Navigating digital sovereignty in Africa: A review of key challenges and constraints
IMAGE: Digital-Africa
Abstract
This paper examines the evolving global digital landscape from an African perspective. To do this, the
paper problematises the concept of “digital sovereignty” in the African context by exploring the
continent’s unique challenges. While investments by the United States (US) and particularly China in
digital infrastructure projects have increased connectivity and improved lives, they raise ongoing concerns
about Africa’s over-reliance on external partners and the implications of data exploitation and surveillance
for the continent’s digital independence. Growing out of these concerns, the central argument of this
paper is the need to delink African nation-states from foreign influence and control of the digital sector
and to rearticulate or reframe the latter in terms of digital sovereignty. In this light, the paper contends
that mainstream research on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the African context does not sufficiently
look past the power repertoires and dynamics of the US and China – whether blaming or crediting – when
theorising digital sovereignty. Instead, the paper argues that to fully understand the African continent’s
battle to establish and maintain a coherent framework for digital independence, it is essential to consider
the challenges and constraints of digital sovereignty. Drawing on a review of extant literature, the paper
springboards off a set of broad themes and case studies to deepen understanding and highlight key
hurdles to Africa’s digital independence. The paper suggests that African nations must strive to overcome
risks to digital sovereignty if the latter is to genuinely empower nation-states and citizens in the Fourth
Industrial Revolution.
