Marissa Christman
LIS505, As. 3
4/29/10
Information Globalization in Review:
ICTs and the Nation-state Dynamic
Introduction
The recent mushrooming of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has
had significant impact on current neo-nationalist movements as global media weaken the locally
imaginative bonds of nationhood (Poster, 2008, 700). Nationalism and globalization have
collided in the theoretical and empirical realms for decades but many of those dialogues are
beyond the scope of this paper. This literature review focuses on the documented use of ICTs by
neo-nationalist groups in support of the theory that information globalization disrupts the
dynamics of the nation-state.
The Concept of Nation
It would be helpful to first clarify the concept of the state, which is a formal institution
with the authority to create and enforce policy. Technological relevance of the state tends to be
encapsulated by the term “techno-nationality,” but should be more precisely called “technostatism.” It makes more sense to use techno-nationality to refer to the technological relevance of
that nation as a socio-cultural entity. This ambiguity testifies to academia’s tendency to muddle
the concepts of nation and state. This perhaps signifies its reliance on their archaic affiliation
embodied in the nation-state which empirical analysis shows is becoming less relevant to
technological development (Montresor, 2001, 400-401). Chinese academics are particularly
guilty of this ambiguity, perhaps owing to the enigmatic character of the Chinese nation-state,
discussed below (Knight, 2006, 11). This paper attributes this decreasing relevance to the recent
global penetration of ICTs and its severing of the state from the cultural structure known as the
“nation.”
Though it is common to refer to religious, ethnic or racial groupings as “nations” (i.e.
“The Muslim Nation,” or “The African-American Nation”), the concept is most often associated
with the country or nation-state (i.e. “nation of China”). Benedict Anderson defined a nation as
“an imagined political community imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (Quoted in
Poster, 691). Nations are “limited” in that their existent depends on their exclusivity; certain
criteria must be met in order for a person to be accepted as part of the nation. A nation is
“sovereign” in that its members claim separation and autonomy based on their member statuses,
hence the plethora of nationalist political movements. Because the literature on this subject uses
this definition, this paper will also use Anderson’s definition of a nation as an expression of
culture that exists simply because its members imagine that it exists.
Why Information Globalization and ICTs Matter to the Nation-state
For the last century, nations or “imagined communities” worked to form governments
along national lines but ICTs allow for the diffusion of imagination across national, social, and
geographical boundaries (Poster, 699). The most important criterion for belonging to a nation
before the globalization of information was geographic proximity, which usually meant
administration by the same government, hence the dominance of the nation-state (Friedland,
2002, 391). But the widespread use of ICTs jeopardizes this organization.
The globalization of information and its cultural effects are owed almost exclusively to
ICTs, “Peer-to-peer media technologies… detach the body from its location in space, loosening
the binds to the local, and connect the writer with global culture. This shift involves an
‘intimacy’ with information machines that cannot be ignored” (Poster, 700). ICTs put the
production of culture into the hands of anyone with connectivity, thus drastically redefining the
criteria for nationhood (Poster, 699). The radical consumerism practiced by Chinese youth, for
example, is a practice that goes against a national conception of behavior, even though it is in
line with the emergent global capitalism (Knight, 10-11). People around the world are using
alternative criteria for inclusion into high-tech imagined communities and the state no longer
dictates the boundaries of the nation.
Before ICTs: State-controlled Nationalism
The New Order regime in Indonesia provides a great example of technology’s role in the
operation of the nation-state before the proliferation of ICTs. Indonesia experienced profound
technological growth during the 1970s and 1980s but the recent global economic crisis halted
any progress made in the ICT sector in the 1990s (Satriya, 2005). Indonesia still suffers from
underdevelopment in the ICT sector but its earlier rendezvous with technological development
speaks volumes to the political importance of ICTs in particular.
The Indonesian state began a development initiative in 1976 with the formation of its
aircraft industry, called Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN). Through the use of
nationalist rhetoric, public ceremony and ubiquitous symbolism, the state deliberately fused
technological development and patriotic Indonesian nationalism (Amir, 2007, 287-290). The
development of high technology became a source of national pride (Amir, 283). The state’s
deliberate manipulation of the Indonesian people nurtured a cultural obsession with high
technology that united the divergent groups in Indonesia. In this sense, “technology becomes a
medium of an imagined community” (Amir, 284). The idea, therefore, is not a new one but the
nation-state was the agent responsible for creating this imagined community through the
exploitation of the Indonesian people.
The fanaticism displayed within this imagined community by the Indonesian people in
the 1970s and 80s is called technological nationalism. Technological nationalism allows the state
to pursue its own interests under the banner of a people’s movement by creating the illusion of
progress toward technological and economic independence (Amir, 284). Technological
expenditures are justified as necessary for the success of the nation, and consequently, its people.
But technological development becomes the foremost priority of the nation, completely
disregarding poverty, environmental impact and traditional cultural values. Commoners suffer
because resource allocation is unbalanced yet supported by the disillusioned masses. The statecreated imagined community is a diversion so that the government may benefit from the sacrifice
of the Indonesian commoners (Amir, 292). This phenomenon is only possible in a pre-ICT
environment, wherein the state monopolizes culture through information control.
“Imagined Communities” Created by Ethnic Groups using ICTs
Sociologist Roger Friedland asserts, “As the state weakens and the public sphere empties
of sense, other sources of solidarity… grow: ethnicity, on the one hand, and religion, on the
other” (Friedland, 391). Imagined communities or “nations” based on alternative criteria, often
ethnicity or religion are important to this discussion because they operate independently of the
nation-state, robbing it of power and threatening it with obsolescence.
Since the 1990s, the sudden ubiquity of satellite television, the Internet and other ICTs
has shaped the Arab world. Residing in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the eastern
Mediterranean territories known as the Levant, Arabs are numerous and diverse. Previously
divided by national boundaries, the Arabs’ integrated use of ICTs has resulted in a shared Arab
consciousness or in other words, an imagined pan-Arab community. Scientific studies prove a
correlation between television viewing and the espousal of pan-Arab stances (Pintak, 2009, 192).
Moreover, satellite television has popularized Modern Standard Arabic and, some even say,
encouraged the formation of a pan-Arab lingua franca (Pintak, 194).
A survey of Arab journalists indicated that despite religious, philosophical, geographical
and socio-economic variance, they first identified themselves with a collective Arab public. They
control the global media outlet in question which indicates that they act as gatekeepers to the
Arabs’ imagined community, every day shaping the character of a new Arab collective. Arab
journalists digitally transmit the pan-Arab imagination to Arabs near and far, creating a digital
pan-Arab nation (Pintak, 207). Pan-Arabism has of yet failed to translate into political action.
Nonetheless, broadcasting communally imagined (a.k.a. national) ideas via ICTs is done
independently of the nation-state and one day it might be in opposition to it, demonstrating the
nation’s ability to exist independent of state.
Likewise, Nigerian Tuareg nationalists have created an imagined community or nation by
way of ICTs. Starting in 2007, Tuareg nationalists use extant forums and chat rooms or create
their own to transmit nationalist doctrine. The Nigerian government uses the web similarly in
attempts to counter the Tuareg brand of nationalism with an antithetical state-sponsored version
(Alzouma, 2009, 483). Though Nigeria’s ICT development indicators are among the lowest in
the world, their use of Internet cafes is considerable and the political elites tend be in the small
portion that have access anyway. Also important is the presence of a young student population
who serve as marks for online Tuareg nationalist agitators. The Tuaregs use ICTs to bridge the
educational riffs within Nigerian society. Online radio, video and photos serve as nationalist
propaganda for the illiterate. Tuaregs also use diasporic forums (discussed below) and chat
rooms to transmit their nationalist ideas to Tauregs living abroad. They have inducted
international non-government organizations, political parties and eminent Western personalities
into the ranks of their imagined community using Internet activity (Alzouma, 490). Their
influence extends even further via global media who report news sourced by Nigerian nationalist
websites (Alzouma, 493).
The Building of Online Imagined Communities via Digital Documents
Language has always mediated culture through cultural object such as folklore and
national anthems but ICTs allow cultural objects to be experienced by anyone in the world with
access to the Internet (Poster, 698). The Zionist youth movement is particularly affected by the
increased accessibility to cultural documents. The storage, transmission and discussion of
folklore are made easier by ICTs. Groups like Ariel and Bnei-Akiva use forums to discuss such
foundation documents with other Israeli nationalist youth. Ariel youths posted “Red Riding
Hood—the Haredic Version!” in a forum maintained by a nationalist/religious TV station in
Israel (Raufman & Ben-Cnaan , 2009, 44). This Zionist allegory probed important issues of faith
and nation. One comment read: “the integrated land of Israel is our Israel and we won’t share it
with anyone else.”
Ariel members bonded over the accordance of their values and identified the
incompatible values of their enemies. The irony is that Ariel youths compromise their shared
values, one of which is the segregation of genders into adulthood, by mixing through the use of
ICTs (Raufman & Ben-Cnaan , 52). Ariel youth are, in effect, participating in an online imagined
community wherein their religious nationalist sentiments are strengthened. But by doing so, they
expose their shared values, and consequently, the nation-state, to the degenerative effects of
globalization.
ICTs, the Nation-state and Diasporic Populations
The studies of diasporas, which are the mass relocations of people of a common origin,
do not augur well for the longevity of the nation-state dynamic. Diasporas have been shown to
slacken the bond between the nation and the state. Critical analyses have recently been
discovered that the massive Chinese diaspora in Thailand, for example, does not find Chinese
culture or Thai culture to be their primary identifiers. The most important part of their identities
is, instead, “the propensity to seek opportunities elsewhere” (Callahan, 2003, 485). Studies point
to an altogether separate diasporic culture among relocated populations. ICTs are instrumental in
this development. The World Huaren [Chinese] Federation’s Web Site for displaced Chinese
represents imagined diasporic communities wherein members of the Chinese diaspora bond
based on cultural objects in the global space of the Internet. Chinese diasporic websites even
interact with domestic websites to foster support for the rights of the diasporic Chinese
regardless of where they live (Callahan, 485). Again, the creation of a transnational imagined
community among diasporic Chinese suggests that nation no longer requires the presence of
state.
The emergence of conflicting Taiwanese and Chinese nationalisms coincides with the
rise in religious pilgrimages across the Taiwan Strait. Historically, Chinese worshippers of the
goddess Mazu have established a network of temples along the Taiwan Strait, reaching across to
the Taiwan coast and establishing an early Chinese Diaspora. Now at a time when Taiwan has
declared itself independent and China stakes its claim to it even more rigorously, the advent of
ICTs threatens the sovereignty of the fragile state of Taiwan through the strengthening of the
Mazu cult’s imagined ties to the mainland. The Mazu have, since the proliferation of ICTs,
established a transnational imagined community that crosses the Taiwan Strait. For example, the
Chinese Diaspora in Taiwan made religious pilgrimages to the mainland which were covered
extensively via live satellite broadcasts. To Taiwanese citizens, many of whom also belonged to
the Mazu cult, this broadcast was another cultural object around which the Mazu could base their
transnational imagined community. This endangers the fragile relationship between the nation of
Taiwan and the self-proclaimed Taiwanese state (Yang, 2004, 229-231).
Religious Nationalism as the Savior of the Nation-state Dynamic
As the example of the Mazu cult signifies, the greater use of ICTs coincides with an
increase in religious nationalist movements. This is due to globalization’s severing of the nation
from the state. As people build multi-ethnic, international relationships through the widespread
use of ICTs, nationality becomes increasingly insignificant and they search for other ways to
identify themselves (Friedland, 391-396). Disaffected citizens seek alternative criteria for their
imagined communities. Religious nationalism pairs the nation with religion to create a nationfaith, a suitable alternative to the decaying nation-state.
For example, saving the ailing nation-state is the primary concern for Buddhist Sinhala
nationalists in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese Buddhists defend the nation-state against globalization,
which their leader, the Venerable Soma, perceives to be a destructive external force (Berkwitz,
2008, 73-4). Soma used ICTs to propagate recycled anti-colonial ideas in response to recent
problems (ironically caused by the same ICTs) within the Sri Lankan state (Berkwitz, 75-6, 81).
The commoditization of ICTs has been embraced by the Sri Lankan nation-state, resulting in its
conversion to a market economy, World Bank membership, occupational outsourcing, mounting
foreign debt, and intrusion by foreign developers. The state is not the only entity whose use of
ICTs contributes to the perceived globalization problem. Sri Lankan industries use ICTs to
institute foreign TV programming, engage with Norwegian peace mediators, and worsen their
reliance on imports. They promote foreign movies, foreign fashion, and the principal of
multiculturalism. Adding insult to injury, Sinhala Buddhists have recently been at odds with
Tamil separatists and Sri Lankan Muslims (Berkwitz, 82-3, 95, 97-8).
Soma’s Buddhist nationalism privileged local history and traditions, which were
perceived to be threatened by the global spread of ideas by ICTs (Berkwitz, 79). The Sinhala
people, fearing the extinction of their national culture in the face of economic and cultural
globalization, flocked to Soma’s message but his popularity would not have been possible
without his use of ICTs. He used the imported technologies of satellite TV, radio, and Internet
news agencies to publicize his local, religious, nationalist views.
Even more importantly, his use of ICTs transmitted his message to local and diasporic
Sinhalese (residing internationally). The same tactic was employed by Tamilnet.com nationalists
to gain global support for its movement despite the Sri Lankan media monopoly; ironically it is a
Sinhalese media monopoly (Whitaker, 2004, 489). The extensiveness of the Sinhala diaspora and
Soma’s use of ICTs to include them in his movement guaranteed his success. Nonetheless, he
was able to position himself against global culture because he addressed only Sinhalese
Buddhists, thus providing the exclusive criteria necessary to the formation of an imagined
community (Berkwitz, 77, 80, 92, 103). ICTs created the need for Soma’s localist brand of
Buddhist nationalism while, at the same time, they assured its success.
Revision of Nationalism after Information Globalization’s Deterioration of the Nation-state
The institution of the nation-state arose as a result of and in concert with nationalist
ideology. The deterioration of the nation-state by information globalization therefore makes
ideological revision a necessity. There is no place where this is more accurate than in Turkey.
The Turks boast of a long history of statism. Before the advent of the Turkish Republic, the
multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire stressed citizenship, rather than cultural elements, as the its
primary identifier. This political feature made the Turks particularly predisposed to nation-state
models. Thus, official Ataturk Nationalism, upon which the state of Turkey was founded, is
culturally ambivalent and completely reliant on the nation-state (Bora, 2003, 434-437).
But new forms of nationalism have emerged since the proliferation of ICTs. Liberal
Nationalism, for example, emerged at the end of the 1980s, in correspondence with the
introduction of global media. It differs ideologically from earlier nationalist discourses in that it
derives national pride not from the identifiers unique to Turkish culture but by Turkey’s ability
to “harmonize with universal standards” (Bora, 440). This ability of the Turks’ has since
solidified into a global consumer culture. This global consumer culture has, in large part,
replaced a Turkish national culture (Bora, 444). This change was made necessary by information
globalization via ICTs and made possible through the ideological revision of nationalism.
ICTs, the Nation-state and New Terrorism
ICTs contribute to the decline of the nation-state through terrorism, most of which is
performed under the banner of ethnic or religious nationalism. It is exceedingly common among
Islamic fundamentalists and even more so among American extremists (Whine, 2002, 232).
Hezbollah, for example, publishes a daily blog about its terrorist activities in Southern Lebanon
and the American militia movement grew for years under the radar of the U.S. government with
the help of ICTs. This “new terrorism” involves the creation of online transnational imagined
communities, which are crucial to extralegal organizations. The United Islamic Students
Association runs a password-protected website, providing for the exclusivity characteristic of
imagined communities (Whine, 234).
Moreover, ICTs democratize information by lowering the price of engaging in terrorist
activity. This removed the capital constraints that, in the past, made state-backing obligatory.
Terrorist and extremist groups thus have the economic and cultural capabilities that previously
required nation-state involvement (Whine, 236). More importantly, the extralegal nature of
terrorist groups ceases to be problematic because ICTs allow them to recruit members and
disseminate propaganda without help from the legitimate outlets that refuse them (Whine, 237).
Another important paradox emerges from New Terrorism’s use of ICTs: Many extremists,
especially religious fundamentalists, situate themselves against the forces of globalization while
using global media to disseminate their ideology (Whine, 240). In the case of new terrorism,
ICTs gave control to subversive elements whose success would have historically depended on
the nation-state for sustenance.
China the Enigma: Nation-state Dynamic and State-control of ICTs
Another indicator of nation-state decline is the defensive regulation of information flow
practiced by centralized nation-states since the influx of ICTs. In the ambitious yet ever reticent
People’s Republic of China (PRC), it is believe that the regulation of information flow need not
take a back seat to technological development as they have developed complex information
control systems to combat the intellectual freedom begotten by ICTs (Knight, 6). At least 12
government agencies participate in the world’s most complex ICT-based information filtration
system in China, which includes surveillance, promotion of self-censorship, physical removal of
sensitive content, and penalties for offenders including incarceration (Lum, 2006, crs2).
The danger that ICTs poses to the nation-state (as perceived by the PRC) are in line with
this paper’s intended argument. The Ministry of Public Security issued a regulatory publication
in 1997 which stated:
Individuals are prohibited from using the Internet to: harm national security;
disclose state secrets; or injure the interests of the state or society. Users are
prohibited from using the Internet to… transmit information that incites resistance
to the PRC Constitution, laws, or administrative regulations; promotes the
overthrow of the government of socialist system; undermines nation
unification…(Quoted in Lum , crs-5).
It is apparent that the PRC understood, even then, the political implications of
Information Globalization via ICTs. Ironically, the PRC used ICTs to counter the threat to the
nation-state that those ICTs created in the first place. This threat is especially apparent in large,
diverse nation-states whose national borders have little historical significance. Of course, the
Chinese state could have unintentionally defended the nation-state organization in its campaign
to save “Chinese national culture.” It is unlikely, however, because the PRC focused only on the
cultural preservation that would stabilize the state; globalization’s erosion of China’s numerous
minority cultures did not warrant the Chinese state’s concern (Knight, 4-5).
Perhaps perceiving the proliferation of transnational imagined communities and looking
to permanently integrate the Chinese nation with the Chinese state, the PRC began to encourage
nationalist sentiment using ICTs. For example, a state-sponsored newspaper titled The People’s
Daily hosts an online bulletin board called “Strong Nation Forum” wherein Chinese citizens
discuss ways to strengthen the Chinese nation and engage in anti-foreign (namely anti-Japanese)
dialogue (Lum, crs-3). The PRC also disseminates nationalist propaganda by hiring students to
post pro-PRC declarations on popular forums and via nationwide text-messaging programs
(Crampton, 2010). As described earlier in the case of the Mazu pilgrimage to the mainland, it
seems to be taken for granted in China that ICTs are used exclusively to publicize state activities
because “the state is seen to propel society—not the other way around” (Yang, 230). The PRC’s
early detection of the incongruity between ICTs and the nation-state relationship and their
enactment of counter measures may, perhaps, be the reasons that their state still thrives.
Conclusion
All of this is not to say that the religious and ethnic imagined communities created with
the aid of ICTs are by any means homogenous. We must be careful in drawing concrete
conclusions from this phenomenon. The main purpose of studying the effect of globalization on
the nation-state dynamic, and specifically the use of ICTs by neo-nationalists, is to better
understand the nature of current cultural constructs. An increased understanding of the concepts
of the nation and state can only benefit the future, and perhaps it will prevent another so-called
“failure of imagination” as information globalization continues its course, touching cultural and
political structures around the world. An area requiring further study is the transformation of
information globalization at the advent of Web 2.0. Information has, for some time now, been a
commodity, making information globalization a truly capitalist endeavor but Web 2.0 marked the
advent of self-publication which changes everything.
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