Launching into Cyberspace: Internet Development and Politics in Five World Regions. By Marcus Franda. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 2002. 280p. $59.95 cloth, $22.00 paper

Extract

Launching into Cyberspace provides a comparative analysis of the impact of the Internet on international relations. Focusing on five large and diverse regions of the world: Africa, the Middle East, Eurasia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia (India and China), Marcus Franda demonstrates that any analysis of the impact of the Internet has to take into account that the process of the integration and diffusion of information communication technologies (ICTs) varies enormously, not just from one region to the next but often from country to country. Consequently, the political scientist should be wary of drawing generalized conclusions about the impact of the Internet globally. Indeed, in many ways Franda's account of its impact provides a healthy degree of skepticism to many of the more technologically deterministic and “libertarian” accounts of the impact of ICTs. His account demonstrates that in nearly all of the countries examined, far from “withering away,” the state has played a decisive role either in creating a conducive environment for the Internet to develop or, conversely, in retarding its development by adopting regulations to administer and control access.