Global politics and empty signifiers

The political construction of high technology

Bibliographic Data

ID12985282
AuthorsJoscha Wullweber (0000-0003-1928-1933, University of Kassel, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume9
Issue1
Pages78-96
Publication date2014-06-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Policy Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1946-0171 • E-ISSN: 1946-018X
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19460171.2014.918899
OpenAlexW2025845428
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited44

This article argues for the usefulness of the concept of the empty signifier for the analysis of international policy processes. First, it emphasizes the importance of considering references to general public interest in global politics and the way such interest is constructed. Second, it opens up the possibility of examining political strategies in the process of developing policy programs. Third, it provides a foil for scrutinizing the interplay between universal and particular interests. Finally, it offers a framework for analysis that can be used to explain the process by which a term comes to both identify and propel a whole policy field or development. In an examination of US technology policies during the 1990s until mid-2000s, the article investigates the political process leading to the development of the term nanotechnology. In so doing, it argues that nanotechnology is not a particular technology or a specific field of research, but rather a broader political project encompassing a wide array of technological areas that are unified in name only. It is the term nanotechnology that brings them together under one cover, giving them a common identification

Field (mathematics · Identification (biology · Political process · Political science · Politics · Process (computing · Sociology · Term (time · Computer Science · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models

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