“Misclick” on democracy: new media use by key political parties in Kenya’s disputed December 2007 presidential election

Authors

George Nyabuga, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Okoth Fred Mudhai

Document Type

Book Chapter

Department

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Abstract

While the use of “new” media by key political parties and presidential candidates has intensified in recent Kenyan presidential elections, the controversial December 2007 poll laid bare the limits of technology’s role in democracy. We argue that while new media may have some potential to help monitor and mobilize political activity, and possibly encourage political engagement, they can also reinforce the positions of those in power not only due to their limitations but also by their manipulability by scheming human agents.

Comments

This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

African media and the digital public sphere

Recommended Citation

Nyabuga, G., & Mudhai, O. F. (2009).“Misclick” on democracy: new media use by key political parties in Kenya’s disputed December 2007 presidential election. In: Mudhai, O. F., Tettey, W.J & Banda, F. (eds). African media and the digital public sphere, 41-56. Palgrave Macmillan.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.