Africa's Information Revolution (eBook)

James T. Murphy is Associate Professor at Clark University's Graduate School of Geography. He is co-author of Key Concepts in Economic Geography (2011). Pádraig Carmody is Associate Professor in Geography at Trinity College Dublin, where he co-directs the TCD-UCD Masters in Development Practice and Research Fellow in the Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies at the University of Johannesburg. His books include The New Scramble for Africa (2011) and The Rise of the BRICS in Africa (2013).

Series Editors' Preface viii

Acknowledgements ix

Abbreviations xi

Introduction xiii

1 ICT4D: The Making of a Neoliberalized Meta-discourse (with Bjoern Surborg) 1

2 ICTs and Economic Development in Africa: Theorizing Channels, Assessing Impacts 25

3 ICTs, Industrial Change, and Globalization in Africa: A Conceptual Framework 47

4 ICTs in Action: SMMEs and Industrial Change in South Africa and Tanzania 73

5 ICT Integration, Sociotechnical Regimes, and Global Production Networks 113

6 Downgrading and Differentiation in African SMMEs 147

7 Emerging Regime and GPN Configurations: Neo-intermediation and ICT-enabled Extraversion (with Bjoern Surborg) 176

8 Conclusion 200

References 215

Index 243

'Murphy and Carmody have made an important contribution to the
literature on the role of ICT in developing countries. Central to
their analysis is a critique of technologically deterministic
approaches to the debate. They go well beyond traditional 'impact
studies' to consider the structuralist context in which ICT is
applied. This leads to a fresh set of conclusions that will in my
opinion be widely cited.'

-- Jeffrey James, Professor of Development Economics,
Tilburg University, The Netherlands

'Drawing on detailed and original empirical research, this book
makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the dynamics
of upgrading and downgrading in Global Value Chains and Global
Production Networks. The book will be of considerable interest to
researchers, students and policymakers.'

-- Raphael Kaplinsky, Professor of International
Development, The Open University, UK