The communication of communication: an illustration: the South African rhetorical promotion of ICTs

In: Politikon: South African journal of political studies, Band 31, Heft 2, S. 185-199

Abstract

The South African government expects a "radical democratisation" from the access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as political resources. A close look at the official discourse reveals that these technologies ought to foster a deliberative and participatory democracy (electronic democracy) on the one hand and a "delivery democracy" (electronic government) on the other. However, this public rhetoric is flawed by a lack of logical coherence and, therefore, can be read as a miscommunication. It is also problematic in its content. Indeed, ICTs cannot, by themselves, realize the ideal of the public sphere as conceptualised by Jürgen Habermas. Characterized by the reign of the prefix "cyber-e-tele", the South African discourse is embedded into a complex mix of myth, ideology and utopia. (Politikon - www.tandf.co.uk/journals/DÜI)