The international telephone network and democratization

This study examines the relationship between the international telephone network and the process of democratization. It attempts to answer two research questions: (1) Who are the core, semiperiphery, periphery countries in the international telephone network? (2) What is the relationship between a country's network position and its level of democracy? The results indicate that various network indicators (e.g., system density, centrality, connectedness, and integrativeness) are consistent over time. Network analysis identified one large group in the global telephone network. Further, the results are consistent with the main argument of world system theory that a country's position in the network affects its political development and its patterns of interaction. Telecommunication also plays a paradoxical role in the development of democracy. On the one hand, it facilitates interaction among different segments of people and enables popular participation. On the other hand, it generates electronic colonialism and exacerbates the gap between the core and the periphery countries. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.