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The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry
Thesis (MA) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1998.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2012
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| _version_ | 1867613937658232832 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Fourie, Pieter P. |
| author2 | Nel, Philip |
| author_browse | Fourie, Pieter P. Nel, Philip |
| author_facet | Nel, Philip Fourie, Pieter P. |
| author_sort | Fourie, Pieter P. |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1998. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/51062 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:05.289Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publishDateRange | 2012 |
| publishDateSort | 2012 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/51062 The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry Fourie, Pieter P. Nel, Philip Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science. Technology transfer -- Case studies Information technology -- Case studies Information superhighway Dissertations -- Political science Thesis (MA) -- University of Stellenbosch, 1998. In 1988 Susan Strange noted that the international power derived from the knowledge structure is the one that has been most overlooked and underrated. This thesis is an attempt to rectify this situation; to identify the changes in the provision of and control over information and knowledge in the current international political economy. The great majority of the world's quantifiable knowledge (science and technology) is situated in the developed countries. In order to survive and achieve economic growth in the era beyond the global ideological strife that (some would say) ended in 1989, developing states urgently need to acquire technology and apply it within their own systems of innovation. There are two alternatives: states can either “make” the technology themselves, or import it from somewhere else – these processes are mostly interrelated. This study describes the power-relations that lurk behind seemingly facile concepts like the ‘dissemination of knowledge’. It describes the actors involved, their motivations, the modes of acquiring technology, the happening and facilitative effects of a myriad of variables, and so on. The imperative of having an explicit and methodological description of the power-relations that determine international knowledge diffusion is clear: not only will developing states be able to better gauge their own technological contexts; it might actually assist states in policy making with an aim to improve access to global knowledge – greater insight into current North-South interaction can have the power to transcend and indeed reform the global system of knowledge diffusion. The study is thus descriptive of processes that are neither spontaneous nor innocent. Through analysis of qualitative and quantitative data an effort is made to better understand the processes at work within the context of international technology transfer. To facilitate a practical understanding of the politics of technology transfer, a case study of the semiconductor industry is undertaken in an effort to discern amongst the effects of these power-relations in what the Japanese call the “rice of industry”: information technology. A main finding of the study is that it is imperative for individual developing states to realise that they are context-specific, and the policies surrounding them and their economic development is highly contingent. Technology transfers should be handled as unique and fragile processes that need to apply to their specific exigencies. A major trick to development lies in an awareness of the fact that technology transfer is only a tool; technology and its attainment is not an end in itself. The real aim should be the fostering of a local, appropriate and circumspect system of technological innovation. Masters 2012-08-27T11:34:18Z 2012-08-27T11:34:18Z 1998 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51062 en Stellenbosch University 210 pages : ill. application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Technology transfer -- Case studies Information technology -- Case studies Information superhighway Dissertations -- Political science Fourie, Pieter P. The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title | The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title_full | The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title_fullStr | The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title_short | The politics of North-South technology transfer : a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| title_sort | politics of north south technology transfer a case study of the semiconductor industry |
| topic | Technology transfer -- Case studies Information technology -- Case studies Information superhighway Dissertations -- Political science |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51062 |
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