Technology and the Nature of Active Citizenship - EuroAfrica-ICT

Molefe Phirinyane, Ph.D.
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
(BIDPA)

Introdution
• Governance perspective – human development
(MDGs).
• Participation –activities of citizens and/or groups
related to lobbying, voting, volunteering, demand for
services, etc.
• Technology (Heeks, 2003):
o Old – IT automating internal workings of government
by processing data
o New – ICTs supporting & transforming the external
workings of government by processing &
communicating data

Intro., cont.
• Objective: to understand the extent of the use of ICTs
in citizen participation
• Research Questions:
a) What strategies are being adopted to stimulate
access to communication technology (especially
broadband internet)?
b) Why has citizens’ access to broadband internet
remained low?

Background to ICTs & Participation
• Liberal democracy a non-participatory democracy
o Contrast with Athenian ideal of democracy – participation in
politics & decision making in the West passive (Marinetto,
2003).
o Minorities & other groups left out by traditional participation
methods
o Utopian attitudes towards ICTs (ibid). Broadband internet a
public good (Tapia & Ortiz, 2010).
o Internet dominant utility in Western media (Quintelier &
Vissers, 2008).
o Versatility and ‘Interconnectedness’ of the internet
(Chadwick & May, 2003)

ICTs in Developing Countries
• World Bank influence (public sector reforms, SAPs)
o
‘Access to advanced information and communication technology
(ICT) is a key factor in the economic and social development of Sub-
Saharan Africa’ (Williams, 2010: 1).
• Transfer of ideas from the West [donors, consultants, IT
vendors, returning students, (Heeks, 2003)]
• Expressed interest:
We have high expectations of ICT and its transformative
effects in all areas of the economy and society.
Communications technology has fundamentally changed the
way people live, work, and interact socially, and we in Rwanda
have no intention of being left behind or standing still as the
rest of the globe moves forward at an ever increasing pace
(President Paul Kagame in Williams 2010: 1).

Conceptual background
Building
External
Interactions
Businesses
Other
Agencies
Improving
Processes
Government
Communities
Citizens
[Customers]
Connecting
Citizens
Government
Source: Heeks (2003)
Non-profits

Conceptual background, cont.
• Improving Processes
o Cutting process costs
o Managing process performance
o Strategic connections in government
o Creating empowerment
• Connecting Citizens
o Talking to citizens
o Listening to citizens
o Improving public services

Conceptual background, cont.
• Building External Interactions
o Working better with business
o Developing communities
o Building partnerships
• Problems with broadband access:
o Deepening digital divide – universal access (cognitive skills &
literacy)
o Physical location (urban/rural) – universal availability
o Lack ICT skills in the labour market in dev. countries
o High cost in developing countries
o High failure rate of ICTs in Africa (see Chadwick & May, 2003;
Heeks, 2003; Kim, 2008; Sylvester & McGlynn, 2010)

Analytical Framework & Research
Methods
• Analytical framework derived from Chadwick & May’s (2003) three
models of interaction: managerial, consultative & participatory.
• Managerial model:
o ‘efficient’ delivery of government/state information to citizens and
other groups of ‘users’/information dissemination
o improving flows of information within and around the state
o ‘control’ as defining logic
o importance of ‘service delivery’
o speeding up of information provision is ‘opening up’ government
o regulatory, law making; responding to the needs of the ‘new economy’
o user resource issues (ability to receive and interpret information)
largely absent
o unilinear model of information

Analytical Framework & Research
Methods
• Consultative Model
o polling, access of voters and other interested parties to
government, representation of views,
o advisory referendums
o ‘push-button democracy’, ‘e-voting’ - direct democracy -
instantaneous opinion polling
o access as a technical issue - problems of self-selection of
citizen respondents
o direct and unmediated contact between citizen and state
o ‘electronic town meetings’
o agenda framing as critical issue
o technological lag among citizens and their representatives
o unilinear model of information

Analytical Framework & Research
Methods
• Participatory model
o civil society exists away from the state and (will be) mediated
electronically
o organic emergence of democracy
o voluntary associations, spontaneous interactions within
cyber-space
o access is enough to encourage wider political participation
o state protects free speech and rights of expression
o participatory model will replace the other two through the
logic of information society
o discursive model of information

Analytical Framework & Research
Methods
• Case Study Approach – Botswana (Interviews & desk
research)
• Why Botswana?
o Advanced reformer (Adamolekun, 2005)
o Rolled out ICTs to entire public sector
o Middle income country
o Stable democracy
o No SAPs

Findings
• ICT policy, infrastructure development and participation.
• ICT policy, regulatory & institutional framework (strategy
for ICTs)
o Respondents considered the policy, regulatory & institutional
framework as sufficient for the purpose
o Queried the centralisation of the ICT management process
within government
o All government ministries, departments & LAs connected
o Government web sites – service provision
o Lack of funding – global economic recession
o Nteletsa Project flagged as a success (telecentres, electricity –
rural areas).
o ICT education in the curriculum

Findings
• Access to broadband & participation
o Decried exodus of trained experts to private sector
o Limited bandwidth as shared with Zambia
o High cost of broadband internet (Botsnet)
o People prefer DSTV & cellular phones over internet
o Small market – large country makes service provision
expensive

Conclusion
• Botswana applies the managerial approach to ICTs.
o Non-participatory
o Communication unilinear
• Centralisation and lack of capacity in the ministries
hampers innovation
• Limited financial resources a setback

Recommendations
• Traditional & non-expensive participatory methods
should be strengthened
• Govt must create incentives for online service
transactions (e.g. discounts on online service levy
payments, downloading of application forms)
• Civil society organisations must be strengthened
(donors)
• Developed countries reign down on multinationals to
lower marine cable connection costs
• Developed countries should create incentives for
success – reward good performers