Tech Policy Across Borders

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This course adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and introduces students to technology policy approaches in key countries and regions through active learning and experimental course design. How and why does the history of the Internet and cyber policy look differently from the vantage points of Beijing, Cairo, Moscow, New Delhi, and Tokyo? Where and how does the European approach to artificial intelligence differ from the United States’ approach? What are the digital development needs of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and how are they cooperating and competing amid the shifting tides of geopolitics? All technology is global, but too often our policies are designed with only the local in mind. Effective technology policy will require leaders and analysts to appreciate the constraints and opportunities across different regional contexts and technology ecosystems. During the semester, we will explore five disciplinary perspectives: data analytics (insights), sociotechnical and socioeconomic approaches (context), system dynamics and complex adaptive systems (system), political economy, foreign policy, and network analysis (power), and semiotics and culture (meaning). Weekly readings will include perspectives from each of these disciplines. This approach will ground our comparative analysis of countries and regions around the world, from East and Southeast Asia to Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and North America. Students will pick one technology and one region or country to follow over the course of the semester. You will then work with the instructor to design your own final project that will be published on the course website. Final projects can take the form of research or policy papers, impact assessments, podcasts, agent-based simulations, data visualizations and interactive dashboards, or other innovative approaches.