Internet Connectedness: Why Theory Matters
Taking international relations theory with quantitative methods was admittedly sadistic in hindsight, but I feel that when theory meets practice sometimes the fusion is wonderful. As difficult as writing a multivariate regression analysis paper on 200 countries was, it would have been much harder without some solid theory to back it up. I initially wanted to look at internet access throughout the world to dissect why different countries have such vastly different penetration rates. Ultimately, I found my theory guiding me to my conclusions.
I initially thought that infrastructure would be quite important to the level of internet access in a country. I was looking at this from a very realist perspective...money plus critical infrastructure must equal high rates of internet. My results showed me, however, that the picture was much more cloudy than I would have thought. My main hypothesis centered around corruption, and here is where the theory got juicy.
I realized that the argument of internet access was all about agency and capacity. Individuals seek to use the internet, but factors such as education, age, and gender can impact their access. As agents, they may desire to use the internet but they may not have the capacity. This could stem from personal inability, physical inability, or forced inability by the government. The capacity of the government to offer internet is much different than whether it has the interest to do so. A self-interested government might not want wide spread internet access because it could lead to dissent, rebellion or worse. On the other hand, internet access can be touted as an accomplishment to build business and wealth. There are rules that bind our agency, both physical and unseen.
In a purely economic model, a theory vacuum where only capacity was tested for the government, infrastructure was important to internet use. Wealth and critical infrastructure were the most important aspects to guarantee internet penetration. this model however, was ran without education, gender, age, or political corruption level. Revealing, was when ran with all these humanistic aspects, infrastructure became obsolete, and education, wealth and corruption became significant. It was as if Onuf had knocked on my door and said, "you really need to get constructive with this model." By allowing multiple schools to interact, to look at rules that govern agency, and capacity versus authority, my paper painted a picture of internet conectedness. This concept is defined not only as access to the internet, but the ability to use it free of censorship.
It will be great to use the concepts learned in this class to apply them to the future. When we can dissect the world, put it into categories, and then completely toss them to the wind, we have come to the perfect level of understanding. Knowing what is out there, how the past has transpired, but knowing that there is always a bit of chaos in the mixture is critical to being a calculated but flexible professional ready to take on the hardships of the world.
I initially thought that infrastructure would be quite important to the level of internet access in a country. I was looking at this from a very realist perspective...money plus critical infrastructure must equal high rates of internet. My results showed me, however, that the picture was much more cloudy than I would have thought. My main hypothesis centered around corruption, and here is where the theory got juicy.
I realized that the argument of internet access was all about agency and capacity. Individuals seek to use the internet, but factors such as education, age, and gender can impact their access. As agents, they may desire to use the internet but they may not have the capacity. This could stem from personal inability, physical inability, or forced inability by the government. The capacity of the government to offer internet is much different than whether it has the interest to do so. A self-interested government might not want wide spread internet access because it could lead to dissent, rebellion or worse. On the other hand, internet access can be touted as an accomplishment to build business and wealth. There are rules that bind our agency, both physical and unseen.
In a purely economic model, a theory vacuum where only capacity was tested for the government, infrastructure was important to internet use. Wealth and critical infrastructure were the most important aspects to guarantee internet penetration. this model however, was ran without education, gender, age, or political corruption level. Revealing, was when ran with all these humanistic aspects, infrastructure became obsolete, and education, wealth and corruption became significant. It was as if Onuf had knocked on my door and said, "you really need to get constructive with this model." By allowing multiple schools to interact, to look at rules that govern agency, and capacity versus authority, my paper painted a picture of internet conectedness. This concept is defined not only as access to the internet, but the ability to use it free of censorship.
It will be great to use the concepts learned in this class to apply them to the future. When we can dissect the world, put it into categories, and then completely toss them to the wind, we have come to the perfect level of understanding. Knowing what is out there, how the past has transpired, but knowing that there is always a bit of chaos in the mixture is critical to being a calculated but flexible professional ready to take on the hardships of the world.
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