Wits School of Governance - African Governance in the Digital Age (Working papers)

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Browsing Wits School of Governance - African Governance in the Digital Age (Working papers) by Keyword "Authoritarianism"

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    Intercontinental Netizenship: Digitisation of political transnationalism of Europe-based African migrants against homeland authoritarianism
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Tshimpaka, Leon Mwamba
    This paper seeks to understand the digitisation of transnational political activities of Europe-based African migrants, using internet as a political tool to fight against homeland authoritarian practices from abroad. It does so by investigating how Europe-based Congolese migrants put their transnational political practices on digital platforms to mobilise against what they perceive to be authoritarian practices back home. Nowadays, remittances are no longer the only contribution of African migrants toward their countries of origin from the diaspora. Whether in person or online, African migrants have become much more involved in transnational political activities to counter or shape and influence their homeland governance systems. Drawing on the notions of internet politics, political transnationalism of migrants and digital governance, this paper reviews political regimes and the digital space in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 1990 to 2019; the period marking both the democratic transition, the decline of democracy and the emergence of netizenship and internet activism. These have triggered Europe-based Congolese migrants to devise intercontinental digital strategies to demand homeland democratic change from abroad. Based on qualitative desktop review and content analysis, this paper has identified different kinds of transnational digital strategies exhibited by Europe-based Congolese migrants during their digital engagement against what they perceived to be homeland authoritarian practices from abroad.
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    Social media, opposition political parties and democratic governance in authoritarianist countries in Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Tametong, Steve
    The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that social media has redefined the modalities of political communication and facilitated the organisation of collective mobilisation by opposition political parties in authoritarian regimes in Africa. Taking Cameroon and Chad as case studies, the paper shows that social networks (Facebook) have overtaken traditional communication tools and enabled opposition political parties during the electoral period to mobilise voters, encourage their participation in the vote, raise funds for the electoral campaign and ensure the transparency of the electoral system. Outside of election periods, social media allows opposition political parties to build and maintain a permanent relationship with grassroots activists. The study demonstrates that social media constitutes a threat to autocratic regimes and the way in which these regimes multiply strategies to limit their impact in the qualitative transformation of society. Using a qualitative approach and the theoretical framework of new forms of political mobilisation, the analysis is based on empirical data collected from interviews, questionnaires, observation and digital traces of the presence of four opposition political parties in Cameroon and Chad. Finally, this study recommends that opposition political parties take advantage of social media to build real democracy governance in Africa in the digital age.