The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) is exhausted
and the 'free flow of information' doctrine has been brought back to
life, despite persistent inequalities in global communication and the
failure to significantly democratize the international communications
system. This article maps the rise, fall and resuscitation of the free
flow of information doctrine. It also presents evidence illustrating
that people's access to basic communications technologies and services
has increased significantly, although persistent gaps remain and new
axes of inequality are emerging. The article also illustrates how NAFT
A and the WTO agreements covering telecoms and computer services facil
itate efforts to realize the economic value of information by shieldin
g a range of new technologies and services from the reach of telecommu
nications policies and expanding the free flow of information doctrine
. Based on distinctions between the technical and communicative dimens
ions of democracy, I argue that both agreements, and the history of NW
ICO and the 'free flow' debates in general, envision and construct tra
nsnational politics of limited democracy. The idea of 'communicative d
emocracy' is offered as a standpoint from which to critique these deve
lopments and as a normative basis for policy analysis.