The Politics of High Tech Growth
Developmental Network States in the Global Economy

A detailed study of the software industry in Ireland, examining the policies and political institutions which made that possible.

Sean O'Riain (Author)

9780521830737, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 April 2004

288 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.4 cm, 0.541 kg

'It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this book. It is in my view the most insightful account of the dynamics shaping modern Ireland since Professor Joe Lee's classic Ireland: Politics and Society 1912–1985.' Peadar Kirby, Village

This book argues that beneath the Irish trade and foreign investment boom lies a more interesting story of regional innovation promoted by an alliance between the state and local technical communities. This alliance was governed through a decentralized set of state institutions, drawing on 'global' and 'local' economic and political resources. This 'Developmental Network State' has had a significant impact on the growth of Ireland's high tech cluster and is central to the emergence of an international network of 'global high tech regions' from Silicon Valley to Ireland, Taiwan, and Israel. The book provides a detailed study of the rise of the software industry in Ireland and of the state institutions and political conditions which promoted it. It shows how new 'network state' policies and institutions have been central to high tech regions elsewhere.

List of tables
List of abbreviations
Preface
Part I. Development in the Global Information Economy: 1. Networks of development: globalization, high technology, and the Celtic Tiger
2. State developmentalisms and capitalist globalizations
3. Explaining the Celtic Tiger
Part II. Software and the Celtic Tiger: 4. 'Location Nation': remaking society for foreign investment
5. Indigenous innovation and the developmental network state
6. Making global and local
7. The class politics of the global region
Part III. The Politics of the Developmental Network State: 8. Institutions of the developmental network state
9. Politics and change in developmental regimes
10. Developmental bureaucratic and network states in comparative perspective
11. Futures of the network state
Appendix A. Methodology of the study
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Information technology industries [KNTX], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Public administration [JPP], Sociology & anthropology [JH]