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Dear colleagues,</div>
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Hope you are well! Below an ITD Special Issue call for papers that can be of interest.</div>
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With best wishes,</div>
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Silvia</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Information Technology for Development (ITD) announces a new Special Issue and call for papers on "<b>Digital authoritarianism in Africa: Authoritarian practices, digital rights, and digital citizenship as resistance.</b>"<br>
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Submission deadline: May 31, 2026<br>
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Read the full CFP here: </span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-test-app-aware-link="" data-linkindex="0" title="https://lnkd.in/enFYxEnV" class="x_x_ZQhwTcMUGTmwKWLrBYxTHXTSORxzFEcxkPKQ x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWA04026cbe-e9d1-71d0-0d78-ab2d7be14907" href="https://lnkd.in/enFYxEnV">https://lnkd.in/enFYxEnV</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
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Guest Editors:</span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px;" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="1" title="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyroberts3/" class="x_x_ember-view x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWAb3ceff9b-b92e-0739-8e3d-f660bdacbe83" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyroberts3/">Tony
Roberts</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
Institute of Development Studies<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-test-app-aware-link="" data-linkindex="2" title="mailto:t.roberts@ids.ac.uk" class="x_x_ZQhwTcMUGTmwKWLrBYxTHXTSORxzFEcxkPKQ x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWAd9310b00-ec22-d464-1d4a-b8ffc2a3eeef" href="mailto:t.roberts@ids.ac.uk">t.roberts@ids.ac.uk</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
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Tanja Bosch<br>
University of Cape Town<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-test-app-aware-link="" data-linkindex="3" title="mailto:tanja.bosch@uct.ac.za" class="x_x_ZQhwTcMUGTmwKWLrBYxTHXTSORxzFEcxkPKQ x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWA5ed7a46a-dbe6-22a9-60fb-639ed8102bd3" href="mailto:tanja.bosch@uct.ac.za">tanja.bosch@uct.ac.za</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
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</span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px;" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="4" title="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinekhene/" class="x_x_ember-view x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWAdbd13e10-7208-e617-e82a-719c42852e80" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinekhene/">Caroline
Khene</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
Institute of Development Studies<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); font-weight: 600;"><a style="color: rgb(10, 102, 194); margin: 0px; text-align: left;" data-test-app-aware-link="" data-linkindex="5" title="mailto:C.Khene@ids.ac.uk" class="x_x_ZQhwTcMUGTmwKWLrBYxTHXTSORxzFEcxkPKQ x_x_OWAAutoLink" id="OWAde007820-91d8-720d-0111-0e5d2e164744" href="mailto:C.Khene@ids.ac.uk">C.Khene@ids.ac.uk</a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br>
<br>
>From the CFP: </span></div>
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African researchers have been prolific in documenting the insidious impacts of digital authoritarian practices in closing civic space, constraining citizen agency and violating digital rights and freedoms (Roberts & Karekwaivanan 2023; Roberts & Mare, 2025).<br>
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However, the academic literature on digital authoritarianism has been dominated by studies on China, Russia and Iran (countries classified as authoritarian states) and by studies of surveillance and disinformation in the USA and Europe (see however Ayalew (2021)
and Mare (2020)). This Special Issue will address three gaps in the existing literature by creating a space for analysis of digital authoritarianism (a) in under-represented African countries (b) from the perspective of African scholars and (c) using African
epistemological approaches and theoretical lenses.</div>
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The term digital authoritarianism was first used in the literature by Erixon and Lee-Makiyama (2011) but was more widely popularised in a Freedom House (2018) report. Digital authoritarianism is used to refer to a range of practices including but not limited
to digital surveillance, digital disinformation, internet shutdowns and the use of facial recognition technologies to conduct public space surveillance. The most cited definition of digital authoritarianism is the use of digital information technology by
authoritarian regimes to surveil, repress, and manipulate domestic and foreign populations (Jones 2022). However, a range of other terms and definitions are commonly used in the literature (Roberts and Oosterom 2024). Digital authoritarian practices are prevelent
not only in countries classified as authoritarian but also in open, democratic, and hybrid regimes (Akinyetun and Ebunine 2022). </div>
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Citizens have not been passive in the face of digital authoriarianism. A digital rights movement has emeged using a rights-based framework to evaluate the impact of digital authoritarian practices on citizens ability to exercise, defend and expand fundamental
rights and freedoms. The concept of data justice is also increasingly used to analyse the ways in which digital platforms both enable and constrain exercise of rights and freedoms. These approaches connect to older debates in citizenship studies and critical
pedagogy about what forms of citizen action, critical literacy and digital citizenship are need to resist the descent into digital authoritarianism. </div>
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The scope of the Special Issue will include digital authoritarian practices in all regime types from across the African continent. The practices will be analysed throught conceptual lenses that include but are not limited to digital rights, panoptic power,
gender backlash and digital resistance and digital citizenship.</div>
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All the best,</div>
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Silvia (with Special Issue editors)</div>
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