Digital Diplomacy in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Globally, digital diplomacy is taking over as the dominating format. As long as Africa is a part of the globalization era, it must adapt to new technologies. However, there are several obstacles that African digital diplomacy must overcome, such as a lack of infrastructure, a lack of proficiency with new technologies, limiting regulations, the anonymity issue and others. So, with the proliferation of digital technologies, Africa is facing growing cyber security threats. These include hacker attacks, online fraud and disinformation campaigns. Weak cyber security measures and limited capacity to address these challenges make African countries vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Africa should follow the present realities and dynamics in digital diplomacy as the world constantly changes and transitions. In fact, in the diplomatic sphere of Africa, digital diplomacy is being practiced without the concept and practice promoted. However, Africa has many opportunities to embrace digital diplomatic initiatives. The primary ones include; the penetration of the internet, the rise in the public interest, the engagement of the African diaspora, the African Union’s digital strategy, the desire to create an intelligent society, and the revolution of smartphones. Africa also offers much potential for improving the natural and human resources used in digital platform infrastructure. Thus, Africa should assist in developing the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and encouraging training for these electronic platforms. Therefore, the paper aims to analyze the opportunities, challenges, and potentials of digital diplomacy in the African context. To do so, a qualitative research approach was used collected from secondary sources and document analysis. Finally, the collected data is thematically analyzed.