Page 27 - Communications Satellites Global Change Agents

4 PELTON

unaware that cable TV (from HBO to CNN) needs satellites to obtain most of its
programming. A U.S. congressman is purported to have said: "Why do we need
weather satellites when I can turn on my television and see the latest report on
my local channel?"
Satellite technology and systems have evolved tremendously in the past 40
years, but as is seen in the technology sections of this book, this development con-
tinues apace.

SATELLITES AND THE NATION STATE

Ever since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the world has been defined by what is
called the nation state. Prior to that time, conflicts and wars often revolved around
the borders of city states and communities of interest, not nations. Prior to the mod-
ern national state, wars were fought over disputed territory, stolen property, kid-
napped damsels, religious conflicts, and ethnicity, not on the basis of the national
interests of independent countries. For the last 300 years, however, national sover-
eignty has been king. Under the Westphalian system, as it has become known, the
established authority of a state was responsible for internal laws, national subjects,
national punishment, and even defined national religious beliefs. "No man is an is-
land," but under international law countries were supposed to be. The international
system, as it evolved based on the sovereignty of the nation state, had weaknesses,
but it did create an international law of minimum order. As Fernand Braudel has ex-
plained in his massive trilogy on life up through the 18th century, institutional struc-
ture is key to the advance of civilization (Braudel, 1979a, 1979b, 1979c).
Until the 1950s, nations or national empires such as those of Britain and France
were amazingly self-contained. Admiral Perry may have opened up Japan, and
Europe may be becoming a community of nations, but prior to 1965—the date
when Early Bird, or Intelsat 1, became operational—overseas communications
were incredibly limited and expensive. Most communications (over 99%) were
within national boundaries. Likewise international commerce was quite sparse,
and multinational corporations were only just beginning to emerge. In the age of
satellites and fiber optic cables, it is now possible to operate global corporations,
carry out free trade on a worldwide basis, and instantaneously control systems
from halfway around the planet. Millions of telecommuters, what might be called
electronic immigrants, now work daily in another country via modern telecom-
munications connections. In many ways, satellites have made such an interna-
tional world possible. It has enabled a world that operates beyond the nation state
technically and economically viable.
Analysts such as Robert B. Reich (1991), author of The Work of Nations: Pre-
paring Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism, believe that the nation state is be-
coming passe or only marginally relevant. Such analysts, often associated with a
group known as the Tri-Lateralists, perceive the growing influence of international