Nas últimas décadas, cientistas sociais vêm defendendo a ideia de estarmos presenciando o início de uma nova etapa do desenvolvimento histórico do capitalismo, a chamada nova economia. Entre outros aspectos, aponta-se para mudanças profundas no âmbito das organizações e do trabalho, que foram provocadas pelo impacto do surgimento e difusão das tecnologias da informação. Nesse sentido, esta tese escolhe por contribuir em torno do conhecimento sobre a nova economia a partir de um interesse analítico bem delimitado, a saber, compreender o cálculo econômico de valor realizado por firmas de tecnologia da informação, quando estas comparecem no mercado de trabalho. Tal interesse analítico se operacionaliza através de três perguntas de pesquisa: Quais são e como as condições engendradas por redes sociotécnicas das firmas de tecnologias da informação estruturam as suas capacidades de cálculo econômico de valor? Quais valores econômicos e economicamente relevantes, essas firmas lançam mão para definir o valor e, por conseguinte, a sua demanda no mercado de trabalho? E quais procedimentos e práticas elas adotam para classificar e julgar a oferta de trabalho e planejar a realização de sua demanda diante dessa oferta? Visando responder essas três perguntas, procedeu-se à realização de quatro estudos de casos em empresas de diferentes segmentos de atividade econômica das tecnologias da informação. Os quatro casos estão localizados no município de Porto Alegre (RS) ou na sua região metropolitana. Com base na análise dos dados coletados nesses estudos, a tese encerra refletindo sobre o valor do trabalho como mercadoria no contexto da nova economia e também sobre o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem de sociologia econômica voltada para o comportamento da firma no mercado de trabalho e a sua capacidade de cálculo econômico de valor. / In the last decades, an increasing number of social scientists have defended the idea that we are witnessing the beginning of a new stage of the historical development of capitalism, the so-called new economy. Among other aspects it has been recognizing profound changes within organizations and the labor world that are related by the impact of the emergence and diffusion of information technologies. The present thesis chooses to contribute in the comprehension of the new economy trough a well-defined analytical interest, namely, understand the economic calculation of values that are realized by information technologies firms in the labor market. This analytical interest is reflected through three research questions: Which are and how the conditions articulated by socio-technical networks of firms, structure their abilities to economic calculation of values? What economic and economic relevant values these firms resort to set the value and therefore their demand in the labor market? And what procedures and practices these firms adopt to classify and judge the supply of labor and plan the realization of their demand? In order to answer these three questions, we carried out four case studies with companies from different segments of economic activities in information technologies. All of these cases are located at city of Porto Alegre (RS) or at the metropolitan area. Based on the analysis of data collected in these four case studies, the thesis closes with a reflection on the value of labor as a commodity in the context of the new economy and also discussing the development of an economic sociology approach about firms behavior in the labor market.

abstract: The Energiewende aims to drastically reduce Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions, without relying on nuclear power, while maintaining a secure and affordable energy supply. Since 2000 the country’s renewable-energy share has increased exponentially, accounting in 2017 for over a third of Germany's gross electricity consumption. This unprecedented achievement is the result of policies, tools, and institutional arrangements intended to steer society to a low-carbon economy. Despite its resounding success in renewable-energy deployment, the Energiewende is not on track to meet its decarbonization goals. Energiewende rules and regulations have generated numerous undesired consequences, and have cost much more than anticipated, a burden borne primarily by energy consumers. Why has the Energiewende not only made energy more expensive, but also failed to bring Germany closer to its decarbonization goals? I analyzed the Energiewende as a complex socio-technical system, examining its legal framework and analyzing the consequences of successive regulations; identifying major political and energy players and the factors that motivated them to pursue socio-technical change; and documenting the political trends and events in which the Energiewende is rooted and which continue to shape it. I analyzed the dynamics and the loopholes that created barriers to transition, pushed the utility sector to the brink of dissolution, and led to such undesirable outcomes as negative wholesale prices and forced exports of electricity to Germany’s European neighbors. Thirty high-level energy experts and stakeholders were interviewed to find out how the best-informed members of German society perceive the Energiewende. Surprisingly, although they were highly critical of the way the transition has unfolded, most were convinced that the transition would eventually succeed. But their definitions of success did not always depend on achieving carbon-mitigation targets. Indeed, Germany jeopardizes the achievement of these targets by changing too many policy and institutional variables at too fast a pace. Good intentions and commitment are not enough to create economies based on intermittent energy sources: they will also require intensive grid expansion and breakthroughs in storage technology. The Energiewende demonstrates starkly that collective action driven by robust political consensus is not sufficient for steering complex socio-technical systems in desired directions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2018

Esta dissertação apresenta uma discussão sobre trabalho coletivo, gerada a partir de pesquisa realizada com profissionais que atuam na prestação de serviços de saúde em uma organização pública. O objetivo principal é abordar o trabalho em grupo considerando o contexto de serviços de saúde e investigar como os trabalhadores pertencentes às equipes de composição multiprofissional, se mobilizam para a realização do trabalho. Como referencial teórico partiu-se dos pressupostos da teoria sociotécnica para trabalho em grupo, aprofundando a discussão com premissas da ergonomia da atividade para trabalho coletivo. Realizou-se estudo de caso em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde e como método para coleta de dados e informações, foi utilizada a análise ergonômica do trabalho (AET), que incluiu a técnica de observação de atividades de trabalho na unidade, entrevistas com os profissionais envolvidos e reuniões de validação dos resultados da pesquisa. À luz dos resultados da coleta de dados em campo e revisão bibliográfica, procurou-se fazer uma reflexão sobre as hipóteses de pesquisa. Como resultado concluiu-se que o trabalho coletivo permite lidar com situações de imprevisibilidade e variabilidade, em ambientes dinâmicos como o de prestação de serviços. O trabalho coletivo permite que os trabalhadores desenvolvam estratégias para enfrentar dificuldades e constrangimentos do trabalho. Através da mobilização coletiva, os profissionais regulam suas ações e re-elaboram as demandas dos usuários, tornando os objetivos estabelecidos pela organização compatíveis com a situação real de trabalho. / This dissertation deals with the collective work on healthcare services of a public healthcare organization. The main objective is to discuss teamwork considering the healthcare services environment and to investigate how the workers of teams composed with mixed professional categories, mobilize themselves to accomplish their job. The theoretical discussion considers two main stream approaches to teamwork, the socio-technical theory to teamwork and ergonomics of the activity to collective work. Following, a case study was conducted in a public healthcare center using the ergonomic work analysis (EWA) as the main tool to data gathering. This method includes observation techniques of the work activity in the unit, interviews with the professionals and validation sessions of the researchs results. From the results of the field research and the literature review, it was analyzed the research questions previously stated. As a result, it was observed that collective work allows the workers to more properly face the situations of unpredictability and variability in a dynamic service environment. Collective work also allows the workers to develop strategies to face work difficulties and constraints. With collective mobilization, the professionals regulate their actions and re-elaborate the users demands, turning the goals established by the organization compatible with real situation of work.

Trata-se da análise das estratégias de articulação e comunicação utilizadas por jovens produtores culturais da cidade de São Paulo, de modo particular sob o ponto de vista daqueles organizados em grupos e coletivos culturais localizados em suas regiões mais periféricas. Investigou-se quais relações se estabelecem entre esses coletivos e as redes e circuitos culturais existentes na cidade de São Paulo, e qual o papel exercido pelas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs) nesse processo, concebidas aqui enquanto ferramentas dessa articulação, não seu fim último. O estabelecimento do recorte de ação para a pesquisa partiu da investigação de uma política pública municipal de fomento à produção cultural, desenvolvida na cidade de São Paulo desde 2004, e que vêm sendo responsável por desvelar e dar visibilidade às diferentes manifestações artísticas e culturais realizadas por esses jovens: o Programa para Valorização das Iniciativas Culturais. Dentro do conjunto de projetos suportados com recursos desse programa, optou-se pela realização de um estudo de caso específico uma iniciativa em particular: a implantação de uma agência de fomento a cultura popular, denominada Agência Popular Solano Trindade. Especial atenção foi dada ao processo de elaboração do portal na internet que a Agência lançou no final do ano de 2012, e que se propõe funcionar como plataforma tanto de informação sobre as ações da instituição, suas motivações e objetivos, como de mapeamento dos atores culturais que a integram. Desse modo, pretendeu-se oferecer subsídios para o debate sobre a dinâmica das práticas culturais que se desenvolvem nas bordas da metrópole, e analisar mais detidamente de que maneira uma rede social pode animar e ampliar o desenvolvimento de uma rede sociotécnica, e o papel assumido pelo usuário enquanto parceiro do processo de construção e circulação da informação. / These studies analise the articulation and communication strategies used by cultural young producers from the city of São Paulo, in a particular way from the point of view of those organized in cultural groups located in the outskirts of the city. The dissertation investigated which relations and connections were established between this groups and cultural networks of the city of São Paulo, and what was the role of the Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) in this process, comprehended here as tools for this articulation, not as a final objective/goal. The choice for the research was originated from the investigation of a municipal public policy of cultural production enhancement, developed in São Paulo since 2004, which is being responsible for unveiling and promote visibility to different kinds of artistic and cultural expressions held by young.: the VAI (Portuguese abbreviation for Cultural Initiatives Appreciation). Among all the projects financed by this program, a specific case study of one iniciative in particular was chosen: the establishment of a popular culture enhancing agency called Agencia Popular Solano Trindade. Special attention was given to the construction of an internet website that this Agency launched in the end of 2012, and which was designed to work not only to market the actions, motivations and objectives of the institution, but also as a mapping tool of the actors who integrate it. In this way, aimed to offer elements for the cultural practices dynamics debate which are grown in the outskirts of the Metropolis but also due considerate the ways in which a social network can enhance and expand the development of a socio-ethnic network, and the role played by the user as a partner of the building and circulation of the information.

Nas últimas décadas, cientistas sociais vêm defendendo a ideia de estarmos presenciando o início de uma nova etapa do desenvolvimento histórico do capitalismo, a chamada nova economia. Entre outros aspectos, aponta-se para mudanças profundas no âmbito das organizações e do trabalho, que foram provocadas pelo impacto do surgimento e difusão das tecnologias da informação. Nesse sentido, esta tese escolhe por contribuir em torno do conhecimento sobre a nova economia a partir de um interesse analítico bem delimitado, a saber, compreender o cálculo econômico de valor realizado por firmas de tecnologia da informação, quando estas comparecem no mercado de trabalho. Tal interesse analítico se operacionaliza através de três perguntas de pesquisa: Quais são e como as condições engendradas por redes sociotécnicas das firmas de tecnologias da informação estruturam as suas capacidades de cálculo econômico de valor? Quais valores econômicos e economicamente relevantes, essas firmas lançam mão para definir o valor e, por conseguinte, a sua demanda no mercado de trabalho? E quais procedimentos e práticas elas adotam para classificar e julgar a oferta de trabalho e planejar a realização de sua demanda diante dessa oferta? Visando responder essas três perguntas, procedeu-se à realização de quatro estudos de casos em empresas de diferentes segmentos de atividade econômica das tecnologias da informação. Os quatro casos estão localizados no município de Porto Alegre (RS) ou na sua região metropolitana. Com base na análise dos dados coletados nesses estudos, a tese encerra refletindo sobre o valor do trabalho como mercadoria no contexto da nova economia e também sobre o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem de sociologia econômica voltada para o comportamento da firma no mercado de trabalho e a sua capacidade de cálculo econômico de valor. / In the last decades, an increasing number of social scientists have defended the idea that we are witnessing the beginning of a new stage of the historical development of capitalism, the so-called new economy. Among other aspects it has been recognizing profound changes within organizations and the labor world that are related by the impact of the emergence and diffusion of information technologies. The present thesis chooses to contribute in the comprehension of the new economy trough a well-defined analytical interest, namely, understand the economic calculation of values that are realized by information technologies firms in the labor market. This analytical interest is reflected through three research questions: Which are and how the conditions articulated by socio-technical networks of firms, structure their abilities to economic calculation of values? What economic and economic relevant values these firms resort to set the value and therefore their demand in the labor market? And what procedures and practices these firms adopt to classify and judge the supply of labor and plan the realization of their demand? In order to answer these three questions, we carried out four case studies with companies from different segments of economic activities in information technologies. All of these cases are located at city of Porto Alegre (RS) or at the metropolitan area. Based on the analysis of data collected in these four case studies, the thesis closes with a reflection on the value of labor as a commodity in the context of the new economy and also discussing the development of an economic sociology approach about firms behavior in the labor market.

As últimas décadas foram marcadas pela consolidação em nível mundial de uma sociedade da informação, enquanto modelo societal dinâmico e flexível, amparada nas TICs (como base material). Atualmente, a internet tem importância fundamental neste contexto, haja vista que representa a constituição de um ciberespaço, isto é, de uma sociedade virtual e em rede, de um novo espaço de sociabilidades. A partir do entendimento das possibilidades sociais permitidas pela internet, órgãos governamentais e comunidades locais passaram a discutir acerca de alternativas à problemática da exclusão digital, entendida como empecilho ao ingresso de grupos sociais pobres à sociedade da informação. Em resposta a esta situação, vêm sendo criadas neste último decênio unidades de telecentros – espaços para livre acesso comunitário à informática e à internet –, sobretudo nas periferias das grandes cidades do país. Na esteira destas considerações, nossa pesquisa analisou redes de interações sociais formadas por usuários de telecentros comunitários nos e a partir de tais ambientes, ou seja, no contexto local e através do ciberespaço – ou, em outras palavras, em uma dimensão global –, a fim de verificar como elas se constituem, se transformam, se reproduzem, etc. Assim, logramos apreender, sob o prisma das redes, o contexto de interação entre os usuários de telecentros e a sociedade da informação. Para tanto, partimos de uma perspectiva teórica sociotécnica – a qual subentende que elementos humanos e não-humanos compõem a realidade, associados em redes –, ou, mais precisamente, da teoria do ator-rede (TAR), e também de um pensamento rizomático, que visa assegurar a ampla complexidade intrínseca às redes. Foram estudados dois telecentros comunitários de Porto Alegre-RS: Timbaúva e Vila Cruzeiro – localizados nas zonas norte e sul do município, respectivamente. Seguindo uma abordagem qualitativa, fizemos observações de campo durante quatro meses e realizamos trinta e duas entrevistas individuais semi-abertas, que buscavam compreender de que forma os usuários de telecentros se relacionavam com outrem (em redes), tanto nestes próprios espaços quanto por meio do ciberespaço. Na seqüência, fizemos uma análise de conteúdo das entrevistas e uma exposição etnográfica de nossas vivências nos telecentros, e pudemos desenvolver uma reconstrução de redes de interações sociais, em que traçamos associações entre elementos (coisas e pessoas) e identificamos fluxos de sociabilidades, movimentos no interior das redes. / The last decades were really marked all over the world by the consolidation of an information society, as a dynamic and flexible societal model, based materially on ICTs. Currently, the internet has a fundamental importance in this context, since it allows the constitution of a cyberspace, which is a network and virtual society, a brand new space of sociabilities. Starting from the understanding of the social possibilities granted by internet, governmental organizations and local communities started to discuss about alternatives to digital divide, understood as a hindrance to the access of the poorest social groups into the information society. To solve this situation, telecenters – places for free computer and internet access – have been created in the last decade, mainly in the outskirts of Brazil’s big cities. Considering the subject showed above, our research has analyzed the social interaction networks made by communitarian telecenter users in and from these places, or better, in the local context and through the cyberspace – or, in other words, in a global dimension – to check how they are built, transformed, and reproduced, etc. So, we learned what happens during the interaction between telecenter users and information society – under the network point of view. To get it, we started from a socio-technical analysis – which conceives that reality is composed by humans and non-humans association networks –, or, specifically, from the actor-network theory (ANT), and also from a rizomatic thought that is able to express how nets are complex. We have studied two communitarian telecenters from Porto Alegre-RS: Timbaúva and Vila Cruzeiro – placed respectively in the north and in the south of this town. Following the qualitative method, we made field observations for four months and applied thirty two individual and open (not entirely) interviews, which tried to catch how telecenter users related to each other in these spaces and through the cyberspace. Afterwards, we did a content analysis of the interviews and made an ethnographic description about our telecenter experiences, and we developed a reassembly of the social interaction networks, in which we traced associations among different elements (things and people) and identified sociability flows, movements inside the nets.

Sistemas de saúde têm sido cada vez mais exigidos a serem mais eficientes, o que encorajou o uso de iniciativas de melhoria de processos. A partir de então, a Produção Enxuta (PE) surgiu como uma abordagem amplamente utilizada. Alguns resultados insatisfatórios da PE podem ser, parcialmente, explicados pela falta de considerar a complexidade dos serviços de saúde. Os sistemas de saúde são classificados como sistemas sócio-técnicos complexos (SSTC) devido à incerteza, diversidade e interações não-lineares. De acordo com a literatura, as implementações de Lean em serviços de saúde geralmente envolvem Kaizen, que tende a produzir ganhos significativos de eficiência e segurança através de mudanças relativamente pequenas e localizadas. Contudo, as melhorias locais podem implicar resultados globais indesejados, uma vez que as interações entre os elementos de sistemas complexos podem não ser lineares. Para isso, este trabalho desenvolve e aplica uma framework que visa avaliar projetos de melhoria em SSTC. O estudo foi realizado em uma unidade de internação de um hospital escola. As interações entre os projetos foram modeladas através do desenvolvimento de um diagrama de loop causal, o qual representou variáveis relacionadas a cinco projetos de melhoria analisados e um modelo FRAM. Os projetos também foram avaliados quanto ao seu impacto no sistema e sua adesão a boas práticas em Kaizen, identificadas na literatura. A framework demonstrou-se eficaz em elencar as variáveis para que possam influenciar positivamente os resultados dos projetos e embasar recomendações para a condução de novos projetos de melhoria por meio de uma visão sistêmica. / Healthcare systems have been increasingly demanded to be more efficient, which has encouraged the use of process improvement initiatives. From these, lean production has emerged as a widely used approach. Some disappointing results of lean production can be partially due to the lack of consideration of the complexity of healthcare. Health systems are classified as Complex socio-technical systems (CSTS) due to the uncertainty, diversity, and non-linear interactions. According to the literature, the implementation of Lean in healthcare usually involves Kaizen, which tends to produce significant gains in efficiency and safety through relatively small and localized changes. However, local improvements may imply unwanted overall results, since interactions between elements of complex systems may not be linear. For this, this work develops and applies a framework that aims to evaluate improvement projects in CSTC. The study was performed in an in-patient surgical ward of a teaching hospital. The interactions between the projects were modelled through the development of a causal-loop diagram, which accounted for variables related to all five projects, and a FRAM model. The projects were also evaluated as to their impact on the system and their adherence to good Kaizen practices identified in the literature. The framework proved to be effective in highlighting the variables so that they can positively influence the projects results and support recommendations for conducting new improvement projects through a systemic view.

Today’s world is characterised by a heavy dependence on information technology and technological devices to perform even the simplest of tasks. While this in itself is not a bad thing, our over dependence and neglect has put us in a situation where the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information resources are continuously being questioned. ENISA (2010) report that in the third quarter of 2010 eighty million Smartphones were sold worldwide, with the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy reporting a sixty million increment in the number of smartphone users. Reardon (2007) additionally predicted that between 2007 and 2012 there was going to be a 30% year-on-year growth in the sale of smartphones. The improvement of smartphones together with its rapidly decreasing unit price has placed smartphones within the reach of all employees. Due to the mobile nature of the device, it has brought challenges to the information security needs of organizations. As the sale of smartphone continue to increase so does the number of vulnerabilities on mobile operating systems. Knowing where to place the smartphone is of prime importance in this study. Is it just a socio-technical tool for private use or it must be extended to be used as a working tool? If so, how should it be used to limit the exposure of organizational information? The study makes use of interviews in finding out what users of the device think about the device and how secure they think their device is. The interviews also tries to find out how securely the users have configured their devices, their mobility rate and what policies have been put in place to help guide users of the device while using the device. Findings from this study indicate that smartphone threats are diverse, complicated and smart. As the price of the smartphone reduces and their functionality improves, the number of its users increases. This makes it a target for hackers and malware as they can exploit the device to gain personal and organizational data. In spite of this, the perception of users on the risks of using a smartphone for work is not as high as can be. Users still think that if only the phone is used for making and receiving calls, reading and replying to emails and checking calendar schedules, then there is nothing much to protect. In reality this is not the case. Smartphones have a lot more going on them than just the aforementioned. Users must be educated on the reality of the matter and be made aware of the current risks there are so as to increase their consciousness on this matter. Finally, the discussion in this study sheds some light on the challenges that mobility and smartphone usage for work pose to organizational information security. The choice of a counter measure depends on factors such as what kind of data the organization produces as well as what kind of usage patterns employees have. There is no one size fit all counter measure that can be implemented. Organizations must realize this and embark on the best solutions that are suitable for their organization. To get the best counter measures in place, organizations are advised to make their own risk assessments and weigh the risks against the potential benefits in their own specific cases. / <p>Validerat; 20130827 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

The concept of ‘Industry 4.0’ signalises the rise of innovative manufacturing technologies, including industrial robots. Wider applicability of robotic automation and higher efficiency of production processes shift the profitability analysis of strategic relocation decisions. Despite the technological feasibility, diffusion of technology lowers the profitability threshold for robots. Consequently, competitive labour cost advantages, formerly motivating manufacturing firms to offshore production become less relevant. In fact, robots additionally gain importance in the case of shifted global economic realities, such as stricter environmental regulation on global trade and the convergence of the global wage gap. However, the heterogeneous levels of automation among manufacturing firms have not been taken into account when studying the macroeconomic phenomenon of reshoring. This study adds novelty by offering an agent-based perspective which has allowed insights on how the behaviour of firms, guided by simple economic rules on the micro-level, is dynamically influenced by their complex environment in regard to relocation, decision-making hypotheses. Testing various variables sensitive to initial conditions, increased environmental regulations targeting global trade and upward shifting wage levels in formerly offshore production locations have shown to be driving and inhibiting mechanisms of this socio-technical system. Therefore, the dynamic demonstrates a shift from predominantly cited economic reasoning for relocation strategies towards sustainability aspects, pressingly changing these realities on an environmental and social dimension. The popular debate is driven by increased environmental awareness and the proclaimed fear of robots killing jobs. In view of reshoring shaping the political agenda, interest in the phenomenon has recently been fuelled by the rise of populism and protectionism claiming to “bring jobs back home”.

<p>This study in contemporary history describes the transformation of the public sphere in Sweden during the period 1969-1999, and analyses the role of information technology and politics in the process. The overall aim of the study is to explain how, and why, the public sphere in Jürgen Habermas sense has deteriorated during a period of rapid technological and political change, when increasing attention has been given to information technology as a new tool for improving democracy and empowering citizens.</p><p>Theoretical inspiration is drawn from two perspectives within the modern history of technology and sociology of technology; the LTS (Large Technical Systems) and STS (Science, Technology and Society) approaches, as well as from the regime theory concept within political science. This multidisciplinary framework provides the theoretical basis for the study, including terms as socio-technical systems, system builder, technification, interpretative flexibility, stabilization, closing and regime change. In addition, the analysis draws upon previous research in economic history, where focus often has been on the important role of institutions. The term path dependence is central in this tradition.</p><p>The starting point for the study is the process of a mutual legitimization between citizens and political actors that traditionally has taken place within the public sphere. In return for citizens support and trust, political actors have granted format rights to the public space. Two aspects of this interdependence are addressed: Freedom of speech and citizen’s access to public information, and their access to arenas where an exchange of political ideas and opinions is taking place. In the study, the former is a question of the legal system and the limits to freedom of speech in new medias such as the Internet, while the latter concerns citizen’s technical means and possibilities to connect to electronic networks.</p><p>Research interest is concentrated on the formal political system, focusing both actors and structural factors such as technological development, media convergence, ideological change and international integration in the transformation process. Four case studies of institutional changes during formative moments, within what is defined as the legal and the technical infrastructures, are conducted and represent the empirical base of the thesis. The case studies are centered on Swedish governmental commissions, on the government itself and on proceedings in the parliament, and concerns formation and transformation of computer law, as well as the deregulation and privatization of the technical infrastructure.</p><p>In the latter process Televerket (Swedish Telecom) has been an influential promoter of competition and institutional separation between tele- and data communications, representing a major regime change in favour of market relations in the technical infrastructure. In the area of computer law, the Swedish regime dominated by SCB (Statistics Sweden) was incorporated into a joint European data protection regime, resulting in limitations of freedom of speech on the Internet. These regime changes have also transformed the role of the state, constituting a “net watchers state”. </p><p>Another important finding is that promotion of democracy and improvement of access to the public sphere, never was on the agenda in the political transformation processes studied, although a parallel discourse on democracy and information technology existed throughout the period studied.</p>