Cyberspace and the End of Politics

Abstract

Communication scholars have used the concept of myth to understand important concerns of both the political economy and cultural analysis of communication. This article 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 article concentrates on cyberspace myths about the end of politics and how these are manifested in two substantive developments: the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a lobbying organization led by George Gilder, Alvin Toffler, Newt Gingrich, and others, and the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), whose protective shield promises to safeguard the United States from nuclear annihilation.