Between Tech and Trade, the Digital Turn in Development Policies
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Between Tech and Trade, the Digital Turn in Development Policies Marine Al Dahdah1 · Mathieu Quet2
© Society for International Development 2020
Abstract The ‘digital turn’ that took place in development policies since the early 2000s is characterized by the growing use of digital devices as development and governance tools, and by the growing use of large sets of data that goes hand in hand with it. This article points to three major changes that accompany this evolution. The first is the diversification of economic strategies that are permitted by the multiplication of markets dedicated to technological devices and data management in the developing world. The second is the evolution of relations between public and private institutions in the Global South; the interactions between public and private sectors have indeed been renewed through the kind of technological development partnerships allowed by digital devices. The third is the reconfiguration of issues as crucial as control, inequalities, exclusion at the individual and population level—digital devices don’t make these issues disappear, rather they take an important part in their reformulation. Keywords Digital development · Global South · Datafication · eHealth · mHealth
Devices of Development in a Datafied Society As soon as it emerged after the Second World War, development aid was conceptualized in terms of technical assistance and modernization of the least developed countries (Cherlet 2014). Electrification networks, hydraulic systems, agricultural equipment, vehicles and roads have been and still are means of technical assistance for development. In that regard, information and communication technologies (ICTs) only represent one of the most recent sets of technologies in an already long history of innovations, tools and strategies for development. The assumptions and underlying projects of such technologies have been scrutinized in various domains from colonial history (Headrick 1981) to Science and Technology Studies (Redfield 2016). As with many other technologies, ICT-led development mobilizes classical discourses on technological neutrality, its obvious benefit to humanity, and its separation from politics that have been questioned by many researchers (Bijker et al. 2012). In the same vein, ICTs incorporate new ideas, standards * Marine Al Dahdah [email protected] 1
CEMS, CNRS, Paris, France
Ceped, IRD, Paris, France
2
and designs in development policies coming from industry, developers, regulators and users alike (Oudshoorn and Pinch 2003). They are not neutral; they embody particular ideologies, policies and decisions. However, one has to take this critique of technological positivism further. Not only has ICT development continued age-old ideologies and technical fantasies, it has also brought new layers of complexity to social problems—instead of solving them as promised. For that reason, the particularity of the current status of ICTs in the development field must be acknowledged and carefully monitored
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