Power, Information Technology, and International Relations Theory: The Power and Politics of US Foreign Policy and the Internet (Palgrave Studies in International Relations)

This book examines the internet as a form of power in global politics. Focusing on the United States' internet foreign policy, McCarthy combines analyses of global material culture and international relation theory, to reconsider how technology is understood as a form of social power. American policy towards the internet has been the subject of popular debate, from the Iranian Green Revolution to Edward Snowden's revelations about Internet surveillance. This book examines the internet as a form of power in global politics, taking into account the significance of global material culture upon theories of international relations to reconsider how technology is understood as a form of social power. Examining American Internet policy as the product of the Open Door tradition in US foreign relations, McCarthy suggests that American policy officials actively promote the construction and maintenance of a network that maintains a 'free flow of information' in order to spread liberal democratic capitalism internationally. The book argues that technology is a form of institutional power that reflects the cultural values of its creators - in the case of the Internet, it reflects the cultural values of American liberal capitalism. Considered in this way, our theoretical conceptualization of technology and power is altered, pushing our analyses to consider the sociotechnical production of global order as the product of an uneven and combined global political economy. A unique and topical contribution to internet governance studies, this book will be a valuable resource to scholars of International Relations Theory, Global Politics and Technology Studies "A brilliant exercise in the crossroads of international relations and science and technology studies. McCarthy deftly analyses the Internet's rhetoric of structure as a product and instrument of US foreign policy. Cooly interdisciplinary, McCarthy's study is socially relevant and intellectually rigorous."--Professor Monroe Price, Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, USA "Who controls the global communications infrastructure controls the conduct of international relations. This welcome volume shows how central this control is to US foreign policy and why rival states and activists are so keen to contest it. Technology and power were at the heart of early International Relations theory. McCarthy brings them back."--Professor Ben O'Loughlin, author of Strategic Narratives: Communication Power and the New World Order "Daniel R. McCarthy's book constitutes a timely and refreshing step forward as it illuminates our understanding of how digital communications technologies, foreign policy, and structural power are inter-related. For him, the ways in which most US officials and IR theorists have conceptualized the Internet and related developments reflect a dubious sense of historical inevitability and a kind of technological rationality. Through his critique McCarthy highlights the unequal capacities of those involved in the Internet's construction alongside its entrenchment as a form of institutional power. In sum, this important book should be read by IR theorists, foreign policy analysts, and anyone else concerned about the often ignored ideological and structural implications of the Internet and still broader policy questions concerning this technology-cum-institution."--Professor Edward A. Comor, University of Western Ontario, Canada "Daniel McCarthy has written an intellectually provocative and empirically rich account of the role of technology in International Relations, with a specific focus on the role of American structural power. Timely, clearly written, and widely engaging, McCarthy puts forward a sophisticated theoretical treatment, which prompts us to think of technology as 'institutions' and as products of social power rather than instrumentalist artefacts or deterministic forces beyond human control. Students of Internet politics would find in this book a rewarding historical and theoretical framework to help illuminate the ongoing debates about surveillance, privacy, and the future of global networks."--Ronald J. Deibert, Professor of Political Science and Director, the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-18 Power and Information Technology: Determinism, Agency, and Constructivism....Pages 19-42 A Historical Materialist Approach to Technological Power in International Relations....Pages 43-73 US Foreign Relations and the Institutional Power of the Internet....Pages 74-100 Pursuing Technological Closure: Symbolic Politics, Legitimacy, and Internet Filtering....Pages 101-121 The Narration of Innovation in US Internet Policy....Pages 122-147 Conclusion....Pages 148-161 Back Matter....Pages 162-220 Introduction -- Power And Information Technology: Determinism, Agency, And Constructivism -- A Historical Materialist Approach To Technological Power In International Relations -- Us Foreign Relations And The Institutional Power Of The Internet -- Pursuing Technological Closure: Symbolic Politics, Legitimacy, And Internet Filtering -- The Narration Of Innovation In Us Internet Policy -- Conclusion. Daniel R. Mccarthy. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 175-214) And Index.