Is social media undermining democracy? Evidence from Africa
Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham
Abstract
How are social media and digital technology shaping elections? This question is more important than ever, as an increasing number of countries - from Brazil to India to Nigeria - are said to have their "first WhatsApp" election. Yet relatively few studies have actually looked in-depth at the impact of social media and WhatsApp on the political landscape—even in Africa, where it is the dominant messaging platform. In this talk Professor Cheeseman will combine a case study of Nigeria’s 2019 elections with surveys and analysis from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Sierra Leone to show how social media are used by parties, candidates and voters. He will argue that WhatsApp is a disruptive technology that challenges existing hierarchies in ways that are simultaneously emancipatory and destructive, strengthening and undermining democratic consolidation at the same time.
Short biography
Nic Cheeseman (@fromagehomme) is Professor of Democracy at the University of Birmingham and was formerly the Director of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He mainly works on democracy, elections and development and has published research on Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Professor Cheeseman is the author or editor of more than ten books, including Democracy in Africa (2015), Institutions and Democracy in Africa (2017), How to Rig an Election (2018), Coalitional Presidentialism in Comparative Perspective (2018), Authoritarian Africa (2020) and most recently the Moral Economy of Elections in Africa (2020). In recognition of his academic and public contribution, the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom awarded him the Joni Lovenduski Prize for outstanding professional achievement by a midcareer scholar in 2019. The same year, his efforts to promote better understanding of democracy and how it can be protected and strengthened around the world won the Celebrating Impact Prize of the Economic and Social Research Council for “Outstanding International Impact”. A frequent commentator of African and global events, Professor Cheeseman’s analysis regularly appears in the Economist, Financial Times, Le Monde, Guardian, Washington Post, and the BBC, and he writes columns for The Africa Report and the Mail&Guardian newspaper. Many of his interviews and analysis can be found on the website that he founded and co-edits, www.democracyinafrica.org.
Joining Instructions
The seminar will be run as a Zoom webinar but we are planning to duplicate the f2f format as far as possible. What this means is that if you would like to ask a question or make a comment during the Q&A session, you will need to register your interest in doing so in the Q&A box. We will then take questions broadly in order and can unmute you so you can speak and interact rather than just be limited to text based chat and responses from the speaker. The webinar format is limited to 100 participants so we will work on a first come, first served basis. Beyond that, everybody is welcome!
Please click the link below to join the webinar: