Abstract
The digital and the global are two fundamental elements of the contemporary human condition. The implications of the conjunctions between globalization and the development of digital technology as a specific form of information and technology are still being grappled with. On the one hand, individuals, society, governments and multilateral organizations scarcely keep apace with innovation, with governance legislation, for example, lagging well behind the introduction of digital technologies. On the other hand, the digital is readily taken for granted. It is possible to inhabit a digital world with ease, to use technologies as extensions of ourselves and to give little thought to the issues, the histories, the social and the political implications of them. This chapter addresses this terrain of ubiquitous globalization and digital technology, focussing particularly on the global political and security implications of digital technologies and also their social and personal impacts. These impacts of digital technologies are ones that must be addressed at diverse levels of society, including academics, policymakers, development and humanitarian practitioners. Indeed, it is all members of society who must navigate a digital and global world that presents great potential benefits, but also risks of diverse forms of harm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Avnur, Y. (2020). What’s Wrong with the Online Echo Chamber: A Motivated Reasoning Account. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(4), 578–593. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12426
Battersby, P. (2014a). Globalization: An Agenda. In M. Steger, P. Battersby, & J. Siracusa (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Globalization (pp. 1–6). SAGE.
Battersby, P. (2014b). Preface. In M. Steger, P. Battersby, & J. Siracusa (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Globalization (pp. 1–6). SAGE.
Battersby, P., & Roy, R. K. (2017). International Development: A Global Perspective on Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications Ltd.
Battersby, P., & Siracusa, J. M. (2009). Globalization and Human Security. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Bell, N., Branford, A., Karner, N., McGarvey, M., & Quek, K. (2020). Global Skills: Articulating the International Studies Skillset and Its Value. Yonsei Journal of International Studies, 12(2), 41–58.
Bergantz, A. (2021). French Connection: Australia’s Cosmopolitan Ambitions. NewSouth.
Bruno, F., & RodrÃguez, P. M. (2021). The Dividual: Digital Practices and Biotechnologies. Theory, Culture &Society, 39(3), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764211029356
Brynjolfsson, E., Hu, J. H., & Smith, M. D. (2006). From Niches to Riches: Anatomy of the Long Tail. MIT Sloan Management Review. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/from-niches-to-riches-anatomy-of-the-long-tail/
Carlson, B., & Berglund, J. (2021). Indigenous Peoples Rise Up: The Global Ascendency of Social Media Activism. Rutgers University Press.
Cinelli, M., Morales, G. D. F., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The Echo Chamber Effect on Social Media. PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), 118(9), 1–8. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/10.1073/pnas.2023301118
Cleaver, H. M. (1998). The Zapatista Effect: The Internet and the Rise of an Alternative Political Fabric. Journal of International Affairs, 51(2), 621–640. https://doi.org/10.22409/c-legenda.v0i03.26112
Darian-Smith, E., & McCarty, P. (2016). The Global Turn: Theories, Research Designs, and Methods for Global Studies. University of California Press.
Day, P. (2013a). Imagine a World Without Shops of Factories. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23990211
Day, P. (2013b). The World Turned Upside Down. BBC: In Business. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b03cd572
Eisenstein, E. L. (1980). The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge University Press.
Elberse, A. (2008). Should You Invest in the Long Tail? Harvard Business Review, July–August. https://hbr.org/2008/07/should-you-invest-in-the-long-tail
Foster, M. (2018). Aging Japan: Robots May Have Role in Future of Elder Care. Reuters, US Edition. Retrieved June 23, 2019, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-ageing-robots-widerimage/aging-japan-robots-may-have-role-in-future-of-elder-care-idUSKBN1H33AB
Greene, B. (2022, April 22). Ronan Farrow on the Threat of Modern Spyware. The New Yorker Radio Hour. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/segments/ronan-farrow-threat-modern-spyware?fbclid=IwAR13jmH4zCx-59T7rJsDGZXwxQb59hfnUecnrWbZGP_N30JGDQOz3Xbts8M
Grenfell, D., & James, P. (2009). Rethinking Insecurity, War and Violence: Beyond Savage Globalization? Routledge.
Hamilton, M. T., Hamilton, D. G., & Zderic, T. W. (2007). Role of Low Energy Expenditure and Sitting in Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease. Diabetes, 56(11), 2655–2667.
Hampton, K. N., Sessions, L. F., Her, E. J., & Rainie, L. (2009). Social Isolation and New Technology. Pew Internet and American Life Project. https://pewrsr.ch/2KFty4T
Harford, T. (2017). 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy. Little Brown.
Harris, V., & Goldsmith, A. J. (2011). Security, Development, and Nation-Building in Timor-Leste: A Cross-sectoral Assessment. Routledge.
Heeter, C. (2000). Interactivity in the Context of Designed Experiences. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2000.10722040
Helle-Valle, J. (2010). Language-games, In/dividuals and Media Uses: What a Practice Perspective Should Imply for Media Studies. In B. Brauchler & J. Postill (Eds.), Theorising Media and Practice (pp. 191–213). Berghahn Books.
Higgs, J. (2020). The Future Starts Here: An Optimistic Guide to What Comes Next. Weidenfeld & Nelson.
Hinz, O., Eckert, J., & Skiera, B. (2011). Drivers of the Long Tail Phenomenon: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(4), 43–70. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222270402
Hopkins, J. (2019). Monetizing the Dividual Self: The Emergence of the Lifestyle Blog and Influencers in Malaysia. Berghahn Books.
Ichioka, S., & Pawlyn, M. (2021). Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency. Triarchy Press.
James, P. (1996). Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community. Thousand Oaks.
James, P. (2006). Globalism, nationalism, tribalism: Bringing theory back in, Sage Publications, London.
James, P., & Kath, E. (2014). Global Reconciliation: Responding to Tension Through a Local-Global Process. In M. B. Steger, P. Battersby, & J. M. Siracusa (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Globalization. Vol. 2. SAGE Publications.
Johnson, S. (2014). How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World. Penguin Books.
Kath, E. (2016). Australian-Latin American Relations: New Links in a Changing Global Landscape. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kelion, L. (2020, July 14). Huawei 5G Kit Must Be Removed from UK by 2027. BBC News, http://web.archive.org/web/20220105050109/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53403793
Kim, J., Larose, R., & Peng, W. (2009). Loneliness as the Cause and the Effect of Problematic Internet Use: The Relationship Between Internet Use and Psychological Well-Being. Cyber Psychology Behavior, 12(4), 451–455.
Klare, M. T., (2018). The Challenges of Emerging Technologies. Arms Control Today, 48, http://web.archive.org/web/20211016053559/https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2018-12/features/challenges-emerging-technologies
Lee, J. C. H. (2014). Jom Bersih! Global Bersih and the Enactment of Malaysian Citizenship in Melbourne. Citizenship Studies, 18(8), 900–913. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2014.964553
Lee, J. C. H. (2016a). Narratives of Globalization: Reflections on the Global Human Condition. RLI.
Lee, J. C. H., Branford, A., Carroll-Bell, S., Ono, A., & Quek, K. (2023). Teaching for Buoyancy in the Pre-carious Present for an Evitable Future. In C. Lee & S. Leong (Eds.), Living with Precariousness. Bloomsbury.
Lee, J. C. H., Halilovich, H., Landau-Ward, A., Phipps, P., & Sutcliffe, R. S. (2019). Monsters of Modernity: Global Icons for Our Critical Condition. Kismet Press.
Martinez-Torres, M. E. (2001). Civil Society, the Internet, and the Zapatistas. Peace Review, 13(3), 347–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668800120079045
Miller, V. (2012). A Crisis of Presence: On-line Culture and Being in the World. Space and Polity, 16(3), 265–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2012.733568
Moore, H. L. (2011). Still Life: Hopes, Desires and Satisfactions. Polity Press.
Mulligan, M., & Nadarajah, Y. (2012). Rebuilding Communities in the Wake of Disaster: Social Recovery in Sri Lanka and India. Routledge India.
Nguyen, C. T. (2020). Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles. Episteme, 17(2), 141–161.
Patrick, P. (2020). When the System Fails COVID-19 and the Costs of Global Dysfunction. Foreign Affairs, July/August, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2020-06-09/when-system-fails
Peeters, B., Mullan, K., & Béal, C. (2013). Cross-culturally Speaking, Speaking Cross-culturally. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Peltier, S., & Moreau, F. (2012). Internet and the ‘Long Tail Versus Superstar Effect’ Debate: Evidence from the French Book Market. Applied Economics Letters, 19(8), 711–715. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2011.597714
Reich, P. C., Anand, P., Mittal, V., Kiran, A., Osula, A.-M., & Weinstein, S. (2014). Internet Governance: International Law and Global Order in Cyberspace. In M. Steger, P. Battersby, & J. Siracusa (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Globalization (pp. 592–620). SAGE.
Schaubert, V. (2019, February 7). My Disabled Son’s Amazing Gaming Life in the World of Warcraft. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-47064773
Singh, M. (2019). Compulsive Digital Gaming: An Emerging Mental Health Disorder in Children. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics, 86(2), 171–173.
Siracusa, J. M., & Warren, A. (2016). Presidential Doctrines: U.S. National Security from George Washington to Barack Obama. Rowman & Littlefield.
Steff, R., Burton, J., & Soare, S. R. (2020). Introduction. In R. Steff, J. Burton, & S. R. Soare (Eds.), Emerging Technologies and International Security: Machines, the State, and War (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367808846
Steger, M., Battersby, P., & Siracusa, J. (2014). The Sage Handbook of Globalization (pp. 1–6). SAGE.
Steger, M., & Wahlrab, A. (2017). What Is Global Studies? Theory and Practice. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/What-Is-Global-Studies-Theory-Practice/Steger-Wahlrab/p/book/9780415684835
Törnberg, P. (2018). Echo Chambers and Viral Misinformation: Modeling Fake News as Complex Contagion. PLoS ONE, 13(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203958
University of Waikato. (2018, September 21). Forging a Vision for Security in a New Age of Disruptive Techno-Politics. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-opinion/media/2018/forging-a-vision-for-security-in-a-new-age-of-disruptive-techno-politics
Warren, A., & Grenfell, D. (2017). Rethinking Humanitarian Intervention in the 21st Century. Edinburgh University Press.
Wittink, H., Engelbert, R., & Takken, T. (2011). The Dangers of Inactivity; Exercise and Inactivity Physiology for the Manual Therapist. Manual Therapy, 16(3), 209–216.
Yang, S. (2021, June 22). China Claims It’s Leading the Way in 6G Mobile Tech Research, But the Reality Is Still Years Away. ABC News. http://web.archive.org/web/20220105051653/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-22/china-claims-its-lead-in-the-global-5g-rollout-and-6g-research/100165362
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kath, E., Lee, J.C.H., Warren, A. (2023). The Digital Global Condition. In: Kath, E., Lee, J.C.H., Warren, A. (eds) The Digital Global Condition. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9980-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9980-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-9979-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-9980-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)