Digital Activism and Cyberconflicts in Nigeria

The author examines the use of information and communication technologies by non-institutional actors in conflict with the state in the political movements Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram, and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, to consider mobilization among contemporary movements in Nigeria and digital activism and cyberconflicts in a developing non-Western context. He uses semi-structured interviews, online news materials, online videos, and social media/blogs to explore the environment of conflict, including the political landscape, media landscape, and the development of information and communication technology infrastructure from a historical perspective; key debates on information technology uses in computer-media environments and youth engagement and digital activism in sub-Saharan Africa and around the world; the Occupy Nigeria movement and the role of digital media in mobilizing structures, opportunity structure, and framing during the January 2012 protest; the role of digital media in Boko Haram and the mobilization, opportunity structure, and framing processes of the movement and other parts of the ethnoreligious cyberconflict framework; and the role of digital media in the activities of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. The book is based on the author's doctoral dissertation and has been revised to include recent conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa.