From Marshall McLuhan to Harold Innis, or From the Global Village to the World Empire

<jats:p> The author presents a personal reading of the pioneering contribution to communication studies made by two Canadian thinkers: Marshall McLuhan and Harold A. Innis. Running counter to the general trend stressing their similarities, he highlights their differences. Rejecting their techological-determinist standpoint, the author proposes a comprehensive and critical summary of their analytical frameworks and methodologies, seeking to assess the influence they have had on his own perspective, tracing the contributions they have made to the evolution of communication research. The author’s viewpoint is condensed in the title: we should go back from McLuhan to Innis, from a framework inspired by the global-village metaphor to one based on the expansion of empire. </jats:p>