The Political Economy of Global Communication

An Introduction

Peter Wilkin

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780745314013, 9780745314068
• eBook ISBN: 9781849640350
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Recent debates surrounding human security have focused on the satisfaction of human needs as the vital goal for global development. Peter Wilkin highlights the limitations of this view and argues that unless we incorporate an account of human autonomy into human security then the concept is flawed. He reveals how human security is a concern with social relations that connect people in local, national and global networks of power, structured through capitalism and hierarchical inter-state systems. Autonomy, as an aspect of human security, depends upon the ability of citizens to gain information about the processes that shape their lives. In this respect autonomy and communication are inherently linked and are prerequisites for the establishment of meaningful democratic systems.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Understanding Human Security
• 2. Towards a Global Communications Industry
• 3. Human Security and Global Communication - Into the Twenty-First Century
• 4. Public Sphere, Private Power - The Limits to Autonomy and Human Security
• 5. Building the Perfect Beast: The Information Society Revealed
• 6. Global Communication, Human Security and the Challenge to the Public Sphere
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index