Information to users

The Research Agenda
Because of this omnipresence of information and
communication policy within a government's political, social and legal frameworks, the focus of this study must be
narrowed to a workable and useful exposition of such a broad and sometimes unwieldy subject.
3 Ortega-, C. and C. Romero. 'Las Politicas de communicacion
en el Peru." (Paris: UNESCO, 1976), p. 5, quoted in Raphael
Roncagliolo, 'Information and Transnational Culture: Directions for Policy Research" Media Culture and Society 7 (1985): 374-375.
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First, the ultimate goal of this study is to examine
the foreign policy making process as opposed to the domestic policy making process. With globalization, the flow of
information is a worldwide phenomenon that has decreased both the importance of geo-political borders and the ability of governments and other entities to control information flows. Therefore, the focus will be on international
relationships. But, since US domestic policy over the past century-and-a-half laid the foundation for the principles that today drive foreign policy, it is important to identify these principles and how they evolved domestically,
eventually informing foreign information policy.
Second, only the foreign information and communication
policy of the United States will be addressed. As will be shown below, the United States is the largest producer of information services and systems in the world and it will be argued that its ability to remain in that position is
contingent on the ability of its policymakers to understand information and communication flows and processes.
Third, the research will utilize a case study research
method to analyze US relations with three intergovernmental organizations, providing a solid historical basis for
comparison in addition to the strengths of the comparative 6
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case study4 method. This method permits observations about trends and patterns in various issue areas traditionally associated with information and communication policy, while retaining the comparability of US relations with
international organizations that specialize in information and communication issues. This is what George refers to as one of the major strengths of the case study approach, the 'common focus"5 in the cases being compared.