Information to users

With the appropriate technology, individuals may spread
their ideas via personal web pages and local cable
television stations. Radio and television talk shows have proliferated. According to Heath, during the early 1980s, only 53 US radio stations had news/talk formats, compared with more than 1,000 in the late 1990s, while the total
number of stations remained constant at 10,000. The number of television talk shows ballooned from a few in 1986, to 15 in the 1989-90 season, to 19 during the 1996-97 season, in addition to the proliferation of talk shows on cable. When
31 Isabel Vincent. 'Cyber—revolution: From IRA to Shining
Path, guerillas use cheap links" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 16 June 1996, p. 9.
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asked what is fueling the popularity of talk media Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine, which covers the
talk-media industry, said, “It all serves the simple need for connections with other people . . . People don't know their neighbors anymore, and they wouldn't have time to talk over the backyard fence even if they did. But there's still a human need for community, so it's a virtual, electronic, global media community."32
The growth of talk radio is not only an American
phenomenon. 'Talk radio is an international growth industry. A . . . listener who spins her dial along the medium-wave frequencies might get a crash course in European languages, as stations from Germany and Spain, in particular, seep into [Irish] airspace."33
The number of actors ties in strongly to a second
characteristic of complex interdependence: the multiple
channels through which these actors interact in the system. The sheer number methods for communication have grown almost exponentially over the past decade. From cable and satellite communications to electronic information flows of a number of varieties, increased information flow has created a world in which traditional geo-political borders no longer
32 Rebecca Piirto Heath. 'Tuning in to Talk," American
Demographics February 1998, p. 48.
33 'Is Talk Radio Something You Have to Grow Into?" The
Irish Times (25 March 1998): 8.
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describe the communities and societies that exist. For
example, organizations such as CNN International have
created a number of venues for voices not before heard via the electronic airways, encouraging local, indigenous
coverage of issues. CNN International's *coverage reaches homes in more than 210 countries and territories worldwide, including the United States. In fact, today CNNI has 100 million subscribers - even more subscribers than CNN has in the United States."34 In addition, the advent of the
Internet has provided an explosion of avenues available for communication. E-mail and the posting of web pages are the two most visible examples of methods for interactions
between groups. In the future, complex interdependence could provide a solid theoretical grounding for the study of international interactions over the Internet.
Third, there is a changing hierarchy of issues. In some situations, economic questions might prevail, while in
others military or environmental needs might be more
pressing. As stated above, information flows play a role in probably most, if not all, of these issues. Complex
interdependence could help in analyzing the relationship between information flows and other foreign policy issues, an exercise left for the end of this research.
34 'CNN International," online. Available at
http://www.cnn.com/StudioTour/index7.html (15 January 2000).
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And finally, according to complex interdependence,
international relationships are characterized by a decrease in the use of military force. As seen above, military and security issues to play an important role, but, if the
assertions of complex interdependence are to hold true, the use of force should be less than what might be expected from a realist analysis of the situation. Though military
organizations around the world are in the habit of
discussing information as a military tool,35 the flow of information is more associated with diplomatic actions than military ones. And though there can be no assertion that the increasing flows of information have eliminated or even decreased conflict, the idea that information flows have provided an outlet for alternative views as a substitute for force could be pursued.
Supportive of these insights from complex
interdependence, information and communications processes manifest a seeming paradox: both fragmentive and integrative forces at work at the same time and quite possibly from the same sources. James Rosenau has called this a
'fragmegrative" approach to understanding global governance,
35 See, for example, Martin C. Libicki (1995) What is