Virtual States: The Internet and the Boundaries of the Nation-State

Rating:
Summary: Chat with State?
Review: In Virtual States, Jerry Everard compiles his analyzes and discussions about the role of the state in a globalizing networked society. It can be straightforwardly stated that the ideas and discussions in the book help us to understand the Internet revolution of our contemporary age in details.

In the book, Everard opposes assertion of the eventual fading of the nation-state in information age. The author argues that information technology poses crucial challenges to methods of running a state, however this will not mean the fade of the state but rather the modification of the state. He expresses it as a "cultural artifact" whose role is moving more towards "identity-economies", and away from economies of goods and services. The conventional economies are becoming surrounded in the inter-relationships of transnational corporate business and trade agreements. On the other hand, "new economies" invite competition and they are supported by the Internet and other telecommunications media. In both economies, there are questions about making boundary identification and supporting the existing one.

I imagine that another issue in developed countries' economic life would be the productivity. The author does not discuss this issue. Nevertheless, it is a debatable question if the networked, computerized business practices improves the over all productivity or not. Many works have shown that the correlation between amount of investment done for information technology and amount of gained productivity is not clear or weak. The phenomenon needs explaining in the light of above discussion.

Moreover, the author examines the reaction to the wired society in the developing and developed worlds and he points out the difference between them. Everard states that developing countries may perceive themselves as being excluded from wired society due to the lack of networking infrastructure and technological knowledge.

In general, the author is optimistic about the future in which he expects to exploit the Internet and its services efficiently and properly together with developing and developed countries.