Information Society Watch

2007, Dan Breznitz, Yale University Press

This book argues that even with intensified globalisation and fragmentation of production, the state has a significant role to play in economic development. The rapid development of the IT industry in Taiwan, Ireland and Israel suggests that less developed countries can successfully host rapid innovation based industries and that multiple models of economic development are available to developing countries. The author emphasises the role of politics - the art and profession of creating alternatives and the social struggles of choosing between, and acting upon, them - and the role of the developmental state in allowing for the success of these industries. This study provides us with an interesting framework within which we may assess the emergence of Bangalore as an IT hub in India and beyond and the myth that this has been achieved without state support.

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