The Emergence of UNESCO's Policy Discourse on the Information Society

A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Pohle, Julia Doctoral Thesis Information for All? The emergence of UNESCO’s policy discourse on the information society (1990-2003) Provided in Cooperation with: WZB Berlin Social Science Center Suggested Citation: Pohle, Julia (2016) : Information for All? The emergence of UNESCO’s policy discourse on the information society (1990-2003), ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel, Hamburg This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/158025 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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The emergence of UNESCO’s policy discourse on the information society (1990-2003) Julia Pohle Proefschrift ingediend met het oog op het behalen van de graad van Doctor in de Communicatiewetenschappen Academiejaar 2015-2016 Promoter: Prof. Dr. Leo Van Audenhove (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Co-promoter: Prof. Divina Frau-Meigs (Sorbonne Nouvelle) ABSTRACT The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is the only organisation of the United Nations with a clear mandate related to communication and information. This thesis closes a gap in research about UNESCO and its involvement in international communication debates by analysing the emergence of UNESCO’s policy discourse on the information society between 1990 and 2003, the intermediary period between the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Taking into account the historical, political and institutional background of UNESCO and its activities in the field of information and communication, the empirical analysis focuses on three different policy processes that contributed to UNESCO’s policy discourse on the information society: the INFOethics conference series; the creation of UNESCO’s intergovernmental Information For All Programme (IFAP); and the preparation of the Recommendation concerning the promotion and use of multilingualism and universal access to cyberspace. However, instead of assessing the discourse as it is reflected by the final output of these policy processes, the thesis aims to challenge traditional policy analysis by focusing on the interaction of policy actors and the practices and arguments they use in order to retrace the emergence of discourse during these processes. To account for this interest in the collective creation of discourse, the empirical research is based on a conceptual framework that draws on different, yet interrelated, theoretical and methodological approaches. On the one hand, the analysis of discursive exchanges is built on poststructuralist approaches to International Relations and policy studies and the method of Argumentative Discourse Analysis (ADA). On the other hand, the analysis of actors and their practices is inspired by constructivist perspectives on meaning-making in social processes, and draws on concepts and tools from Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Building on extensive archive research and interviews, these approaches are combined in such a way as to make possible a detailed account of UNESCO’s policy-making and to analyse the emergence of its policy discourse on the information society as the outcome of discursive struggles among networks of actors. The results of this analysis suggest that UNESCO’s policy discourse was influenced by the concrete dynamics on the micro-level and conflicts between competing ideas far more than by abstract interests and overarching power structures. Based on the empirical evidence, the thesis frames these conflicting ideas as the result of paradoxes deriving from deep-rooted misunderstandings about the value of information and the possibility of intervention in a society driven by digital technology. It thereby contributes both empirically and theoretically to the fundamental understanding of the ideas and interests underlying international policy debates about the cultural, social and economic challenges posed by the growing digitalisation of society. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To have spent the last years of my life as a doctoral researcher has been a privilege. During this time, I travelled to fifteen different countries on four continents to attend meetings, discuss my research and learn from the work of others. I lived in three different countries, switching between four different languages. I attended five summer schools and an infinite number of conferences and meetings. But most importantly, I met many intelligent people from all over the world, several of whom I now call friends. I had always been told that doing a PhD is a lonely experience. Mine turned out to be very different. The long and eventful journey of these last years would not have been possible without the continuous support of my two supervisors: Divina Frau-Meigs, who embarked with me on this journey early on, introduced me to the world of international communication research, helped me to find my way, and continued to inspire and guide my research and writing over all these years. And Leo Van Audenhove, who took me on board, provided me with an institutional harbour, saved me from an illegal taxi in Nairobi, and never stopped pushing me further with his encouraging and provocative comments. Both of them have been extraordinary mentors, and I would like to thank them for everything they taught me, for their guidance, for their trust and for their friendship. During the last five years I was in the lucky position of having the financial support of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), and had the privilege of being a member of the SMIT family. I would like to thank all colleagues from SMIT for their institutional and intellectual support, the great work environment and the fruitful exchanges. In particular, I would like to thank Dana, Dorien, Ilse, Trisha and Luciano for having been such welcoming and supportive team colleagues and fun travel companions. Both inside and outside of my own institution, there has been a great number of people who inspired, challenged or commented on my PhD research and influenced my path as a researcher in many different ways. In particular, I would like to thank Anders Henten, Birgitte Martens, Dmitry Epstein, Francesca Musiani, Jan Loisen, Jeremy Shtern, Jérémie Nicey, Jeanette Hofmann, Léonie Marin, Michael Palmer, Michael Seadle, Nanette Levinson, Patricio Tupper, Robin Mansell, Sandra Braman, Verena Metze-Mangold and Vicky Nash. A very special thanks goes to Rainer Kuhlen who accompanied the project in its very early stages. The research for the thesis would not have been possible without the help of many staff members at UNESCO. Therefore, I would like to thank my former colleagues from the UNESCO Archives, in particular Jens Boel, Alexandre Coutelle, Sang Phan and Adele Torrance, for their patient and amicable support. In addition, I am very grateful to the team of UNESCO’s Knowledge Societies Division, in particular Marie Christine Botte, Paul Hector and Cedric Wachholz, for helping me to retrieve documents and for taking an interest in my research. A very special thanks goes to all my interview partners, outside and inside of UNESCO, who accepted to the task of digging into the past with me, and often offered me documents from their personal archives. A very warm thanks also to Eve Macdonald and Graham Wetherall for proofreading this thesis, and to Sara Iglesias for her patient diligence with the many hundreds of footnotes and archive references. In addition to all of these new acquaintances, I was very lucky to have had the emotional and practical support of my family, who never questioned but always embraced my choices, and of my friends. In particular, I would thank my long-time friends in Paris and Berlin for staying close to me even when I was away, for distracting me when I needed it and for leaving me alone when I had to be. But most importantly, I want to thank Maximilian for having always been by my side during this journey. It would have been much lonelier without him. TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. 13 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................

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