Debating NWICO and WSIS: A Historical Perspective

The thesis gives a historical review and analysis to the process from the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO, 1976-1984) to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, 2003-2005). With the support of the Socialist East, the Non-Aligned South initiated the NWICO movement at the end of the 1970s in order to challenge the unfair international communication mechanism dominated by the Capitalist West. The multilateral negotiations on NWICO lasted for almost ten years at various UN platforms until the US and the UK withdrew from UNESCO. At the dawn of the 21st century, the political, market and civil society forces met twice at WSIS summits in Geneva and Tunis, continuing to pursue topics such as Internet governance and intellectual property rights. NWICO and WSIS are not only international communication activities by themselves but also international communication regulation events and media events, and constitute a sound sample for international communication research. The thesis adopts a debating formula to describe and analyze this sample. These debates consist of both academic debates and political ones. Chapter 1 introduces the composition of the thesis. Chapter 2 and 3 respectively introduce the dominant academic paradigm and political process of NWICO. Chapter 4 and 5 respectively introduce the dominant academic paradigm and political process of WSIS. Chapter 6 puts everything together and meanwhile comes to several important conclusions regarding this historical process. These academic and political debates contribute not only to the understanding of their relationship but also to the understanding of various topics regarding media systems, international communication regulation, and international communication research. As far as the media system is concerned, the thesis reviews critically how the market-controlled media system has been defended in global forums. While a state-controlled media system is in no case compatible with communication democratization, neither does a profit-oriented media system constitute a sufficient condition for such democratization. In the aspect of international communication regulation, the thesis argues that both the Newly Industrialized Countries and the civil society forces pose themselves as the challengers of the international communication rule-makers, an alignment of transnational corporations and Western polities. The appeals of the latter, however, come closer to the core of communication democratization. In terms of international communication research, the study concludes with a promotion of such perspectives like human rights, the right to communicate, and civil society and the intellectual elements embedded outside Western intellectual traditions. Key Words: NWICO, WSIS, histor