Zambia, 2023: People cheer and wave American flags during the visit of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Lusaka.
© picture alliance / REUTERS | Namukolo Siyumbwa
Social Media Debates on Zambia’s Evolving Relations with the West and East. Trends and Implications
Megatrends Policy Brief 21, 06.02.2024, 10 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2024MTA-PB21
Social media debates on Zambia’s foreign policy are strongly polarized and focussed on two issues: (1) claims that the Zambian government is a puppet of the West and (2) concerns that the government is undermining Zambia’s long-held policy of non-alignment. These debates demonstrate the complexity of African agency and the domestic concerns that shape how African governments negotiate multipolarity.
Zambia, 2023: People cheer and wave American flags during the visit of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Lusaka.
© picture alliance / REUTERS | Namukolo Siyumbwa
Candidates Odinga and Ruto both used disinformation strategies in the run up to the August 2022 general elections in Kenya. This policy brief argues that this contributed to reducing voter confidence. To curb this trend, a well-coordinated cross-sectoral approach to tackling disinformation and misinformation should be adopted.
doi:10.18449/2023MTA-PB14
Disinformation is increasingly informing political discourse. Large-scale campaigns are exercising political influence in countries such as Uganda, Sudan and Mali. Russia’s interference is viewed as particularly problematic. In the fourth policy workshop of Megatrends Afrika, we discussed just what kind of influence disinformation has and how the phenomenon can be countered.
