France and the Information Superhighway: Making Haste Slowly towards a New Role for the State?
In: Politics, Volume 16, Issue 2, p. 87-94
ISSN: 0263-3957
Examines France's efforts to modernize its telecommunications & multimedia infrastructures since the 1970s, focusing on the roles of the government's dirigiste policies of technological development & competing market focus on the debate over the best approach to constructing an information superhighway by 2015. Reflecting on the urgent technological developments called for in the 1994 Brenton & Thery Reports & the ambitious policies advocated by the center-right Balladur government, it is argued that France will have to carefully monitor political & corporate interests to avoid wasteful & conflicted developmental programs. In particular, France may have to reconsider its grand programme approach to social planning, which links the state closely to individual corporations within industrial sectors in an attempt to orchestrate change. The Thery Report suggests that this strategy should be reviewed with greater attention given to competitive market approaches. With the advent of the Juppe government in 1995 & the increasing influence of the European economic community, it is concluded that the competitive edge France hoped to gain may have to wait for clarification of the role of the state in the telecommunications sector. 17 References. Adapted from the source document.