| Based on qualitative field research this dissertation focuses on a case study of an Internet center in the Palestinian Territories. The study critiques the mainstream discourse and practice of development and the promises it entails (secularization, democratization and capitalization), and seeks to unravel the contradictions that arise from the practice of "Internet Development" (pursuing the goals of development through establishing Internet use). I analyze the discourses of various actors involved in the Internet center and employ a political economy analysis. I situate the project historically within development and foreign aid trends in the Territories since the 1993 peace agreements. I describe and then critique how the discourse and practice of development posit everything Palestinian standing in the way of progress, and thus serve as a justification of the Internet as able to overcome Palestinian "backwardness." I also analyze the Internet as both a symptom and a force of capitalist expansion---bringing with it new forms of dependence and subordination. Then, I look at the global political economic systems and relations the project is embedded in and shaped by, and critique the roles of the various entities involved in shaping the Internet center. The combination of Non-Governmental Organizations' (NGO) marginalization of indigenous civic institutions, Palestinian Authority (PA) economic and political corruption, Israeli dominance over Palestinian life manifested through various policies, and U.S. and foreign interests in the region have precluded the very objectives of "Internet development." I argue that the combination of internal contradictions manifested in the uncritical adoption of mainstream perspectives of development and information technology, and external contradictions manifested in the actions of NGOs, the PA, and the Israeli and American governments, results in further de-development of Palestinian society, stymies the formation of democracy, prevents economic prosperity, fragments citizens and civil society and directs state-building along lines that will further impoverish, subordinate and fragment Palestinian society. The pursuit of "Internet development" is criticized as the expansion of global capitalism and the continued hegemony of Western mainstream models of development, resulting in neither development, peace, nor statehood for Palestinians. |
