ICT and large-scale mobilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Some scholars claim that ICTs can be an efficient means of mobilising largescale protests commonly base their argument on the global reach, low technology threshold, diminishing costs and extremely efficient production, combined with instant distribution and feedback, of these new media. In the sub-Saharan context, however, not all of these attributes necessarily apply. This study seeks to identify key variables from the on-going broader debate regarding the role of ICTs during large-scale mobilisations, and to supplement those with a specification of relevant variables for the sub-Saharan context. To understand ICTs' role during large-scale mobilisations in the sub-Saharan context, the study has developed a model that describes different means by which citizens can channel their discontent in the physical arena and the information sphere. The components in the model are composed of the identified variables. In an initial trial of the model, two countries were selected: Nigeria, a country with a high number of Internet users per hundred inhabitants as compared to the other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia, a country with a low number of Internet users.