GLOBALIZATION, TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND TRADE

This article describes some characteristics of globalization, one of the most dramatic impacts of the information revolution. There is a need for a broad international agreement on trade in services, yet the changes in thinking that this demands are being hampered by old perceptions, particularly in telecommunications. Issues arising in the Geneva negotiations on trade in services are examined. Particular importance is attached to factoring the implications of the globalization process and the new telecommunications realities into national decision making, if governments wish to retain control over those decisions and their impacts. © 1991.