Here is the Abstract and the full document is available here.
A more pacific global community, engendered through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the hopeful and indeed lofty goal championed by the practice and theory of ICT4Peace. A recent addition to the field of international development, there has been little effort to strenuously challenge the propositions and assumptions put forth by ICT4Peace. What is noticeably absent from the ICT4Peace agenda is an attempt at critical self-reflection, an endeavour to understand if its tools of the trade—the ‘new’ ICTs—having emerged from unique Western experiences, are apposite to areas of conflict in the developing world. The following research is intended to explore how the dominant discourse surrounding ICT4Peace possibly obscures alternative understandings of the effects of ICT in conflict-affected environments. Using discourse analysis this paper isolates the central themes and assumptions of ICT4Peace by examining its Operational, Programmatic, and Peace-building applications. This analysis highlights three dominant discursive themes—Neutrality, Liberalism and Positivity—each respectively perpetuating the assumptions that: (i) ICTs encourage equality; (ii) ICTs are democratizing; and (iii) ICTs promote grassroots involvement. A critique of these themes and assumptions indicates substantial dissonance between the social changes that ICTs are expected to engender and the actual demands of ‘failed states’. By neglecting to address these shortcomings, ICT4Peace offers an incomplete understanding of the potential effects of these tools, possibly to the detriment of already vulnerable societies.
