Page 38 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

26 Communication, Commerce and Power

trade reforms establishing a 'free' trade in services and an enforceable
intellectual property rights regime, for instance, the reorganization of
US power capacities has increasingly become dependent on the com-
plementary internationalization of liberal and consumerist ideals.
Among critical students of IPE, questions concerning cultural
power have been addressed through notions of knowledge structures
and the Gramscian concept of consent. The former remains under-
developed due to its lack of theoretical precision and the latter largely
as a result of the need for more sociological rigor.
According to Susan Strange, 'Structural power ... confers the
power to decide how things shall be done, the power to shape frame-
works within which states relate to each other, relate to people, or
relate to corporate enterprises.' 23 For Strange, 'the knowledge struc-
ture often lies as much in the negative capacity to deny knowledge, to
exclude others, rather than in the power to convey knowledge. ' 24 But
in explaining this, Strange lacks a full appreciation of knowledge as a
process. Technology and scientific knowledge are highlighted by
Strange as the most valuable knowledge resources sought by contem-
porary corporations and nation states. 25 At one level this is correct.
But in the context of her own definition of the importance of the
knowledge structure - the power to 'deny' and/or 'convey' knowledge
- this conceptualization is underdeveloped. While recognizing that
'belief systems ... underpin or support the political and economic
arrangements acceptable to society' - including those that support
the investments and property rights associated with science and tech-
nology - Strange lacks a sophisticated theory of the relationship
between information and knowledge. This, writes Strange, 'is a
semantic question ... which is puzzling but not very important. Is
there a difference between knowledge and information? For many
purposes; the two terms are interchangeable. ' 26
A less apparent shortfall is found in the work of Robert Cox.
Through his explicitly dialectical approach and his interest in the
complexities of national and international civil society, Cox makes
effective use of an analytical category he calls 'ideas' in the interna-
tional political economy. Ideas entail shared practices and meanings
as well as differing perspectives. Under this category, diplomatic con-
duct, economic theory and even gender roles are included in his
analysis and are directly related to the material capabilities (that is,
the natural, technological and organizational resources available) and
the institutions (namely, organized expressions of particular orders
and power relations) that he believes reflect and shape world order.