Shaping the Architecture of the U.S. Information and Communication Technology Architecture: A Political Economic Analysis1

How did political economy help shape the revolution in telecommunications and computer networking? We offer three arguments concerning the impact of political economy and policy on the architecture of the U.S. information and communication technology infrastructure. First, it tilted toward an architectural principle of “modularity” that influenced the paths of both the telecom equipment, computer equipment and software, and computer networking markets. Second, it created multiple network infrastructures for telecommunications when other countries either tried to retain a monopoly infrastructure or limit the number of competitors. Third, it propelled a particular architecture for computing (intelligence at the edge of the network) and the full realization of the potential benefits of the Internet. The particular policy mix for competition matters, and this policy mix reflects fundamentals of political economy.