What is the relationship between the media and democracy in fragile states? How do the media shape state-citizen relationships in fragile states? This report presents the findings of a research symposium jointly organised by IDS and the BBC World Service Trust. The symposium brought together academics and practitioners across disciplines to discuss the role of the media in fragile and conflict affected states and to identify critical research gaps. It concluded that media and communications research could provide important policy insights into state fragility, state effectiveness and state-citizen relationships.
Evidence has been growing in recent years about the significant role of media in fragile states. The role of media in the 2007/8 Kenya crisis in particular has raised policy questions and concerns. But while the role of the media in governance in fragile states is now being increasingly written about, there remains a disconnect between development and media research, and a lack of clear policy conclusions on just how significant, or insignificant, the role of media is in determining state stability, political settlements and conflict.
These issues cut across several disciplines, including political science, media research, development economics, anthropology, governance, citizenship and participatory development among others. Specific observations on the current state of research and key questions in these areas include the following:
- There is little or no serious analysis of the role of media in underpinning or undermining state stability. There is an absence of serious policy debate on whether governments are legitimate in limiting media pluralism and factionalism in the interests of state stability, or whether increasingly free, decentralised and participatory media systems provide an important, necessary pillar of strategies to develop state citizen relationships and underpin state effectiveness.
- The media provides important mechanisms for civic engagement and is a determining factor in the quality of state citizen relationships. But there is little research on the increasing interactivity of media, including the rapid spread of mobile telephony and the increase in phone-ins and other interactive debate programmes, as well as the internet, in creating new opportunities for citizen participation in fragile states.
- Media in fragile environments is increasing fragmented. Information and communication trends point towards more complex, crowded communication environments driven by technology, by liberalisation and the demand from citizens for more information and greater debate. These trends are likely to continue and intensify.
- The potential of co-option and capture by media, whether by governments, opposition, religious entities – or even by civil society and NGOs – is a growing issue as media systems liberalise and diversify.
- Promotion of media freedom and media development is associated by some researchers with a dogmatic, neoliberal approach to democracy promotion. Too often, discussions on media and democracy make generalised positive assumptions about its contribution to democracy.
- It is unclear how substantial a role a free and independent media can play and in contributing to greater state transparency and accountability without increasing state fragility.
- It is unclear whether media actually disrupts or reinforces neopatrimonial systems; specifically, whether in poor, fragile semi-democracies, unsophisticated media liberalisation can actually lead to media capture.
There is a potentially substantial and increasingly relevant research agenda on media and communication which could provide important policy insights into state fragility, state effectiveness and state-citizen relationships:
- Priority areas should include looking at state transitions and patrimonial reflections on society, and issues of state-citizen relationships.
- The research must be interdisciplinary, connecting core development research disciplines with media practice and media research.
- Media studies research should be better framed within political science and ‘mainstream’ development research agendas. Likewise, political science should reassess whether these and other research questions should constitute a more serious component of their own research agendas and how media studies could usefully contribute to their understanding.
