ABSTRACT
Contemporary reports suggest that national and industrial forms of economic and political organization are in decline. In their wake, it is maintained that there has been a global expansion of trade and innovation in communication technology. It is predicted that the Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) will radically alter and decentralize local, national, international and global socio-economic-political institutions. Such reforms provide governments with significant challenges regarding policy. More profoundly, they bring into question how citizens' democratic rights may be advanced with regard to working practices and methods of political participation. The need to activate ICTs for social welfare stands at the core of many of the current debates concerning globalization, the public sphere and the role of the state in the next century. This review will critically address the issues within these key debates. Further, it will provide the reader with a blueprint for an alternative public service model of communication transfer.
