Antecedents of the Digital Peace

Abstract

The objective of this research paper is to determine if international development and international cooperative efforts by industrialized nations focused on the spread of information technology might assist to promote harmony within the conflict-prone Global South, thereby creating a "digital peace." The notion of a digital peace suggests that as technology spreads throughout the international system, so too will a pacification of interstate relations. Some scholars have suggested the current age of technological innovation has propelled the industrialized powers of the Global North not only into a realm of interconnected economic triumphs, but to the absence of interstate warfare within their borders. This article explores that claim and addresses whether this is a realistic expectation in the Global South through quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitatively, it examines the claims of advocates of a looming panhuman digital peace by attempting to measure the effects of the level of state technology on conflict escalation between interstate dyads. Qualitatively, it surveys the prospects for the successful spread of information technologies to the Global South by exploring what antecedent factors might need to be in place in order to ensure the success of such a transfer. The prospects for a twenty-first century Pax Digitalis are then assessed.