short examples of "best practices" in state strategies for combatting the digital divide.
- PowerUp Home Page
- PowerUp is a public-private partnership aimed at combatting the digital divide by helping young people acquire the skills for digital literacy.
- The Digital Equity Toolkit
- A Q&A compilation with answers to help educators get their classrooms and students connected to the Internet.
- Virtual Opportunity Center
- A database of best practices in fighting the digital divide, run by the state of Virginia's Digital Opportunities Task Force.
