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The Democratic Impact of ICT in Africa

Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien, politische Handlungsfähigkeit und demokratisches Regieren in Afrika
[journal article]

Dobra, Alexandra

Abstract

This paper takes a critical look at the view that the Internet can serve as a laboratory of political experimentation for reconfiguring the repertories of political actions. The overall discourses on information and communications technology (ICT) are too often focused on technology and infrastructu... view more

This paper takes a critical look at the view that the Internet can serve as a laboratory of political experimentation for reconfiguring the repertories of political actions. The overall discourses on information and communications technology (ICT) are too often focused on technology and infrastructure, when the question of its use should be central. In order to comprehend how ICT can serve as a democratic enhancer, this paper critically examines the African anthropology of the state and of the public sphere. It captures the African endogenous productions of political modernity and the subsequent way ICT is appropriated and indigenized by African local instances. African states and civil societies do not fit into prescriptive Western paradigms. In order to encourage the effective use of new technologies, this paper has developed the so-called “African model of ICT practice”, which proposes a set of hypotheses that aim to enable the effective usage and integration of ICT within the democratic process in the context of an African self-defined political reality.... view less


Dieser Beitrag unterzieht die Vorstellung, das Internet könne als Labor für politische Experimente dienen, um neue politische Aktionsmöglichkeiten auszuloten, einer kritischen Prüfung. Nach Ansicht der Autorin sind die übergreifenden Diskurse zu Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) all... view more

Dieser Beitrag unterzieht die Vorstellung, das Internet könne als Labor für politische Experimente dienen, um neue politische Aktionsmöglichkeiten auszuloten, einer kritischen Prüfung. Nach Ansicht der Autorin sind die übergreifenden Diskurse zu Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) allzu oft nur auf Fragen der Technologie und Infrastruktur konzentriert, während die Frage nach ihrer Anwendung im Zentrum stehen sollte. Um zu erhellen, inwieweit IKT demokratiefördernd wirken können, verweist sie auf die historische Konstituierung von Staat und Öffentlichkeit in Afrika, die endogene Herausbildung politischer Modernität und die entsprechenden Formen lokaler Aneignung und Anpassung von IKT. Staat und Zivilgesellschaft in den Ländern Afrikas entsprechen nicht den vorgegebenen westlichen Modellen. Die Autorin entwickelt ein “African model of ICT practice“ und legt Hypothesen dazu vor, wie eine effiziente Einbeziehung und Anwendung von IKT in demokratischen Prozessen im Rahmen der selbstdefinierten politischen Realitäten Afrikas möglich wäre.... view less

Keywords
civil society; information technology; criticism; democratization; national state; Internet; codetermination; historical analysis; the public; Africa; communication technology; participation

Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Interactive, electronic Media

Method
descriptive study

Document language
English

Publication Year
2012

Page/Pages
p. 73-88

Journal
Africa Spectrum, 47 (2012) 1

ISSN
1868-6869

Status
Published Version; peer reviewed

Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works


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