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By reviewing and comparing literature on the role of ICTs in statebuilding and peacebuildingin Africa, with a particular focus on neighboring Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, this paperexamines whether the claims of the transformative power of ICTs are backed by evidence andwhether local knowledge – e.g., traditional mechanisms for conflict resolution – is taken intoconsideration by ICT-based initiatives. Several key findings emerged, including: 1) empiricalevidence 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 democraticdevelopment without sufficient consideration of how ICTs are actually used by the public., Working paper

In crisis areas, those who control the media hold a keen advantage in terms of disseminating ideas, strategically supplying information, and apportioning blame. Through the analysis of the case of the Darfur conflict, Iginio Gagliardone and Lauren Kogen will illustrate on the one hand how the Sudanese government has tried to use the local media to re-frame the image of the West from provider of help to corruptor of local values before the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces, and on the other how different quantitative and qualitative research methods can be used in repressive situations to understand how messages regarding the conflict are received and interpreted by the population in Darfur. Paper prepared for the Fifth Anniversary Conference of the Department of Media and Communications, ‘Media, Communication & Humanity’, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, 21-23 September 2008.