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Exploring the Social Construction of IT Policy—Thailand and Singapore
Abstract
This paper explores the nature of two IT policies, one in Singapore and one in Thailand. The analysis employed suggests that IT policies are socially constructed and thus reflect discourse and ideologies that are pervasive in society. As such then a comparison of the two policies should reflect a difference. This paper argues that the differences between the Singaporean and Thai national IT policies reflect differences in the discourses that frame the social construction of the policy in each case. This paper argues that one fundamental difference between the IT policies implemented in Thailand and Singapore is that the Thai policy is introspective reflecting a deferent society, whilst Singapore's is outward looking and pointedly global, reflecting a society markedly more extrovert. In analysing the text of the two policies it is argued that IT policy reflects a discourse framed by the state, which in turn represents the dominant discourse in society.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
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Throughout the remainder of this paper there are quotations from the two policies cited above. No page numbers are given as servers and computers can paginate in a variety of ways according to the search engine used.
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