The Politics of Telecommunications: National Institutions, Convergence, and Change in Britain and France

This book examines and compares policy making in telecommunications in Britain and France over the last three decades. The book examines questions related to liberalization, regulation and the role of the nation state in an increasingly international economy.
Some of the most important questions related to liberalization, regulation, and the role of the nation state in an increasingly international economy are confronted here. In the face of powerful transitional pressures for change, to what extent are states able to maintain stable institutional frameworks? Do different domestic structures generate dissimilar patterns of policy-making and economic performance? How important are past institutional choices to subsequent reform? The author addresses these questions through a study of the transformations of one strategic economic sector, telecommunications, in Britain and France over the past three decades. It analyses the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of various models of public policy formation, the role and reform of national institutions and the continuing role of the nation state This book is intended for scholars and students of Political Theory, European Politics, Comparative Public Policy, Media and Communications.