Bits and Atoms

Bits and Atoms explores the governance potential found in the explosive growth of digital information and communication technology in areas of limited statehood. Today, places with weak or altogether missing state institutions are tied internally and to the larger world by widely available digital technology. The chapters in the book explore questions of when and if the growth in digital technology can fill some of the governance vacuum created by the absence of an effective state. For example, mobile money could fill a gap in traditional banking or mobile phones could allow rural populations to pay for basic services and receive much needed advice and market pricing information. Yet, as potentially revolutionary as this technology can be to areas of limited statehood, it still faces limitations. Bits and Atoms is a thought-provoking look at the prospects for and limitations of digital technology to function in place of traditional state apparatuses.

ForewardSina OdugbemiChapter 1: IntroductionSteven Livingston and Gregor Walter-DropPart 1: Simulation, Consolidation, Opposition: ICT and Limited StatehoodChapter 2: Information Technology and the Limited States of the Arab SpringMuzammil M. Hussain and Philip N. HowardChapter 3: The Kremlin's Cameras and Virtual Potemkin Villages: ICT and the Construction of StatehoodGregory AsmolovChapter 4: E-government as a Means of Development in IndiaJ. P. SinghChapter 5: ICT and Accountability in Areas of Limited StatehoodJoseph SieglePart 2: Substitution: ICT as a Tool for Non-State GovernanceChapter 6: FrontlineSMS, Mobile-for-Development and the 'long tail' of governanceSharath SrinivasanChapter 7: Natural Disasters and Alternative Modes of Governance: the Role of Social Networks and Crowdsourcing Platforms in RussiaGregory AsmolovChapter 8: Mapping Kibera. Empowering Slum Residents by ICTPrimo%z Kova?i? and Jamie LundineChapter 9: Crisis Mapping in Areas of Limited StatehoodPatrick MeierChapter 10: From Crowdsourcing to Crowdseeding: The Cutting Edge of Empowerment?Peter van der WindtChapter 11: ConclusionsSteven Livingston and Gregor Walter-DropNotesReferencesIndex