THE global digital revolution has brought peoples, societies and states closer together through the technologies it has spawned and which has been driving their development. The Internet is the most noteworthy and transformative of these technologies.

The world is much more integrated and the flow of information is more intense, today. The speed and volume of global communications have led to an exponential rise in cross-boundary transactions. These changes, made possible by the Internet, have called the traditional concepts of state sovereignty into question.

States – large and small, developed and underdeveloped – have embraced the digital revolution enthusiastically. They are keen to take advantage of the emerging opportunities, locally and internationally, spawned by this revolution. The principal path through which they are attempting to do this is by the establishment of digital states.

Most developing countries, however, have been unable to make the transition from aspiration to achievement. Their progress towards becoming digital states has been slow and uneven. Some have failed to articulate a comprehensive vision of a ‘digital state.’

Stand-alone national ICT strategies to propel their digital development have been limited to specific initiatives such as expanding broadband access, automating government services and increasing the digitisation of public education. The digital revolution in some states has been detoured, as a consequence. Globally, it has been  been hijacked by corporate interests. Its potential for transforming the lives of ordinary people, generating jobs and improving the delivery of public services has been dominated by corporate interests.

The dilemma facing small states is how to tailor tactics which would include policies relevant to development rather than to the profiteering motives of global financial interests. Small states risk becoming emasculated unless they can adapt the digital revolution to their own developmental needs.

Small states need a new framework to propel their ICT development. Such a model has been elusive; few have been able to develop a strong, endogenous focus which places people before profits.

David Granger’s book, The Digital State: How the Internet is changing Guyana, emerges against the backdrop of the need by small states for a relevant ICT framework which emphasises social objectives such as education, equality, empowerment and national integration and not only pecuniary profit.

The book is a refreshing addition to the literature on the ICT revolution. It offers a comprehensive vision of a ‘digital state’ and provides a pathway towards the  realization of  a ‘digital state’.

The distinctive feature of David Granger’s adumbration of a ‘digital state’ is that it is not a stand-alone strategy. His ‘digital state’ is a lynchpin of Guyana’s transition towards becoming a ‘green’ state.

There is an inconsistency in emphasis, regrettably, between the President’s ambitions for a ‘green’ state and his government’s Green State Development Strategy: Vision 2040, which acknowledges that:

“… the appropriate utilisation of information and communication technologies (ICT) can improve the lives of all Guyanese…. and… has the potential to make government services more widespread, effective and responsive, as well as be a driver of new green business activity.”

It fails to accord sufficient significance to policies to ensure a ‘digital state.’ It restricts itself, instead, to emphasising the need for expanded broadband access as a precursor to the development of the country’s ICT sector. The architects of the strategy seemed to have  lost sight of the foundational role which the President ascribed to digital development as part of his proposals for transitioning towards a ‘green state’.

The Digital State: How the Internet is changing Guyana consists of the texts of three presentations which the President made to three different audiences at different times over the past four years.

The first address, which is reproduced in this book, was delivered at the birth of his brainchild – the One Laptop Per Teacher (OLPT) initiative – symbolically at the Cyril Potter College of Education on 5th October 2016, World Teachers’ Day.  The Guyanese Head of State urged teachers to be prepared for the new demands of the information age.  He indicated that the OLPT initiative represented the commencement of Guyana’s ICT transformation.

The second address was delivered to the Caribbean ICT Roadshow 2018. The event, which was hosted by the Caribbean Teachers’ Union in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, had a regional rationale.

President Granger in his presentation, propounded the argument that the adoption of ICT was a prerequisite of public policy and, therefore, had to be responsive to the spatial dimensions of development. He took the opportunity to enumerate the pillars of his country’s ICT policy.

The third address was delivered at the opening of a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) at the University of Guyana on 2019.06.20. The President laid out a clear and practical path towards reaping the anticipated rewards of the ‘digital state’ including in agriculture, defence, employment, public education, public health and public security.

The opening of the centre attested to the importance which the President attaches to the building of a capacity for the country’s transition to a ‘digital state.’ He noted that the centre will allow Guyana to become more agile in the ICT sector, which is essential for a technologically literate and digitally skilled society.

The book’s main fault line, and one which has bedevilled statesmen’s best intentions everywhere, is the absence of consideration of the costs associated with the establishment of a ‘digital state’  The Cooperative Republic Guyana, despite the recent discoveries of oil and gas, remains a poor country and is not yet the ‘petroleum state’ the President wants it to be. Bridging the digital divide between Guyana and other countries in the Caribbean will incur significant investments, a necessity which the book did not address.

The reader cannot but be impressed immensely, however, by the President’s lucid and refreshing vision and policies for a ‘digital state.’ He has a remarkable skill in presenting complex ideas concisely and in clear language. The book reflects that gift.

This book is just the tonic which developing states need to reinvigorate their national ICT strategies. It is a beacon for guiding approaches and designing policies for a sector in which change is continuous and competition is intense.