Social Media and Elections in Africa, Volume 1 Theoretical Perspectives and Election Campaigns

This book brings together fresh evidence and new theoretical frameworks in a unique analysis of the increasing role of social media in political campaigns and electoral processes across Africa. Supported by contemporary and historical cases studies, it engages with the main drives behind the various appropriations of social media for election campaigns, organization, and voter mobilization. Contributors in this volume delve into changing and complex aspects of social media, offering an appraisal of theoretical perspectives and examining fascinating case studies which social media use is redefining elections across Africa. Contributions show that new media ecologies are resulting in new policy regimes, user behaviors, and communication models that have implications for electoral processes. The book also provides preliminary analysis of emerging forms of algorithm-driven campaigns, fake news, information distortions and other methods that undermine electoral democracy in Africa.

1. Introduction: The role of social media in electoral democracies.- Martin Ndlela & Winston Mano.- 2. Directions of Political Communication in Africa: Searching for an African Model.- Thomas Chukwuma Ijere.- 3. Elections in the Age of Automated Communications.- Martin Ndlela.- 4. Is social media the bane of African electoral processes? The use and abuse of Facebook during intra-party election campaigns in Ghana.- Akwasi Bosompem Boateng, Danal Patrick McCracken & Musara Lubombo.- 5. Social media, participation and electoral democracy in Ghana.- Wilberforce Dzisah.- 6. This election will be Tweeted: Zimbabwe's Election Twitter Discourses.- Allen Munoroyarwa and Collin Chambwera.- 7. Social media and the 2018 elections in post Mugabe Zimbabwe's 2018 elections.- Trust Matsilele & Admire Mare.- 8. Why Social Media Activisim is not Enough: Analysis of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter Use in the 2018 Presidential Elections in Cameroon.- Kingsley L. Ngange.- 9. Political participation,engagement and democracy: A case of BOLESWA.- Carolyne M. Lunga & Maxwell V. Mthembu.- 10. The new battleground: Social media and political mobilization in Nigeria's electoral democracy.- Barikui Naane.- 11. Arua Election and the Bobi Wine Social Media Trailblaze: Citizenry Political Debates and Deliberative Democracy in Uganda.- Muzee Hannah & Joyce. B. Mbongo Endeley.- 12. Understanding the Implications of Social Media Usage in the Electoral Processes and Campaigns in Nigeria.- Oberiri Destiny Apuke.

Martin N. Ndlela is Associate Professor at the School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and Research Associate at the Department of Strategic Communication at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a co-editor of the Journal of African Media Studies.

Winston Mano is Reader and member of the Communication Research Institute’s Global Media Research Network. Mano is also the Principal Editor of the Journal of African Media Studies and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.