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UNESCO, ICT corporations and the passion of ICT for development: modernization resurrected

GHENT UNIVERSITY, BELGIUM RESEARCH FOUNDATION-FLANDERS (FWO), veva.leye{at}ugent.be

This article critically examines the partnerships between ICT (information and communication technology) corporations, focusing on Microsoft, and UNESCO. These partnerships are situated within the information society discourse and within the trend of increased private sector cooperation in the United Nations system. The ‘ICT for development’ paradigm, which is seen as the conceptual linchpin of these cooperative activities, is considered to be a new version of the modernization paradigm. It is argued that, in many ways, UNESCO’s partnerships with ICT corporations and its ethical approach of the information society/knowledge societies, turn a blind eye to structural political, economic and political economic inequalities. This ignorance is then related to UNESCO’s turbulent history regarding the questioning of inequities in communication, media and information.

Key Words: development theory • ICT • international communication • public-private partnerships • United Nations

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Media, Culture & Society, Vol. 29, No. 6, 972-993 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0163443707081711


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