The Blackwell Companion to Globalization

Chapter 20

Globalization and Information and Communications Technologies: The Case of War

HOWARD TUMBER AND FRANK WEBSTER

INTRODUCTION

Without information and communications technologies (ICTs) it is hard to conceive of the scale and scope of contemporary globalization: its reach, its immediacy, the volumes of information made available and exchanged as matters of routine. We could not be where we are without computers, satellites and associated technologies. Because of this it is tempting to offer here a technocentric account of the globalization process wherein technical advances are regarded as its creator and dynamo.

This would be mistaken for at least two reasons. First, because such technocentrism suffers from being technologically determinist, from the folly of supposing that technologies have social effects while themselves are untouched by social forces. Second, in prioritizing technology, a technocentric approach oversimplifies change, failing to acknowledge the multifarious influences on and directions of globalization (Webster and Erickson 2004; Veseth 2005). To address these errors, and to allow us to explore the complexities of the connections between ICTs and globalization, we focus here on contemporary war. In what follows we shall explore connections between globalization and ICTs as they are manifested in Information War (or what might be conceived as war in a globalized world). It is salutary to examine war for another reason as well: so much commentary on globalization ...