Course Syllabus
Athabasca University
Political Science (POLI) 480
The Politics of Cyberspace
This version of POLI 480 closed. To current version.
Delivery mode: Individualized study.
Credits: 3 - Social Science
Prerequisite: Students are strongly advised to have taken a senior university course in any of political science, political economy, sociology, communications, economics or cultural theory.
Centre: Centre for State and Legal Studies
POLI 480 is not available for challenge.
Overview
The Politics of Cyberspace explores the emergence of the networked society, the information technology revolution, and the consequences for power, production, and culture as examined by such disciplines as political science, political economy, sociology, and communications. Throughout, the course views new information technologies as contested terrain that facilitates domination and resistance, fear and hope. Beginning with the information technology revolution and its effects on structures of power, the course examines how these technologies disperse power from the state and, in the process, move us from a surveillance state to a surveillance society. At the broader level, as these new information technologies challenge state power, they make possible the global restructuring of capital. While capital and civil society organizations have rapidly adapted to the logic of a networked society, the bureaucratic state struggles to adjust. Moreover, the creation of a global informational economy has met with increased resistance from those who view it as a form of domination. This resistance, like the global information economy it struggles against, is assisted by new information technologies. This course explores the effect of informational technologies on space and time, urbanization and war, and the democratic processes of the state, its political institutions, administration and civil society.
Outline
Unit 1: Introduction
Unit 2: Big Brother Downsized—From the Panoptic State to the Panoptic Society
Unit 3: The Informational Economy and the Process of Globalization
Unit 4: The Rise of the Networked Organization
Unit 5: The Global Informational Economy, the State and Culture
Unit 6: Globalization, ICTs, and the Politics of Resistance
Unit 7: Cyberspace and Cybertime
Unit 8: Digital Democracy: Concepts and Issues
Unit 9: Digital Democracy and the State
Unit 10: Digital Democracy and Civil Society
Unit 11: The Future of ICTs: Control or Emancipation?
Evaluation
To receive credit for POLI 480, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Two short Essays | Critical Assessment Essay | Term Paper Proposal | Term Paper Essay | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% each | 20% | 20% each | 40% | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.
Course Materials
Textbooks
Castells, Manuel. 2000. The Rise of the Network Society, 2nd ed. Vol. 1 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Hague, Barry N., and Brian D. Loader, eds. 1999. Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age. New York: Routledge.
Walch, Jim. 1999. In the Net: An Internet Guide for Activists. New York: Zed Books.
Whitaker, Reg. 1999. The End of Privacy: How Total Surveillance Is Becoming a Reality. New York: The New Press.
Other materials
The course material includes a student manual/study guide and a reading file