Editor: Kathryn Henne

A Border Seeping in All Directions: Technologies of Separation Along the U.S.-Mexico Border in Ambos Nogales

Allison Fish. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 247-272. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

This chapter examines how legal and regulatory concerns have informed the design, selection, and deployment of technological assemblages used to monitor commercial movements along the U.S.-Mexico border in and around Ambos Nogales (Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and Nogales, Arizona, United States). In the past few decades there has been an increasing concern regarding the balancing of market interests with national security at border ports-of-entry, leading to an intensified monitoring of these narrow commercial chokepoints. At the same time, the surveillance of commercial trade moving through these constrained channels has rapidly transitioned from face-to-face and paper-based mediums to complex systems composed of numerous digital and visualisation technologies. This chapter documents this transition in Ambos Nogales and, in doing so, examines how new technologies have historically been used to identify “trusted” logistics providers and monitor and “control” the flow of goods involved in legitimate commercial trade.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Allison Fish, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

A Strange Approach to Information, Network, Sharing, and Platform Societies

Bannerman Sara, Angela Orasch. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 53-80. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Susan Strange’s framework for international political economic analysis emphasises the importance of the interrelationships between what she saw as four interlinked structures and sources of power in the global economy: security, production, finance, and knowledge. As change occurs in one structure, it is important to systematically consider the implications of such changes in the other four structures. This chapter provides an overview of how the knowledge structure interacts with the other three structures of power. Second, it assesses the extent to which four major works related to transformations in the knowledge structure—Daniel Bell’s The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society (1976), Manuel Castells’ trilogy The Network Society (first published 1996–1998), Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks (2006), and Nick Srnicek’s Platform Capitalism (2017)—examine the interrelationships between Strange’s four structures, and the consequences for their overall conclusions.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security; Finance; Production

Contributor(s): Sara Bannerman, Angela Orasch, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Finance, Production, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Natasha Tusikov, Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Natasha Tusikov and Kathryn Henne, 285-306. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Our goal in this book was to spur an inter- and multi-disciplinary dialogue on the rising importance of knowledge in the global political economy and the role of knowledge in contemporary governance. Each of the chapters critically reflects on the control over knowledge as an important form of power, interactions between state and non-state actors, and knowledge regulation in its many forms. Knowledge regulation entails considering how and why knowledge is legitimised and by whom, the interests served, and the specific power structures underlying these arrangements. To understand the dynamics of a world dominated by the knowledge structure, we need to focus on the rules and norms that shape the legitimation, creation, use, and dissemination of knowledge, as well as those who are shaping these rules, which includes the state and non-state actors, and the interests being served.

Keywords: Knowledge

Contributor(s): Natasha Tusikov, Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Disinformation and Resistance in the Surveillance of Indigenous Protesters

Kathryn Henne, Jenna Harb. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 187-212. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

The U.S. and Canadian governments have long engaged in the surveillance of Indigenous peoples. Such practices have garnered public attention in light of recent events. This chapter reflects on two examples: protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline that crossed over the lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the United States and the release of details regarding Project SITKA—a Canadian Royal Mounted Police “dataveillance” operation identifying and tracking Indigenous activists. It examines them to illuminate the strategic use of information, particularly disinformation and misinformation, by government actors, media, private security personnel, and protesters. In particular, the analysis highlights how settler colonialism informs the asymmetrical power dynamics at work, illustrating connections between Project SITKA and the Standing Rock protests.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Kathryn Henne, Jenna Harb, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century

Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, editors. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Draws on Susan Strange’s conception of the knowledge structure to offer guiding theoretical insights for analyzing how the control of knowledge in its many forms is affecting global politics, society and economics.

Keywords: Theory; Knowledge; Structural Power, Power; Security

Contributor(s): Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Theory, Knowledge, Structural Power, Power, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Edited Volume

Year of Publication: 2019

Internet Infrastructure and the Persistent Myth of U.S. Hegemony

Dwayne Winseck. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 93-120. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

According to many observers, economic globalisation and the liberalisation of telecoms/internet policy have remade the world in the image of the United States. The dominant role of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has also led to charges of U.S. internet imperialism. This chapter, however, will argue that while these internet giants dominate some of the most popular internet services, the ownership and control of core elements of the internet infrastructure—submarine cables, IXPs, ASN, data centres, and so on—is tilting increasingly towards the EU and BRICS countries and the “rest-of-the-world,” complicating views of hegemonic U.S. control of the internet and of what Susan Strange calls the knowledge structure.

Keywords: Knowledge; Structural Power, Power

Contributor(s): Dwayne Winseck, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Structural Power, Power, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Introduction

Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 1-20. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

While the control of knowledge is becoming the dominant means by which economic, political, and social control is exerted globally, the mechanisms through which this is happening—including intellectual property rights, state and commercial surveillance, digitisation and datafication, and a nearly ubiquitous internet mediating human interactions—are often examined separately instead of as part of a larger phenomenon of knowledge governance. This edited volume brings experts in these areas from across the social sciences to explore these areas as forms of knowledge governance, by adopting the understudied (at least from a knowledge-governance perspective) work of the late International Political Economy scholar Susan Strange, notably her concept of a knowledge structure. In this chapter, we present an introduction to and critique of Strange’s theory of the knowledge structure and offer an overview of this volume’s chapters.

Contributor(s): Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Theory, Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Work, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Precarious Ownership of the Internet of Things in the Age of Data

Tusikov, Natasha. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 121-148. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)—internet-connected software embedded within physical products—has the potential to shift fundamentally traditional conceptions of ownership and the ways people can access, use, and control information. Drawing upon a knowledge regulation framework influenced by Susan Strange, this chapter argues that the IoT industry exemplifies the central role that knowledge governance now plays in the global political economy. The chapter examines how companies that own the knowledge integral to the IoT’s functionality (the software) control that knowledge through intellectual property laws, especially copyright, and the ubiquitous surveillance of their customers. These companies retain control over the software even after its purchase, meaning they have a newly expanded regulatory capacity to monitor and control how their products are used. The private post-purchase control that IoT companies exert over smart goods represents a significant change in private actors’ regulatory capacity to set rules governing knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge; Production

Contributor(s): Natasha Tusikov, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Production, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Reflection I

Germain, Randall. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 81-89. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Randall Germain reflects on the chapters by Blayne Haggart, and Sara Bannerman and Angela Orasch.

Keywords: Knowledge

Contributor(s): Randall Germain, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Reflection II

Carr, Madeline. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 149-160. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Madeline Carr reflects on the chapters by Dwayne Winseck and Natasha Tusikov.

Keywords: Knowledge

Contributor(s): Madeline Carr, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Reflection III

Haggart, Blayne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century. Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, editors. 213-218. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Blayne Haggart reflects on the chapters by Debora Halbert, and Jenna Harb and Kathryn Henne.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Blayne Haggart, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Reflection IV

Musto, Jennifer. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 273-284. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Jennifer Musto reflects on the chapters by Kathryn Henne and Allison Fish.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Jennifer Musto, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Surveillance in the Name of Governance: Aadhaar as a Fix for Leaking Systems in India

Kathryn Henne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 223-246. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Many jurisdictions are employing biometric technologies to collect data about and verify the identities of social assistance recipients, with fraud prevention and cost savings serving as common justifications for doing so. This chapter explores the practices of building the infrastructure to monitor welfare beneficiaries, many of whom are vulnerable or marginalised populations. To do so, the chapter examines the Aadhaar system in India, which has issued over one billion unique identification numbers since being launched in 2010. The analysis illustrates a one-way expectation of knowledge and transparency (i.e., for citizens to disclose in order to access services), drawing attention to how nationalist agendas and forms of inequality inform who is subject to the state’s terms and conditions. In doing so, it considers how these forms of surveillance evince broader shifts in which state and non-state actors rely on knowledge to regulate subjects.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Kathryn Henne, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Taking Knowledge Seriously: Towards an International Political Economy Theory of Knowledge Governance

Haggart, Blayne. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 25-52. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

The treatment of knowledge—most notably commodified knowledge—as a source and vector of power is a key blind spot in our understanding of the global political economy. This chapter offers a theoretical framework, based on the work of Susan Strange, for considering the relationship between what she called the “knowledge structure” and the other key sources of political and economic power—security, production, and finance. This framework is applied to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (now the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (concluded in September 2018), demonstrating how a direct focus on knowledge governance reveals power relations and economic effects that are otherwise obscured.

Keywords: Theory; Knowledge

Contributor(s): Blayne Haggart, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Theory, Knowledge, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019

Weaponising Copyright: Cultural Governance and Regulating Speech in the Knowledge Economy

Halbert, Debora J. In Information, Technology and Control in a Changing World: Understanding Power Structures in the 21st Century, edited by Blayne Haggart, Kathryn Henne, Natasha Tusikov, 165-186. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

This chapter investigates the political and cultural implications of regulating speech via copyright. After an exploration of copyright governance within the context of Susan Strange’s knowledge structure framework, this chapter discusses cultural governance through copyright as a mode of censorship. I take up two recent examples where copyright was weaponised to curb speech. The first is an effort to control the speech of a controversial YouTube star. The second is an effort to curb the association of a cartoon character with white supremacy. In both cases, copyright performs a normative, not commercial, function, as copyright owners exert their control over their creative work to limit the expression of others. There is much to be troubled by regarding both the resurgence of white supremacy and the use of copyright to shape what can and cannot be expressed.

Keywords: Knowledge; Security

Contributor(s): Debora J. Halbert, Editor: Blayne Haggart, Editor: Kathryn Henne and Editor: Natasha Tusikov
Keywords: Knowledge, Security, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's
Source and Medium: Book Chapter

Year of Publication: 2019