Suchergebnisse

One of the world's most ambitious experiments in mobile money is underway in the Somali territories. In the absence of a strong central government and internationally recognized banking institutions, remittance companies and the telecoms industry have been innovating to provide services unique to the Somali context, which is making the economy increasingly 'cashless'. Mobile money has posed new regulatory and legal challenges, particularly when disputes involving consumers are involved. This article focuses on a case study from Somaliland (the northern, self-declared independent region of Somalia) and examines Zaad, the dominant mobile money platform. Given the weak state institutions, there are a variety of actors, including private companies, government police and courts, sharia courts and traditional elders that play an active role in resolving conflicts that result from mobile money transactions, forging a hybrid judicial approach. We examine how these different actors intervene and create an enabling environment to allow innovation and foster trust in a region of the world that is frequently characterized as violent and lawless.

This article assesses the evidence used in arguments for the role of the media in conflict and post-conflict situations. It focuses on two broad areas within the literature. First, it examines literature on the contribution of media in war to peace transitions, including an assessment of the evidence used to show how the media may contribute to violent conflict and how they may provoke, or hinder, post-conflict reconstruction. Second, it assesses evidence used in arguments for the role new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet and mobile phones may have in liberation or oppression in developing country contexts. Through reviewing some of the most significant papers that were systematically selected in a literature review on media and conflict, our findings suggest that there are serious gaps in the evidence and the majority of evidence is located in the 'grey literature' or policy documents. The article concludes by suggesting future research agendas to address these gaps.

This article addresses a major gap in the transitional justice literature by exploring the role of the media in transitional justice processes. We offer a framework for analyzing the information environment in which media intervention and transitional justice occurs. We suggest an approach that can offer a more nuanced understanding of information flows and the ways in which key actors use communication to compete for loyalty in the political marketplace. Several tools for conceptualizing the approaches toward media during transitional justice processes are offered, including the use of law, force, subsidy, and negotiation. Examples of how these tools have been used both effectively and ineffectively by international actors in the former Yugoslavia illuminate our arguments.

The problem of post-election violence seems to be ever-more present as complexities of nation-building and democratic development arise. This report deals with some relevant questions. It is based on the outcome of discussions at a December 2008 workshop organized in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford, the Center for Global Communications Studies at the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania and the Stanhope Centre for Communications Policy Research. Our objective was to examine the role of the media in the aftermath of competitive elections. The workshop provided the opportunity to explore the election experiences of Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Somaliland, Tanzania and Sudan in a comparative framework. The focus was on understanding why election violence occurred after some elections, what the role of the media was in either exacerbating or resolving disputes, and what this suggests about the broader political project and the state of the media in the countries under examination. This report is only an introduction to the subject. Additional structured research will be important in furthering our understanding of these important issues, but we hope that this provides a starting point from which to launch deeper studies. As a way of furthering research in this area, this report suggests three ways of analyzing the role of the media can play in post-election violence: 1) as an amplifier, facilitating and accelerating the spread of messages that both encourage violence or appeal for peaceful resolutions; 2) as a mirror, offering either an accurate or somewhat distorted reflection of the state and nation-building process; and 3) as an enabler, contributing to the process of nation-building. We conclude by offering media policy recommendations.

AbstractAs the harms of hate speech, mis/disinformation and incitement to violence on social media have become increasingly apparent, calls for regulation have accelerated. Most of these debates have centred around the needs and concerns of large markets such as the EU and the United States, or the aggressive approach countries such as Russia and China adopt to regulate online content. Our focus in this article is with the rest, the smaller markets at the periphery of the advertising industry, and the deep inequalities that current approaches to content moderation perpetuate. We outline the depth of the unequal practice of moderation, particularly across Africa, and explore the underlying political and economic factors driving this gap. While recognizing content moderation has many limitations, we conclude by underlining potential approaches to increase oversight in content moderation.

This report explores issues of media policy during post-election violence. We examine the case of Kenya, where 1,133 people were killed after the 2007 elections, to distill lessons for Somaliland's upcoming elections. There are indications the elections in Somaliland will be highly contentious and that the media will have an important role in either exacerbating or alleviating political violence. Indeed this has already been the case. The much-anticipated presidential election has been postponed for over a year and escalating tensions between the government, opposition parties and the population suggest real potential for election-related violence.The media has emerged as a major player in mediating the current political impasse over election registration. And at the same time there have been concerns from both the opposition and government that respectively aligned media are provoking current tensions. The intended audience for this report is journalists and policymakers in Somaliland as well as concerned international observers. We also expect that the issues drawn out here will be relevant for other countries in the region that are grappling with upcoming elections that have the potential of being highly contentious. This report makes a number of recommendations for media policies. Depending on when the election will be held, we recognize that it is unrealistic for these to be implemented prior to voting day but we believe it is important, especially in the interest of developing sound institutions, to discuss the issues and debate potential scenarios and interventions. This study is part of a larger project on media and information flows in Somaliland. We have conducted extensive research and organized the drafting of a code of conduct for journalists for the election period and legislation for the allocation of broadcasting time for the state media. From our experience, one of the most valuable outcomes of this effort is an inclusive discussion with stakeholders, and the negotiation of values and priorities during this process.

By reviewing and comparing literature on the role of ICTs in statebuilding and peacebuilding in Africa, with a particular focus on neighboring Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, this paper examines whether the claims of the transformative power of ICTs are backed by evidence and whether local knowledge – e.g., traditional mechanisms for conflict resolution – is taken into consideration by ICT-based initiatives. Several key findings emerged, including: 1) empirical evidence on the successful use of ICTs to promote peacebuilding and statebuilding is thin; 2) few differences exist between scholarship emanating from the Global North and from Africa; and 3) the literature exhibits a simplistic assumption that ICTs will drive democratic development without sufficient consideration of how ICTs are actually used by the public.

This article explores whether, and to what extent, local knowledge features in research on the role of ICTs in statebuilding and peacebuilding in Africa, with a particular focus on neighboring Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. We question whether the claims of the transformative power of ICTs are backed by 'evidence' and whether local knowledge – e.g., traditional mechanisms for conflict resolution – is taken into consideration by ICT-based development initiatives. To assess this, we systematically reviewed literature in the region, focusing on academic outputs as well as research published by non-governmental and governmental organizations. Several key findings emerged, including: 1) empirical evidence on the successful use of ICTs to promote peacebuilding and statebuilding is thin; 2) few differences exist between scholarship emanating from the Global North and from Africa; and 3) overall, the literature exhibits a simplistic assumption that ICTs will drive democratic development without sufficient consideration of how ICTs are actually used by the public.