How influences of external actors affect Information and Communication Technology policy formation in developing countries: case of Malawi

ABSTRACT This paper examines the case of Malawi to argue that external actors’ overt influences during Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy formulation may result in policies that are hardly implemented. In Malawi, external actors brought templates, provided financial and technical support and developed the policy with minimum involvement of local actors. We employed Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to examine the effect of the influences. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and document analysis on selected policy documents from Malawi. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Content analysis, applied to policy documents from Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda and South Africa, supplemented the investigation. We make two contributions related to national ICT policies in Africa. First, policies developed without involving local stakeholders are hardly implemented. Second, the study extends the application of Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice in the ICT policy domain to show that the influences of external actors during ICT policymaking result in power imbalances in their favor. Through provision of economic, social and cultural capital, external actors dominate local actors during policymaking. The finding offers governments and stakeholders of public policy important insights into how they can effectively manage external actors during policymaking.