International Networks and Domestic Policy Convergence: ICT in Qatar

Abstract

Continued advances in media and information technology have transformed technical devices into a sector that now permeates much of modern social life. This pervasiveness has brought us to what some refer to as the information age, where information and knowledge have significant economic, political, and cultural implications and can be used to gain competitive advantage internationally through the use of information technology. Taken collectively, these trends have dramatically altered international relations, transnational flows, communication practices, and domestic policy. This research examines the influence of international FDI and IGO networks on domestic policy convergence, focusing on the ICT sector in Qatar. This paper contributes to research using social network analysis for international relations in furthering prior assertions that international FDI and IGO networks have implications for domestic policy. The results suggest that there is a relationship between the international IGO and FDI networks that impact the ways in which they individually influence individual countries. They also support the notion that the influences of ICT and globalization are reciprocal.