The Information Revolution and Developing Countries. By Ernest J. Wilson, III. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. 431p. $49.95.

This book provides a comprehensive theoretic framework explaining the “strategic restructuring” of government policies and institutions associated with policies promoting the adoption of new information and communications technologies (ICTs). It also provides detailed case study chapters on Brazil, Ghana, and China, concluding with two chapters placing ICTs in a global perspective. The Chinese case study should be of interest to many readers, given China's political and economic importance. Brazil has a long history of state-guided and supported development strategies in this sector, combining import substitution and partnerships with transnational corporations. Ghana occupies a more peripheral position in global political economy, lacking the size and industrialization of the other countries examined.