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.