ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a theoretical claim that governance is the missing link and that the lack of inclusion of governance in many Information and communication technologies (ICT) for development studies may be a prime reason for disparate conclusions in research. It focuses on the role of government in the analysis of ICT and poverty. The chapter argues that ICTs have little impact on poverty if they cannot improve governmental effectiveness or open up more economic opportunities for the poor. The theoretical arguments for economic concentration and for "death of distance" both hold some water, yet the evidence for each remains inconclusive. A primary avenue that ICT allows enhanced "information sharing" to improve governance is through lessening corruption. Social capital is a concept from political science—coined in the late 1980s and popularized in the early 1990s—that has substantial ramifications for the study of ICTs.
