Two general questions stood at the beginning of this PhD-thesis, namely: - What are the mechanisms which lead to the emergence and establishment of new technologies? - How can this process of technological change be influenced politically? In this sense, conceptual and theoretical interests were the early driving forces of the research work. This is also reflected in the considerable attention paid to the nature of technological change and political control. The result is an holistic per- spective which builds on inputs from different disciplines and aims at dynamic interpretation. This,...