2. Approaches to theorizing international communication (part I)

This week’s chapter is called: “Approaches to theorizing international communication”.

It is mainly about an introduction to the world of the different theories related to the field of international communication in order to have a better understanding of the material and how things work.

The text tackles different theories, concepts and key terms:

1. Free flow of information: used mainly for propaganda. It is beneficial at the economic and political level as well to provide information that is accessible for everyone. This approach has helped many Western countries keep a economic relationship with the “Third World Countries”, sell their products and strengthen their own markets.

2. Modernization theory: is tightly linked with “Free flow of information” in the way that the Western countries make their country/culture/economy/known over the seas. The major aim of this theory is indeed transferring the economy and the political models of the west. This theory is also called “Development theory”

3. Dependency theory: is all about the gap there is between the developed and developing countries in the world. The developed countries set the norms of the global trade which is sometimes hard to achieve for the developing countries and that’s what creates “dependency”.

4. Structural imperialism (linked to dependency theory)
          a- Core countries (center of the center)
          b- Periphery of the center countries (modern and developed but have less power than the Core           countries)
          c- Center of periphery countries
          d- Periphery of periphery countries (all serve for the wealth of the core countries)

5. Hegemony: “The dominant social group in a society has the capacity to exercise intellectual and moral direction over society at large and to build a new system of social alliances to support its aims” (Thussu 53)

6. Critical theory: This concept is about critiquing and changing the society as a whole in addition to understanding it.

7. The public sphere: Habermas’s definition and critique about this part. It is indeed an intersection between the public and the state where people can express themselves freely with specific limits that suit the majority and the communication within the public sphere is based on standards and rules.

8. Discourses of globalization

I would like to provide some comments concerning the free flow of information. Thank to this flow, the world is becoming more a tightly united small country (globalization). 

I personally think that on a communication level, today’s we’re facing uncountable problems because of the huge amount of information we receive and send on an international scale. There are some people who take advantage of the fact that information is needed for economic and political reasons. Hackers, for instance, are one of the first who manipulate the users (electronic information received via the internet), send them false claims and pieces of information and misuse their personal data which is supposed to be secured. This is a huge issue that we need to be aware of and look for solutions to decrease this phenomenon especially that sometimes, it deals with money or very confidential inforamtion.



Thussu, D. K. (Ed.). 2009. International Communication: A Reader. Arnold, London: Oxford University Press.  Hallin, D. C., Mancini, P. 2005. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.