ICTs, Social Media and Tendencies of Radicalization in the Sahel: [Keynote Web Science Workshop DigDivDigHum-20]

Abstract

The African Sahel has become a stage for increasing violent conflict since 2009. It is probably no co-incidence that the upsurge of these conflicts went together with the increase in digital connectivity in the region. In this paper I explore the relationship between radicalization, conflict and access to ICTs and social media in the Sahel. First I sketch how the social landscape has changed due to the advancement of the ‘digital highway’. We will see how the socalled hybrid organization, the democratization forces of the digital have influenced the formation of trans-national communities and through these influenced conflict dynamics. The second part of the paper explores the increase in violence and the potential role of the digital networks in the upsurge of this violence. Radicalization in different forms (ethnic, religious, national) is an important effect of the information flows that travel the digital networks and that seems to influence the increasing (ugly) violence.