Title: Globalization and State Autonomy in the Information Age: Telecommunications Sector Restructuring in South Africa
Abstract: The world system is experiencing fundamental structural change characterized by the increasing globalization of production and distribution, increased interdependence and the emergence of a knowledge-based global information economy. The fundamental nature of these changes makes it particularly difficult to understand the impact they may have on the prevailing nation state model. Globalization and the Information Revolution present increasing difficulties for nation states as they attempt to make choices about public policy, or allocate their scarce resources to confront these challenges. Telecommunications and advanced information and communications technologies are extremely important components of this transformation in the global economy. As this period of global economic restructuring lurches forward, it is important that social scientists attempt to understand the impact on local realities. The existing literature on globalization and the Information Revolution is, to a large degree, theoretical and overly speculative. There is a need for a clear theorization of globalization and the transformation occurring in the world economy that is grounded in an empirical analysis of local realities, including the process of high-technology policy formulation and the exercise of state autonomy. These factors point to important research issues which are examined in this article with respect to one very unique nation state: South Africa. Some of the key questions that these issues raise are: What are the changes occurring in the international telecommunications arena that are influencing national sector restructuring? What is the historical development and projected direction of the South African telecommunications sector and how does it compare to the rest of the world? What has been the influence of selected global and domestic factors on the restructuring of the South African telecommunications sector? And finally, what are the implications of globalization and advanced information and communications technologies for South Africa's autonomy as a state? The successful process of developing a policy to restructure the telecommunications industry in South Africa's highly charged political economy has required tremendous political skill. In doing so, the fragile new South African Government has exhibited a high degree of state autonomy, and is illustrative of Peter Evans' concept of an embedded autonomous state. It was able to chart a course between the global pressures of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Negotiating Group on Basic Telecommunications (NGBT), advancing technological developments (such as call-back services and new satellite systems), the domestic pressures of organized labor and a host of intermediate associations. The analysis in the article is set against the historical background of South Africa and within the context of the contemporary economic challenges engendered by globalization. In his 1986 book, Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International Economic Crises, Peter Gourevitch made the argument that in times of severe economic crisis, normal economic rules break down and nation states become increasingly vulnerable and responsive to a plethora of global and domestic pressures.(1) This article expands that argument and applies an analytical framework to the South African political economy called the Global Innovation-Mediated Paradigm Shift (GIMPS). Following Gourevitch, the five components/explanations of GIMPS--production profile, intermediate association, state structure, economic ideology and international system--are used to examine a range of international and domestic variables to determine their relative impact on the historical process of telecommunications sector restructuring in South Africa. TELECOMMUNICATIONS One can outline four reasons why telecommunications, and the policy packages designed to stimulate and regulate the sector, deserve extensive study. …
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-03-22
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 23
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