CM519 : International Communications

Scope and Aims of this Module :

"The Internet transforms McLuhan's ‘Global Village’ from 1960s vision to a contemporary reality"

This module examines the changing international role, influences and features of media and related new communication systems or ‘technologies’ such as the Internet. It builds on earlier MA modules to examine the key theories and empirical studies focused on the changing structures and flows of international communication in the late modern world.

The module will explore the key characteristics and implications of changes in :
a) successive new communication
b) the socio-economic and political role of ‘culture’ and its articulation with other categories of information & knowledge (the ‘info-structure’) and their implications for international relations, the role of the nation, national cultural policy, etc.

The module will examine how some major theorists have attempted to define the role of information and communication in international relations since the early modern period (e.g. from Adam Smith and Marx to Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, Raymond Williams and contemporary authors such as A Giddens, Manuel Castells, David Harvey, P Virillio). It will also examine the debates by referring to empirical and case studies exploring the changing role of new communication systems and info-structures, from the early stages of modernity to the current age of the Internet and World Wide Web.

The module aims to provide students with a firmer understanding of how successive waves of communication and info-structures have played an increasingly prominent role in reshaping global economic, political and cultural relationships.

The module is interdisciplinary in scope, drawing from recent research and writings based in
.i) communication & media studies; and
.ii) ‘information’ centred contributions in the fields of political economy, sociology and human geography.

Other Modules

• [CM541] Information and Communications in International Relations     Click here for further information

• [CM556] Communication Theory and New Media [M.Sc. Multimedia]     Click here for further information

• [CM583] Communication Systems [M.Sc. Science Communication]     Click here for further information

• [CM599] Post-Graduate Students’ Support Module                  Click here for further information

• [CM517] Communication, Technology and the Politics of Culture     Click here for further information