This chapter assesses the use of digital technologies in international development. Digital technologies are transforming economic and social life and are used in almost every sector of development. However, positive benefits in the form of digital dividends are limited by continued digital divides in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access. Use of digital technologies tends to reflect, reproduce, and amplify existing patterns of inequality. Thus, digital development initiatives need to design for equity, include non-digital communication, and pay attention to potential risks. The chapter then provides examples of contemporary digital development projects applying Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), and looks at 'frontier technologies' that may shape the future of international development.
Chapter
22. Digital Technologies and the Future of Poverty and Development
Tony Roberts, Kevin Hernandez, and Becky Faith
Chapter
17. The Global Political Economy of Digital Technology
Tyler Girard
The current digital transformation of the global economy continues to create new forms of power, new political cleavages, and new coalitions to which the governance of the GPE need to adapt. This work explains the technologies and firm dynamics at the center of this transformation, as well as the new analytical tools and concepts being used to explain these changes. It explores the digital transformation across three interrelated areas. The fragmentation of national and global governance initiatives for artificial intelligence is contrasted with the emergence of the European Union (EU) as a global standard-setter in data and privacy governance. The disruption of labour markets and shifting political cleavages caused by the digitization of global trade, as well as the creation of new points of conflict in global trade governance are explored. Finally, the work provides an assessment of the disruptive impact of technology firms and cryptocurrency on global finance.
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12. Digital Policy-Making in the European Union
Building the New Economy of an Information Society
Abraham L. Newman
Digital technologies are transforming European societies, politics, and markets. Since the 1970s, the European Union has attempted to navigate these pressures through a package of digital policy-making. These efforts have targeted the dual missions of pan-European market-making, as well as market correction. Relying on a host of governance modes including the regulatory method, policy coordination, incorporated transgovernmental networks, and private governance, the European Union has tried to steer the new information society so as to both spur market growth and protect citizens against abuse. The ultimate success of these efforts has been encumbered by the overall complexity of the sector, where policy efforts quickly bleed over into other issue areas, such as competition policy and justice and home affairs, and have international consequences. Digital policy-making in Europe faces considerable challenges ahead, as EU institutions grapple with the rise of platform companies, disinformation campaigns, and transatlantic disputes over data privacy and the market power of US-based technology companies.
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15. Digital, (in)security, and violence
Rocco Bellanova
This chapter studies the connections between security and surveillance in order to discover how (in)security and violence are fostered by the digital. To do so, it is important to understand the digital in terms of datafication, computation, and materiality. These enable us to critically explore security through society and technology and tensions between the local and the global, while asking questions about the growing role of IT companies in our worlds. Datafication is at the core of modern statecraft—techniques for counting things and people allow authorities to maintain control over a population at a distance, imposing and collecting taxes that can be used to reinforce their military power. At the same time, showcasing the development of computing permits us to emphasize the key role of security imaginaries in shaping what is now called the digital age.
Book
Erin Hannah and John Ravenhill
What constitutes Global Political Economy? In whose interest is GPE constructed, and by whom? How can inequalities in GPE best be redressed? These are some of the key questions addressed in the 7th edition of this title.
As an ever-evolving field, subject to constant changes and developments, Global Political Economy provides a comprehensive introduction to GPE written by leading experts in the field. Under the direction of new editor Prof. Erin Hannah, the 7th edition surveys major contemporary issues and debates in GPE while being attuned to silences, marginalizations, and exclusions that predominate the field. By integrating a wide range of theoretical approaches, rich empirical material, non-western viewpoints and diversity of contributors, the 7th edition provides enhanced coverage of the central axes of inequality in GPE and centers topics such as colonialism, race, gender, North-South divides and everyday life throughout chapters on GPE theory, global trade and production, global money and finance, the resurgence of the state, development and inequality, the environment, and digital technologies.
