The Larger Questions: Communication in the Literature of International Relations and in International Relations Theory

Abstract

The United States makes less than 10 per cent of the long films produced annually but it dominates the international trade in movies. Six companies controlled by Americans, Europeans and Japanese control the world’ s $20-plus billion annual pop music market. For millions around the globe the definition of what is news is being determined by a transnational television network, CNN, based in the United States and controlled by Americans. But what do these developments mean for international politics? What does the use of new international communications technologies mean for the distribution of power and influence in the world?