Public Policy and Technological Transformations in Africa

This book examines the links between public policy and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technological developments in Africa. It broadly assesses three key areas – policy entrepreneurship, policy tools and citizen participation – in order to better understand the interfaces between public policy and technological transformations in African countries. The book presents incisive case studies on topics including AI policies, mobile money, e-budgeting, digital economy, digital agriculture and digital ethical dilemmas in order to illuminate technological proliferation in African policy systems. Its analysis considers the broader contexts of African state politics and governance. It will appeal to students, instructors, researchers and practitioners interested in governance and digital transformations in developing countries.

“This book is the first to offer a bird’s eye view of how technologies drive open government, public sector reforms, modernising para-political organisations’ advocacy initiatives and, most importantly, empowering citizens’ demand for accountability. The book concretises the contextual scope of applications of these technologies and their impact on the citizens’ lives, enhancing their interaction with State and non-State actors in the provisioning of the public good.” (Kobby Mensah – Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana Business School, Ghana)

“This book put together an impressive and timely collection of case studies on the State of the digital economy and the realisation of digital transformation in Africa. It is a hands-on volume that develops insightful analysis and frameworks for understanding the roles of various electronic and digital products in Africa’s transformation. All chapters present the newest research areas that impact African economic transformation and governance. The large variety of policy problems keeps general policy practitioners and academic readers interested in these topics.” (Eric E. Otenyo – Professor Department of Politics and International Affairs, Northern Arizona University, United States)

“This book is an outstanding collection of chapters on African policy and technology. In light of technologically driven revolutions that are already taking place in Africa, this book is an important source of policy insights.” (Artwell Nhemachena - Research Fellow: University of South Africa, visiting Associate, Professor Kobe University, and lecturer at the University of Namibia)

“The book is a collection of essays that explore the opportunities and possibilities of 4th industrial revolution technologies to open centralised governance spaces through policy entrepreneurship, instrumentation, advocacy and citizen participation to drive improvement in policy agency and performance in Africa. Through empirically grounded analysis, they provide an uncommon window into how African states are leveraging 4IR technologies, such as blockchain, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, the internet of things and so on, to open new vistas of collaboration among governments, civil societies and private businesses that transform policy systems and processes amid structural, regulatory and other challenges.” (E. Remi Aiyede - Professor of Political Institutions, Governance and Public Policy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria)

“How can you boost digital transformation in a complex multi-stakeholder arena? How can you embrace FinTech, CivicTech and GovTech in policy development? What are the essential ingredients? This book answers these questions by zooming in on challenges and good practices grounded in African case studies. This book is packed with insights and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know what is at stake, what has recently been done in Africa, and how to proceed from here.” (Nitesh Bharosa - Professor of GovTech and Public Service Innovation, Delft University of Technology and Academic Director at Digicampus in the Netherlands)

Gedion Onyango is a Researcher at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.