Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Google is (is not) a country

Here's one for students to consider. Is Google a country? Why or why not? The article is a bit disappointing for not following through on its contention about the statehood of Google, but students could practice with a textbook definition of country or nation-state and decide what's accurate and what's not.

Google is another country
Google is not a country. Eric Schmidt – who would be prime minister if it was – kept repeating the point at a briefing he gave at Davos... They didn't have a police force, they didn't have jails, they didn't have their own prosecutors. Only once did he slip and say : "Nevertheless we have to secure our borders."...

How does [Schmidt] feel about heading a company which is constantly being attacked? "Ah, the Barbara Walters question," he said. "How do you feel? Well, from a Google perspective it feels as if we're in the right place." They would always have these issues – it was endemic to being Google. If you were going round the world being that disruptive there was no point in crying "Oh my God it's a big crisis". That's just how life is going to be...

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