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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The New Imperialism and Africa in the Global Electronic Village
Author:Ya'u, Y.Z.
Year:2004
Periodical:Review of African Political Economy
Volume:31
Issue:99
Period:March
Pages:11-29
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:WTO
global economy
information technology
Development and Technology
international relations
Economics and Trade
External links:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305624042000258397
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=0E1JGWEV5D28UXYV8CUG
Abstract:Conscious of the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the globalization process, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has developed a vision for structuring the ICT sector in developing countries. However, although embedded in international efforts to address the digital divide, itself occasioned by uneven access to ICTs at a range of geographic scales, WTO strategy for configuring the ICT sectors of developing countries appears to work in the interests of multinational corporations. Furthermore, WTO policy initiatives, especially those which come under the ambit of the Agreement on Telecommunications, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), have tended to exacerbate the digital divide. The result is the resurgence of imperialism, this time represented by knowledge dependence. While locating the marginality of Africa in cyberspace within its colonial past, this paper argues that current international attempts at bridging the digital divide are part of wider efforts to not only secure the virgin markets of developing countries, but also to configure the world in the interests of the new imperial powers. Within this context, therefore, Africa faces the challenge of imperialism anew. The paper discusses the substance of this challenge, and argues that while isolationism cannot be promoted as a counter force to globalization, Africa must re-establish the basis of its integration into a globalizing world by developing a framework that challenges the dominant assumptions of processes of globalization promoted by the WTO. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]
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