Identifier

etd-11102015-094342

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Political Science

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

A growing concern for human society is the question of technology, how they are to be used and how can they best be governed. The very question of whether technology is governable remains for the most part unexplored. This work will seek to examine these important questions. By utilizing a historical institutional perspective, two case studies of the governance of technologies that have emerged in the last century will be explored. Space Exploration technologies and the advanced networking of computers known as the Internet will serve as the case to illuminate the question of governing technology. Deep qualitative functional analysis of both the primary and peripheral institutions will provide insight into how technology is governed in theory and in practice, as well as how institutions are created and change over time. By moving beyond questions of governance for states and societies, this work will attempt to contribute to the literature of political science as the study of governance broadly speaking. This work will contribute to and speak to newer works on the governance of non-explicitly political realms, as opposed to more traditional approaches to the study of governance, perhaps allowing new insight and avenues of research into both the question of technology and governance more broadly. Distinct policy prescriptions will be created to both better govern these particular technologies as well as lay the foundation for effective institutional governance of technologies in the future.

Date

2015

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Clark, William

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1547

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