The development of information and communications technologies (ICT) has facilitated the emergence of a complex global urban
system in which many formerly lower-order cities have been carving out ``niche'' specialist functions serving urban ®elds of
transnational dimension. This is illustrated in the case of Dublin, which in recent years has been transcending its traditional role as
IrelandÕs national metropolis through the development of a range of functions servicing mainly European markets. One such
function comprises pan-European telephone call centre operations. The development and characteristics of this newly-emerging
sector are described. It is argued that the growth of the sector con®rms DublinÕs ± and IrelandÕs ± dependent position in the
international division of labour, and that its long-term sustainability is open to question.
The concept of globalisation has secured remarkable
currency in the academic discourse of the late 20th
century, despite ongoing questions regarding both its
meaning and extent (Clark and Lund, 2000). The development
of internationally integrated production and
distribution systems, seen by many as the key feature of
globalisation, has been a spatially uneven process. A key
factor in this respect has been the dierential ability of
regions to engage in the informational economy, based
on new information and communications technology
(ICT), which is the main source of wealth creation and
economic growth in the modern world (Castells, 1993).
The result has been what Friedmann (1995) calls a
process of Ôtechno-apartheidÕ which has divided the
globe into ÔfastÕ and ÔslowÕ worlds (Knox, 1995), distinguished
by the connectedness of individuals, groups and
regions to the world of telematics. This echoes Ingersoll
Õs (1993, quoted in Knox, 1995) suggestion that the
key division of the workforce is now that between those
who have the capacity to operate ICT (the Ôcyberproletariat
Õ) and those who do not (the ÔlumpentrashÕ).
Golding (1996) makes a similar distinction between the
ÔtechnoliteratiÕ and the Ôtechno-poorÕ.
While Knox de®nes the fast and slow worlds spatially,
equating the former with the ÔtriadicÕ core and the
latter with the remaining global periphery, Hoogvelt
(1997) argues that the divide is, in essence, social rather
than spatial, with elements of both worlds to be found in
all regions of the globe. Thus, within advanced economies,
a process of social polarisation has been widely
reported (Friedmann, 1986; Sassen, 1994) and has been
intimately linked by Graham and Marvin (1996) to the
development of ICT use. This is not to suggest that
those who work in the fast world are homogeneously
well-paid and auent; rather, they represent a wide
range of remuneration levels depending on such factors
as economic sector, location, function, ethnic group and
gender (Castells, 1996). What they do tend to have in
common, however, is relative employment security due
to the high demand level for their ICT skills.
That said, it is nonetheless clear that, globally, there
are major geographical variations in the relative balance
between fast and slow worlds, with the former mainly to
be found in the traditional core regions of North
America, western Europe and Japan and an additional
small group of newly industrialising countries which
have had the institutional capacity to invest massively in
modern ICT and associated educational infrastructures (Freeman, 1994). The slow world ± found predominantly
in the less developed countries of the global periphery
and accounting for the bulk of the worldÕs
population ± is becoming increasingly marginalised and
is moving, as Castells (1993, p. 37) puts it, ``from a
structural position of exploitation to a structural position
of irrelevance''.
In the past, Ireland has occupied a structurally dependent,
peripheral, position within both the ÔoldÕ international
division of labour between industrialised and
primary-producing economies, and the ÔnewÕ international
division of labour which emerged in the 1960s and
1970s, whereby routine, low-skill manufacturing activities
were diused to selected peripheral regions. More
recently, Ireland has been one of the few peripheral regions
which, through concerted investment in ICT infrastructure
and associated education and training, has managed to adhere itself to the ÔfastÕ component of the
emerging global informational economy of the late 20th
century. This has facilitated the attraction of considerable
investment in ICT manufacturing and ICT-using
services which has allowed Ireland ± and particularly
Dublin, where the bulk of this recent investment has
been concentrated ± to move towards the living standards
of the worldÕs core economies.
Nevertheless, due to its ongoing economic reliance on
inward investment whose continuance is externally determined,
Ireland remains a dependent economy, albeit
located in what Todd (1995) has termed the ``rich periphery''
of the fast world, rather than the poor periphery
of the slow world. In successfully targetting
selected ICT-intensive investment in selected sectors,
Dublin has managed to carve out a niche for itself as a
transnational city. However, our examination of one of
these sectors ± call centres ± has raised questions about
the sustainability of this position, contingent as it is on
exogenous economic, technological and political developments.
Friedmann (1995) has pointed to the dynamism
and volatility of the global urban system, with the
relative positions of dierent cities waxing and waning
over time. In this context, whether Dublin can maintain
or even develop its role as a transnational city will depend
on its adaptability to changing circumstances and,
in particular, its ability to attract economic functions
which are more central to the operations of the transnational
®rms which have become crucial to IrelandÕs
continued economic well-being.
