Towards a new public sphere for political inclusion: Mobile media and the reshaping of local governance landscapes in Sierra Leone

Abstract

Political marginalization in local governance systems in Sierra Leone results in the struggle for citizens to fully participate in deliberative democracy and amplify their voices in decision-making processes. This article draws on Habermas’ theory of the public sphere to critically examine the extent to which mobile phone use alters political relations between marginalized citizens and power holders in Sierra Leone’s local governance systems. By using ethnographic data from rural and urban communities in Sierra Leone, this article shows that the mobile phone provides a useful mediated public sphere for the marginalized to negotiate political relations, inform deliberative democratic processes and remove political middlemen in local governance. The mobile phone empowers the marginalized to organize themselves and amplify their voices in local political decision-making. The article concludes by arguing that the introduction of mobile phones into the local governance systems in Sierra Leone results in the emergence of new formations of participatory public discussion and radical alterations in local political processes. However, the sustainability of these practices depends on the integration of mobile phones into a larger network of political arrangements in the country.