IBM and Third World Modernities

The overtly intimate relationship between tech industry leaders and politicians is on frequent display in newspapers and on screens today. In an international context, this builds on a long history of corporate involvement in shaping favorable policy. 

In his latest research, André Dao, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne, traces the long history of IBM and its predecessor the Tabulator Machine Company, as actors on the international stage, especially with respect to countries in the Global South. Using multiple collections held in the Hagley Library, Dao reveals a potential revolution amongst Third World countries vying to control multinational corporations and to foster their own computer industries, that was met and reversed by a counter revolution led by major Western firms and their institutional allies. 

In support of his work, Dr. Dao received finding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library. 

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