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HYPERMEDIA: Modes of Communication in World Order Transformation by RONALD JAMES ... PDF

370 Pages·2009·9.06 MB·English
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HYPERMEDIA: Modes of Communication in World Order Transformation by RONALD JAMES DEIBERT B.A., The University of British Columbia, 1988 M.A., Queen’s University, 1990 A THESIS SUBMITfED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Political Science We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA JUNE 1995 ©Ronald James Deibert ______________ In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shalt make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. (Signature) Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada •3c), (71i Date DE-6 (2/88) ABSTRACT Despite that we are in the midst of profound changes in communications technologies, there is a remarkable gap in the International Relations literature devoted to exploring the implications of these changes. In part, this can be attributed to the discipline’s conservative tendencies; generally, InternationalRelationstheorists have resisted studying majordiscontinuity in the international system. The few studies that do attempt to account for change typically focus on modes of production or destruction as determinant variables. Though there are rare exceptions, many of them also tend towards a form of mono-causal reductionism. When considered at all, communications technologies are viewed through the prism of, or are reduced to, these other factors. This study seeks to remedy this gap by examining the relationship between large-scale shifts in modes of communication and “world order” transformation the -- structure or architecture of political authority at a world-level. Drawing from the work of various “medium theory” scholars, such as Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan, the study outlines an open-ended, non-reductive theory at the core of which is the argument that changes in modes of communication facilitate and constrain social forces and ideas latent in society. This hypothesized process can be likened to the interaction between species and achanging natural environment: new communicationsenvironments “favour” certain social forces and ideas by means of a functional bias towards some and not others, much the same as environments determine which species prosper by “selecting” for certain physical characteristics. In other words, social forces and ideas survive differentially according to their “fitness” or match with the new communications environment a process that is both open -- ended and contingent. 11 The study is organized into two parts: Part one examines the relationship between printing and the medieval to modem world order transformation in Europe; Part two examines the relationship between new digital-electronic-telecommunications (called “hypermedia”) and the modem to postmodern world order transformation. The study suggests that the hypermedia communications environment is contributing to the dissolution of modern world order by facilitating the transnationalization of production, the globalization of finance, the rise of complex, non-territorial social networks, and the de-massification of “national” identities. The hypermedia environment is also helping to re-focus security concerns from an inter-national to an intra-planetary context. While it is far too early to provide a clear outline of the emerging postmodern world order, the trends that are unearthed in this study point away from single mass identities, linear political boundaries, and exclusive jurisdictions centred on territorial spaces, and towards multiple identities and non-territorial communities, overlapping boundaries, and non-exclusive jurisdictions. 111 Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iv Acknowledgement viii INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One Medium Theory, Ecological Holism, and the Transformation of World Order 25 International Relations theory and communications 27 Medium theory 30 Theory and epistemology 37 a. Towards a non-reductionist medium theory 38 b. Two effects: distributional changes and changes to social epistemology 43 Ecological holism and medium theory 49 Ecological holism, medium theory, and International Relations theory 53 Notes 58 PART ONE PRINTING AND THE MEDIEVAL TO MODERN WORLD ORDER TRANSFORMATION 67 Chapter Two From the Parchment Codex to the Printing Press: The Sacred Word and the Rise and Fall of Medieval Theocracy 68 The sanctity of the written word 70 The rise and fall of medieval theocracy 75 iv Structural characteristics of the Church’s hegemony in the High Middle Ages 80 Counter-hegemonic forces and the decline of the Church 86 The printing press 90 Conclusion 92 Notes 93 Chapter Three Print and the Medieval to Modern World Order Transformation: Distributional Changes 100 The new media environment and the dissolution of the old order 102 a. The Protestant Reformation 102 b. Scientific humanism 110 The new media environment and the constitution of the new order 116 a. From the oath to the contract 117 b. The emergence of modem state bureaucracies 125 Conclusion 133 Notes 134 Chapter Four Print and the Medieval to Modem World Order Transformation: Changes to Social Epistemology 142 a. Individual identity 143 b. Spatial biases 151 c. Imagined communities 155 Conclusion 161 Notes 163 V PART TWO HYPERMEDIA AND THE MODERN TO POSTMODERN WORLD ORDER TRANSFORMATION 169 Chapter Five Transformation in the Mode of Communication: The Emergence of the Hypermedia Environment 170 The pre-history of hypermedia: technological and sociological roots 173 The Cold War and military research and development 178 The properties of the hypermedia environment 185 Conclusion 198 Notes 200 Chapter Six Hypermedia and the Modern to Postmodern World Order Transformation: Distributional Changes 208 I. International economics: the transnationalization of production and finance 209 a. Transnational production 209 b. The emergence of global finance 222 State autonomy in a global economy 232 II. Transnational Social Movements in the Hypermedia Environment 234 III. The Nature of Security in the Hypermedia Environment 242 Hypermedia and the RealState: an electronic Panopticon? 244 The emergence of planetary surveillance 251 Conclusion 255 Notes 257 vi Chapter Seven Hypermedia and the Modern to Postmodern World Order Transformation: Changes to Social Epistemology 272 The rise of postmodernist thought 275 a. Individual identities 277 b. Spatial biases 283 c. Imagined communities 291 Conclusion 299 Notes 301 CONCLUSION 308 BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 Appendix A Figure 1 360 vii Acknowledgement There is more than a little irony in submitting a dissertation in which I argue that notions of “authorship” are now being undermined in the hypermedia environment. However, it certainly makes me feel more compelled than ever to recognize and acknowledge those who have contributed in some way or another to the construction of this study. And there are many. First, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my advisor and friend, Mark Zacher. Mark has helped me along every step ofthis study, and through my tenure in the Ph.D. program. He has been an unwavering supporter and a diligent critic. His integrity and his enthusiasm for the discipline are a constant source of inspiration. No student could hope for a better advisor. I would also like to thank the many people who have read various versions and pieces of the text through its many different lives, including Dan Deudney, David Elkins, Paul Heyer, Kal Hoisti, Tsuyoshi Kawasaki, Richard Matthew, Richard Price, and Hendrick Spruyt. Special thanks go to three individuals with whom I engage regularly in on-line discussions: Darcy Cutler, Rodney Bruce Hall, and Neal Roese. All three have contributed in countless valuable ways to my thinking on the many different topics that are covered in this study. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and The Canadian Department of National Defence/Military and Strategic Studies program. I am very grateful to the Institute of International Relations, and especially its Director, Brian Job, for help in numerous ways. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife, Anna, for herpatience, encouragement, support and humour. It is to her, and to my daughters Emily and Rosalind, that I dedicate this dissertation, and to whom I now turn to have some fun. viii Introduction There is an emerging consensus among a growing body of scholars that the present era is one in which fundamental change is occurring. Among International Relations t1heorists, for example, John Ruggie has argued that we are witnessing “a shift not in the play ofpowerpolitics but of the stage on which that play is p2erformed.” Similarly, James Rosenau contends that the present era constitutes an historical breakpoint leading to a “postinternational p3olitics” while Mark Zacher has traced the “decaying pillars of the Westphalian t4emple.” This belief in epochal change is mirrored outside of the mainstream of International Relations theory in, for example, pronouncements of a coming “information a5ge,” “6post-industrialism,” “post f7ordism,” or, more generally, “8postmodernism.” While these analyses differ widely in terms of their respective foci and theoretical concerns, there is at least one common thread running through each of them: the recognition that current transformations are deeply intertwined with developments in communications technologies popularly known as the “information -- revolution.” Communication is vital to social cohesion. The ability to communicate complex symbols and ideas is generally considered to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human species. Yet in the International Relations field little or no attention has been given to the wider implications of large-scale shifts in the means through which humans communicate. In part, this can be attributed to the discipline’s conservative tendencies; as Ruggie points out, International Relations theorists are not “very good. at studying the possibility of fundamental discontinuity .. in the international s9ystem.” The few studies that do attempt to account for change in the 1

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