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ICT Policy and Policymaking in Uganda An Interpretive Approach Andrea Bardelli Danieli Centre for Development Informatics (CDI) / Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) The University of Manchester. CONTEXT.

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  1. ICT Policy and Policymaking in Uganda An Interpretive ApproachAndrea Bardelli DanieliCentre for Development Informatics (CDI) /Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM)The University of Manchester

  2. CONTEXT • Late 1990s onwards: ICT policy initiatives flourish across the globe, incl. Africa (cf. AISI) • A lot of research on policy content / best practices; less on policy process (esp. in context of PS) • Emergence of new policy sector - always academically interesting • Also time to take stock and reflect

  3. Complexities associated with ICT policy - Novelty - Scope (actors involved) - Fora/Modes - Technical aspects PROBLEMS/ISSUES Literature suggests two ‘orders’ or ‘levels’ of problem: Complexities associated with (ICT) policy in DCs - ‘Lack of awareness’/capacity - ‘Linear’ models vs. ‘reality’ of policymaking in DCs - Problems with ‘participation’ => Cognitive + relational factors (‘ideas’ and ‘relationships’) How to study / understand them?(research question)

  4. Complexities associated with ICT policy - Novelty - Scope (actors involved) - Fora/Modes - Technical aspects PROBLEMS/ISSUES Literature suggests two ‘orders’ or ‘levels’ of problem: Complexities associated with (ICT) policy in DCs - ‘Lack of awareness’/capacity - ‘Linear’ models vs. ‘reality’ of policymaking in DCs - Problems with ‘participation’ => Cognitive + relational factors (‘ideas’ and ‘relationships’) How to study / understand them?(research question)

  5. Complexities associated with ICT policy - Novelty - Scope (actors involved) - Fora/Modes - Technical aspects PROBLEMS/ISSUES Literature suggests two ‘orders’ or ‘levels’ of problem: Complexities associated with (ICT) policy in DCs - ‘Lack of awareness’/capacity - ‘Linear’ models vs. ‘reality’ of policymaking in DCs - Problems with ‘participation’ => Cognitive + relational factors (‘ideas’ and ‘relationships’) How to study / understand them?(research question)

  6. Policy Network Analysis Focus on networks of relationships at the basis of policy processes (≠ institutions, structures, rational choice, …) Network->outcomes; network->change etc. Emerges also in acknowledgement of importance of non-state actors in policy processes, and of changes in how governance works in a globalised world.  Caters for relational aspects of ICT policymaking But… there are different ways to study policy networks (e.g. positivist, critical realist, interpretivist). FRAMEWORK

  7. FRAMEWORK • Interpretive Approach to PN Analysis • Policy networks (PNs) exist insofar as they are constructed and • interpreted by actors through discourse (constructivist epistemology). •  There can be different interpretations or ‘versions’ of PNs in a given setting, depending on actors’ perceptions • Analysis aims to understand these different interpretations and their interplay + also understand who ‘sponsors’ specific interpretations or discourses on policymaking • Outcomes, change etc. explained/denoted by dominance of specific discourses Caters for cognitive and relational aspects

  8. Identify and interpret linguistic and material artefactsdescribing / relating to the policy process: metaphors, narratives, taxonomies - but also objects, spaces and acts (Yanow) 2)Identify key discourses, or ‘takes’ on ICT PNs and processes in given context (discourse analysis) 3) Investigate composition of discourse coalitions* that espouse these discourses (discourse coalition analysis – Hajer) RESEARCH STRATEGY In the context of a case study strategy: * Discourse coalitions = “ensemble of narratives/storylines, actors that utter these storylines, and practices that conform to such storylines” (Hajer 1993), plus (I say) the material resources employed to construct and propagate specific discourses (Yanow) 4) Analyse interplay between discourses and between discourse coalitions, as what constitutes ICT PNs in a given context.

  9. Data Generation Documentary analysis, interviews and direct/indirect experience of objects, spaces and acts. IN PRACTICE Data Analysis 1) Coding of materials on the basis of specific themes / analytical categories (artefacts) 2) Review of findings from phase 1 and identification of regular patterns / occurrences / conceptual linkages giving form to specific discourses 3) Analysis of role of specific artefacts in building / strengthening of specific discourse coalitions Aim: understand how ICT PNs are discursively constructed in a given context and how specific interpretations of them gain ‘purchase’ / dominance.

  10. ’Poster boy’ of ‘successful’ development policy formulation and implementation according to World Bank et al. -> ‘good’ policymaker? • Very low baseline ICT infrastructure in late 1990s (post-Amin etc.) • ‘e-landlocked’ (Tusubira 2003) • Significant liberalization + growth of telecom market • ‘Lagging behind’ in terms of connectivity and take-up, especially in rural areas Challenges WHY UGANDA

  11. FINDINGS Three Key Discourses/Versions of the ICT Policy Network Discourse 1: An Open, Collaborative ICT Policy Network Discourse 2: An Elitist, Closed Policy Network Discourse 3: Dynamic, Fluid and Competitive Networks

  12. FINDINGS • Discourse 1: An Open, Collaborative ICT Policy Network • Constructs the PN around ICT in Uganda as traditionally very open and participative, and the policy process as rational and ‘linear’ • Narratives on the origins, the participativeness, and the linearity of ICT policy processes; ‘building’ metaphors; complex taxonomies • Practised mainly by government, donors and parts of civil society • A dominant discourse (the ‘official line’?) – sponsored by a significantly well-resourced discourse coalition (documents, materials, funding) • Constructed also through specific rituals (e.g. ‘the workshop’)

  13. FINDINGS • Discourse 2: An Elitist, Closed Policy Network • Constructs the PN around ICT in Uganda as elitist, inaccessible and incestuous (‘usual suspects’), and the process as ‘linear’ but badly managed • An oppositional discourse – in many ways feeding off D1 • E.g. refers to same narratives as D1 but refuting them; conflict-related metaphors; binary taxonomies (us vs. them; excluded/included) • The discourse of local private sector operators, CSOs, some government officials, and parliamentarians • Coalition significantly weaker than D1 in resource terms; operates in spaces ‘on the fringe’ of official ones, and in virtual spaces

  14. FINDINGS • Discourse 3: Dynamic, Fluid and Competitive Networks • Variable constellations of relationships around specific policy issues (i.e. not just one network); access regulated through competition • Refers to same narratives as D1 but ‘qualifies’/contextualises them; presence of market-related metaphors; ‘minor’ narratives about donors • Practised by academics, donors, policy analysts and some NGOs • Coalition even lighter than D2 in resource terms • Articulated mainly through acts of reflection, including research • Not a synthesis, or ‘compromise’ between D1 and D2  3 alternative versions, or depictions, of PNs and of how ICT policy is made in Uganda, in many ways linked to each other

  15. “There is Only One Sun in the Solar System” FINDINGS Common Element All three discourses are structured around the prescription, or desire, that ICT policy processes be as participative as possible.  Analysis of linkages between discourses suggests that all three are shaped by / revolve around a broader, donor-driven contemporary discourse on ‘participatory policymaking’ (PP)

  16. FINDINGS Discourse Coalitions A coalition is dominant when (Hajer):1) It dominates discursive space, i.e. actors are persuaded to accept the rhetorical power of its discourse (structuration) 2) Such dominance is reflected in institutional practice, and policy processes (or reflections on these processes, in our case) are conducted according to the principles of a given discourse (institutionalization) Here, D1 ->D2. But more importantly, PP -> D1, D2, D3. Broader PP discourse coalition defines / delimits ‘universe’ of ICT policymaking discourse in Uganda.  ICT policy is the ‘daughter’ of “participatory policy”

  17. UTILITY OF THE STUDY? • Local Actors • Sketches theoretical possibility to ‘break out’ of scheme • Provides elements for reflection and ideas for action • Academia • Relatively innovative method, combining traditional PN analysis with inputs from other interpretive approaches. Particularly appropriate for ICT policy in DCs? Maybe. (1st research question) • Possibly the first extensive, longitudinal study of ICT policy processes in Uganda? Sheds light on how complexities noted in literature are articulated in a specific context (2nd level research question – i.e. what can a method of this kind tell us about ICT policymaking in a specific context?)

  18. ICT Policy and Policymaking in Uganda An Interpretive ApproachAndrea Bardelli DanieliCentre for Development Informatics (CDI) /Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM)The University of Manchester

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