Global Governance and Knowledge Societies
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development. Copyright © 2002 Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (200212) 45:4; 10–16; 029600. NB When citing this article please use both volume and issue numbers.
Thematic Section
Global Governance and Knowledge Societies PHILIPPE QUÉAU
ABSTRACT Philippe Quéau illustrates how the global information society tends to create a unified market of formatted exchanges and practices, which do not always take into account the cultural specificities and the special needs of the many ‘knowledge societies’ around the world. The global information society also has to confront the extreme disparities of access to information and knowledge between the industrialized countries and the developing countries, as well as within societies themselves. This inevitably induces the need for fundamental political choices and arbitrages on the goals socially desirable, and a definition of the ‘global common good’. KEYWORDS common good; fair use; information society; intellectual property; public domain, regulation
Knowledge systems and information flows The so-called ‘information society’ is based on information technologies and the exchange of informational goods, on a worldwide scale. In contrast, ‘knowledge societies’ are not technology-driven, but mind-driven; they are not necessarily global in scope, but rather based on distinct cultural, political and economic traits, shaping up specific ‘epistemic regimes’. An epistemic regime characterizes the cultural, economic and societal role of information and knowledge in a given society. For instance, the epistemic regime of the global information society relies heavily on the merchandizing of information and the development of ‘intellectual property’, as opposed to the epistemic regimes of, say, the 19th century European universities, which considered as obvious that knowledge was a public property, that academic research should flow freely, and that, to be useful, research had to be ‘useless’. The global information society tends to create a unified, global market of formatted exchanges and practices, while knowledge societies come in far more
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Quéau: Global Governance and Knowledge Societies different cultural flavours, and are a key ingredient for an effective diversity. For instance, the notion of a ‘knowledge society’ is not equivalent to the French ‘société du savoir’, at least linguistically. The etymology of the word ‘knowledge’ and of the verb ‘to do’ are closely related, while the etymology of savoir is linked to the old Indo-European root ‘sap’, ‘to taste’, whence words like ‘sapience’ or ‘sapid’. Knowledge points to utility and power, savoir points to theory and contemplation. This is not just a matter of words. It is a matter of thrust, of vision, of ends. It is a matter of shaping up the fundamentals of a society, giving rise to certain hopes, but also generating diverse societal divides. Let’s note in passing that the ‘educa
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