Digital Divide 1 Paper Analysis

Digital Divide 2 Paper Analysis - Liberalism and Constructivism

Sources

1. Helen V. Milner, Princeton University, “The Digital Divide: The Role of Political Institutions in Technology Diffusion” - 2006-03
2. Sophie Lythreatis, Sanjay Kumar Singh, Abdul-Nasser El-Kassar, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, “The digital divide: A review and future research agenda” - 2022-02
3. Jan A. G. M. Van Dijk, University of Twente, “Digital Divide: Impact of Access” - 2017
   1. Alt link: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0043
4. The United Nations, “Widening Digital Gap between Developed, Developing States Threatening to Exclude World’s Poorest from Next Industrial Revolution, Speakers Tell Second Committee” - 2023-10-06
5. Philippine Institute for Developmental Studies, “Bridging digital divide: PIDS study reveals path to universal broadband in PH” - 2024-01-30
6. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, “Broadband Technology Opportunities Program” - 2020, Accessed 2024-12-01
7. Tom Wheeler, Federal Communications Commission, “Closing the Digital Divide in Rural America” - 2014-11-20
8. Luísa Nazareno, Justina Jose, SSRN, “The Effects of Broadband Deployment in Rural Areas: Evaluating the Connect America Fund Program” - 2021-08-02
9. Shannon L. Blanton, Charles W. Kegley, “World Politics: Trend and Transformation” - 2024-02-12

Domestic Policies of Non-ASEAN Countries Addressing the Digital Divide

United States

NTIA, 2020

• The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)—an agency of the United States Department of Commerce—launched a program referred to as the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to domestically bridge the digital divide.
  • Their tasks involves deploying broadband Internet infrastructure, improving and widening public computer centers, and fostering the sustainable adoption of broadband service.
• The NTIA funded 233 BOTP projects in 2010; however, only two projects remain active as of 30 June 2020. This is because the other projects have accomplished their objectives.
• Analyzing their reports and conducting research, the NTIA gathered the following observations:
  • 4 out of 5 US citizens are connected to the internet as of November 2019.
  • Every dollar invested in broadband returns nearly 4 USD to their economy.
  • 71% of the children of low-income subscribers to discounted broadband service are reported to use the Internet for homework; in contrast, only 51% of the children of non-subscribers use the Internet for homework.

Wheeler, 2014

• In 2014, it was reported that Americans living in urban areas are three times likely to have access to Next Generation broadband, whereas approximately 15 million Americans (mostly in rural communities) have no access to entry-level broadband. Moreover, 41% of the rural schools in the country lack access to a fast fiber connection.
• Although FCC’s E-rate program attempted to close the digital divide present in rural schools in 1997, the high price for decent Internet speed led to its failure in delivering the bandwidth needed for learning in the 21st century.
• After reflecting on the 1997 E-rate program, FCC proposed an update in July to account for inflation, thereby increasing the funding to provide affordable high-speed Internet connection to rural areas.
• They also plan to carry out and implement an incentive auction of low-band spectrum so that they can strengthen the rural wireless broadband network coverage.

Nazareno & Jose, 2021

• The Connect America Fund (CAF) is a program sponsored by the Federal US Government that aims to deploy broadband to unserved rural areas in the country. Its largest component is the Phase-II, wherein companies are incentivized to supply their services to unserved or underserved areas.
• A study on their impact reveals positive effects on the employment rates for areas that were treated: there was an increase in average employment rates of 0.46 and 0.42 percentage points in 2016 and 2017. Nonetheless, in 2015, it was also discovered that the benefits were statistically and positively significant in the Midwest, while it was negative in the South and Northeast, and insignificant in the West.
• The study, however, found that the program had no significant effect on other related socio-economic variables, such as migration, per capita income, and labor force participation.

South Korea

Open Government Partnership, 2021

• The Republic of Korea seeks to prevent the possibility of worsening the social and economic inequality and discrimination by narrowing the gap in accessibility and utilization pertaining to intelligent information technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
• In the face of digital transformation, South Korea plans to transition their society from collecting information to utilizing the available digital technologies for economic activity.
• The Republic of Korea Action Plan 2021-2023 is committed to 3 key goals:
  1. Enhancing the digital capabilities of the entire nation
     • Currently, some government institutions are providing information technology education to groups like the elderly, disabled, and multicultural families; however, the number of people taking the educational programs considerably fall behind the number of people eligible for it (in other words, there is an accessibility issue occurring).
     • For this reason, the government of Korea plans to extend their offline digital education by taking advantage of existing residential infrastructure. Furthermore, they will create and offer digital skills tests to their citizens and create a platform for teaching digital skills based on different levels and situations.
  2. Fostering an inclusive digital user environment
     • Currently, the South Korean government is supporting nationwide affordable high-speed internet, but, nonetheless, a gap in terms of digital ownership still exists depending on the class of the citizens.
     • To address this issue the government will take 2 approaches:
       1. An high-speed internet infrastructure will be built in more than 1,300 rural areas and public Wi-Fi services will be expanded to alleviate the digital divide present between cities and rural areas.
       2. Subsidies will be provided for vulnerable classes to ensure the satisfaction of the minimum requirements for technology adoption.
  3. Laying the foundation for digital inclusion
     • Currently, the private sector are actively promoting digital inclusion activities. Nevertheless, the government still needs to leverage this and develop an implementation system for policies and projects that ensures bridging the digital divide.
     • With this in mind, the government plans to establish a digital inclusion coalition by which citizens and businesses can participate and contribute in forming relevant policies and systems. Moreover, the government will enact a law that forms an implementation system for digital inclusion policies and projects. Lastly, laws and systems that lead to the discrimination and exclusion of the vulnerable (in terms of digital access) will be identified and addressed.

Liberalism

• Is founded on the idea that applying universal ethics to world politics can result in cooperation and order in the world.
  • Human unity is more important than national loyalty
  • Their beliefs is centered on the idea that humans have the capacity to reason and progress is possible; it results to peace and prosperity when achieved.
  • Liberalism’s main issue in world politics is finding a consensus on ethics and mutual benefits
• They believe that we ought to treat people as ends and not only as means (See Principle of Ends)
• Liberals emphasize ethical principles over power (See the Categorical Imperative)
• Assumes that warfare arise due to living conditions rather than the desire for power
  • In contrast to realism, liberal culture and democratic states promotes diplomacy over military force. They believe that because people would not want to live under the conditions of war, they would rather peacefully resolve it through negotiations.
  • Politics is not viewed as zero-sum because international disputes are not resolved through coercion, rather persuasion
• Views international politics as an extension of domestic politics
• Disputes between democratic nations rarely escalate to war because each side respects their legitimacy and expect a peaceful resolution. Moreover, the transparent nature of democratic governments allow everyone to examine its inner workings, and, as such, make it hard to demonize.
• Emphasizes free-trade, and believe that commerce can reduce international conflict because states are connected by commerce
  • Some studies suggest that economic interconnectedness have a greater influence in fostering peace than democracy. This is founded on the following propositions
    • War prevents commerce and reduces profits; therefore, it is avoided.
    • Transnational business elites are powerful and interested in resolving conflicts to promote their profits
    • web of trade encourages communication and minimizes national selfishness
• Liberals recommend replacing balance of power politics because it promotes threats to peace—something that is a threat for everyone.
• They believe that the future global society will be composed of actors that realize the cost of conflict and thus their interests are achieved through international institutions that mediate their disputes.

Concepts and Terminologies

• Diplomacy pertains to the negotiation between global actors that seeks a cooperative solution
• Zero-sum an exchange in which one party wins and another loses (no in-between).

Constructivism

• Constructivism enables us to gain valuable insight after becoming aware that our understanding of the world is shaped by the trends of what can and cannot be changed: our ideas are socially constructed.
• It is underpinned by the idea that states have beliefs on power politics that evolve, thereby also affecting their response to those beliefs.
• Constructivists believe that norms, identities of actors, ideas, and social interactions shape reality.
• The evolving interpretations of what an actor can and cannot do define their identities and behavior. In other words, as norms change, behavior and actions also change.
• Meanings of concepts change and are relative. As the interests of nation changes, the nature of their interactions changes as well depending on the normative consensus.
• Concepts are central for constructivism. The primary concern is the identification of actors that influence the social structure and is also influenced by the social structure.