Global digital divide: Eine neue Dimension der Zentrum-Peripherie-Polarisierung

Abstract

The article analyses the dimensions, fragmentations and effects of the inequitable access to digital information and communication technologies (ICT) of people from different development areas. In particular, it tries to show how the Digital Divide can be seen as a new dimension of the centre-periphery-disparity, which is substantiated by a shift in political power relations and a socio-economic polarisation. The access to and the use of knowledge and information became - like industrial and agricultural products before them - important political and economic resources. These changes, which take place worldwide, raise questions of access to and the use of knowledge and information, and the equality of distribution and rights of possession of them. A central topic of the article is the demonstration and analysis of the thesis that the Digital Divide of today will increase development gaps and widen social disparities between central and peripheral regions in the future.