Agency and Space: the political impact of information technologies in the Gulf Arab states.
Recent political reforms in the Gulf Arab countries have been variously understood as regime survival strategies, correlates of economic globalisation, and even the end result of US pressure to democratise. This paper examines the possible role played by the introduction of modern information and co...
| Publicado en: | Third World Quarterly Vol. 27; no. 6; pp. 1059 - 1084 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2006
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=22306647&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 22306647 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01436597 TWQ jtl: Third World Quarterly issn: 01436597 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2006 vid: 27 iid: 6 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 22306647 10.1080/01436590600850376 ppf: 1059 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 182KB tig: atl: Agency and Space: the political impact of information technologies in the Gulf Arab states. aug: au: Murphy, EmmaC su: Information technology Communication & technology Reforms Globalization International relations Free trade Internet sug: subj: Information technology Communication & technology Reforms Globalization International relations Free trade Internet ab: Recent political reforms in the Gulf Arab countries have been variously understood as regime survival strategies, correlates of economic globalisation, and even the end result of US pressure to democratise. This paper examines the possible role played by the introduction of modern information and communication technologies (icts) in stimulating political liberalisation in the Gulf Arab states. Rather than attempting to quantify their democratising impact, this paper utilises the concept of agency, examining how the range of agents of ict production and diffusion in the region have sought to influence the actual impact upon political space. It concludes that modern icts have demonstrated the potential to expand the existing public sphere, and to create new opportunities for liberal political activity. However, the particular configuration of agency in the countries in question has meant that the state and its allies have retained a significant degree of control over the extent and nature of the political space, a process in which local society may have in some instances collaborated. Thus, while the introduction and diffusion of new icts may have contributed to the pressures which led to some of the political reforms in evidence in the Gulf Arab states, one cannot argue that they amount, at least as yet, to a sustained and effective attack on illiberal political structures. The first part of this paper surveys the existing body of literature in an effort to devise a framework for the subsequent study of two principal contemporary icts (satellite television and the internet) in the Gulf Arab states. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Third World Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Third World Quarterly holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2006 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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