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At the end of World War II the United States was poised for empire. But in order to extend its imperial hegemony the United States would need to deepen it by solidifying the empire at home. Indeed,success in the war at home is a precondition for success abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication scholars have used the concept of myth to understand important concerns of both the political economy and cultural analysis of communication. This paper builds on this work by examining myths about cyberspace and is part of a wider project that aims to address issues on the borders of political economy and cultural studies. Specifically, our understanding of cyberspace can benefit by theorizing it as a mythic space marked by powerful beliefs about a radical and transcendent disjunction celebrating the end of history, the end of geography, and the end of politics. The paper concentrates on cyberspace myths about the end of politics and how these are manifested in two substantive developments. First, there is the rise of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a lobbying organization whose intellectual and administrative direction has been provided by George Gilder, Alvin Toffler, Newt Gingrich and others. Together these individuals launched a "New Magna Carta" in 1994 and continue to ensure that the Foundation's influence and ideological presence is still being felt. The second focus is the rebirth of the Strategic Defense Initiative, whose protective shield promises to safeguard the United States from nuclear annihilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncovers connections between ownership, corporate, structure, finance capital and market structures to show how economics affects technologies, politics, cultures and information. Accounts of economic structures; Effects on politics and ideology; Attribution of abuses of vulgar Marxism to political economists; Examination of telecommunications and media as industries.