Information society and the state: the Greek version of the information society paradigm

The concept of the 'information society' has been systematically deployed to denote a new techno-socio-economic paradigm with information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the centre, which entails significant economic and social transformations and bears implications for governance and potential for development and quality of life. Departing from the deterministic view of information society as a set of uniform societal arrangements, the thesis examines its national variations, as they emerge from the interaction between ICTs and relevant policies with pre-existing social, political and economic realities. Drawing on a conceptual framework based on political economy and historical sociology, it proposes that the unfolding of any national information society is a contested process feeding on the historically formed relationship between the state and the national economy and society. This relationship is expected to inflect international policies and processes in quite idiosyncratic ways, leading to differentiated national information society trajectories, while the state is instrumental in articulating international policy directions with national societal arrangements. Identifying an empirical gap in the examination and analysis in semi-peripheral and middle-income countries, the thesis seeks to address evolving characteristics and dimensions of the 'Greek case' of information society, stressing the dialectic between European policy and the national socio-cultural, political and economic idiosyncrasies, the role of the Greek state, as well as the weaknesses encountered in the process. The emphasis is on the period 1998-2008, which includes the first comprehensive strategy and provides the opportunity to analyse preliminary results of the policies adopted. The empirical material includes relevant policy documents, quantitative indicators, personal observations, as well as a set of elite interviews with policymakers, ICT industry representatives and other actors involved in information society policies and processes