Arquilla and Ronfelt discuss the emergence of noöpolitik and the soft power now held by NGOs and other non-state actors. As we discussed the Google Earth case, it seemed to me that Google also holds a type of soft power as well, by acting as a nation and influencing international politics, with a lack of control by the government. Certainly they are held under the laws and regulations of the US government, but as we saw in the case of India, they have no real responsibility to change their program just because someone doesn’t like it. They are much more concerned about profit and answering to their shareholders, and in fact, have established a type of power through their actions.
On a related note, I did a quick search for Google Earth on Google News, and was interested to see that China has released its own version of the mapping service. (You can read the article here). This goes along well with our group report, which we will discuss in class on November 2, as much of my research focused on China continuing to exercise its state sovereignty while still participating in the global flow of ideas. Even with this new program we can see how China’s behavior still reflects what Arquilla and Ronfelt define as realpolitik, or power leveraged for the state. For example, many of their maps cannot be viewed at high resolution due to state secrecy. But these influences culture and also suggest the spread of China’s soft power. This subtle control of information and media has also become an influence on international politics. It will be interesting to see how a new strategy of control will develop so states can retain their power as a state over emerging technologies, or if high-tech firms such as Google will continue to challenge information sovereignty.
I imagine that eventually Google will encounter some sort of real competition, forcing it to relinquish its international powers somewhat. This will really be the next incarnation of the Radio Act of 1927, or the Telegraph Union and preceding regulations on telegraph cable monopolies. Google's (and other companies) influence overseas isn't exactly new in the world, but the scale and format certainly are. The Internet is still undergoing a lot of debate over regulation, as we have seen with China and other countries with strict firewalls, but it will likely be a while before we see any sort of international consensus on NGOs and the sort of Info-Power and Noo-Power that they wield.
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