studies

This page points to studies of the ITU, global telecommunications policy coordination and standards development.

It covers -

• the organisation
• global standards organisations
• historical perspectives
• ITU-watching 

     the organisation

The major studies are Gerd Wallenstein's Setting Global Telecommunications Standards (Norwood: Artech 1990) and The ITU In A Changing World (Dedham: Artech 1988) by George Codding & Anthony Rutkowski. The latter volume builds on Codding's The International Telecommunications Union: An Experiment in International Cooperation (New York: Arno 1972). 

The Politics of International Telecommunications Regulation (Boulder: Westview 1989) by James Savage, The Struggle for Control of Global Communication: The Formative Century (Urbana: Uni of Illinois Press 2002) by Jill Hills and The CCIF & the Development of International Telephony, 1923-1956 (Geneva: ITU 1976) by Robert Chapuis explore pre-web challenges.

Other perspectives are provided by From National Hierarchies to International Standardization:Modal Changes in the Governance of Telecommunications (PDF) by Philipp Genschel & Raymund Werle, International Telecommunication Standards Organizations (Norwood: Artech 1990) by Andrew Macpherson and Coordinating Technology: Studies in the International Standardization of Telecommunications (Cambridge: MIT Press 1997) by Suzanne Schmidt & Raymund Werle.

Werle's 2001 Standards in the International Telecommunications Regime (PDF) may also be of interest, supplemented by Samuel Krislov's How Nations Choose Product Standards and Standards Change Nations (Pittsburgh: Uni of Pittsburgh Press 1997).

When Countries Talk: International Trade in Telecommunications Services (Cambridge: Ballinger 1989) by Jonathan Aronson & Peter Cowhey and Mark Alleyne's International Power & International Communication (London: Macmillan 1995) consider economic and geopolitical aspects.

Edward Comer edited The Global Political Economy of Communication: Hegemony, Telecommunications & the Information Economy (New York: St Martin's 1994), arguing that the web and satellite broadcasting are the latest iterations of traditional communication conflicts. 

Technology has promised the abolition of distance and the globalisation of everyday life. Twice before - in 1865 with the creation of the International Telegraph Union and in 1906 with the creation of the Radiotelegraphy Union - international agreement to encourage and then to regulate new international communication technologies have marked the beginning of generation-long conflicts over the boundaries of new, larger (but certainly less-than-global) economic orders.

There's a more positive account in European Telecommunications Liberalisation (London: Routledge 1999) edited by Kjell Eliassen & Marit Sj�vaag and The International Politics of Telecommunications (Berkeley: UC Institute of International Studies 1987) by David Blatherwick.

     global standards organisations

For an intelligent introduction see Constructing World Culture: International NonGovernmental Organizations Since 1875 (Stanford: Stanford Uni Press 1999), a collection of essays edited by John Boli, The Politics of Global Governance: International Organizations in an Interdependent World (Boulder: Rienner 2001) edited by Paul Diehl and Autonomous Policy-Making By International Organisations (London: Routledge 1999) edited by Bob Reinalda. 

For standards organisations and global policymaking see An Introduction to Standards and Standardization (Berlin: Beuth 1996) edited by Wilfried Hesser & Alex Inklaar and A World of Standards (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 2000) edited by Nils Brunsson & Bengt Jacobsson.

Another view is offered in Governing Global Networks: International Regimes for Transportation & Communications (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni Press 1996) by Mark Zacher & Brent Sutton, Changing the Rules: Technological change, International Competition & Regulation in Communications (Washington: Brookings 1989) edited by Robert Crandall & Kenneth Flamm and Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure (Cambridge, MIT Press 1995) edited by Janet Abbate & Brian Kahin as part of the excellent Harvard Information Infrastructure Project. Scaffolding the New Web: Standards & Standards Policy for the Digital Economy (Santa Monica: RAND 2000) by Martin Libicki & David Frelinger is more provocative.

We've pointed to works such as Coordinating the Internet (Cambridge: MIT Press 1997) edited by Brian Kahin & James Keller, Interconnecting The Network of Networks (Cambridge: MIT Press 2001) by Eli Noam, Shaping Standardisation: A Study of Standards Processes and Standards Policies in the field of telematic services (Delft: Delft Uni Press 1996) by Tineke Egyedi and the 1998 paper An Analysis of Internet Standardization by Marcus Maher in our Network & the GII guide.

     historical perspectives

Historical perspectives are provided in

Peter Hughill's Global Communications Since 1844: Geopolitics & Technology (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni Press 1999)

The Carrier Wave: New Information Technology & the Geography of Innovation, 1846-2003 (London: Unwin Hyman 1988) by Peter Hall & Paschal Preston

Brian Winston's Media Technology & Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet (London: Routledge 1999)

Carolyn Marvin's When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking About Electric Communications in the Late 19th Century (New York: Oxford Uni Press 1990)

William Dutton's Information & Communication Technologies: Visions & Realities (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 1996)

Daniel Headrick's The Invisible Weapon: Telecommunications & International Politics 1851-1945 (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 1991)

Ringing in the 20th Century: The Effects of State Monopolies, Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1892-1914, a 2001 paper (PDF) by Scott Wallsten's

An Overview of Telecommunications Market Evolution: Telegraphy & Telephony 1837-1934, a 1998 paper (txt) by Gary Madden & Scott Savage.

We have pointed to other works, in particular studies of the telecommunications industries and their impact in particular countries, in the Communications Revolutions profile on this site.

     ITU-watching

In contrast to ICANN, which has featured in dot-lifestyle magazines such as Salon or Wired and is tracked by sites such as ICANNWatch, the ITU has attracted little attention among the wider community.

A view from inside the belly of the beast is provided by Robert Shaw's blog.




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