Transcript Strategy and Risk

Rebuilding Citizen-State Relations:
Public Opinion, the Media, and State
Viability
Dr. Sina Odugbemi
Program Head
CommGAP, The World Bank
February 4, 2010
International Parliamentary Conference on Peacebuilding
Introduction
• Contexts are decisive
• Limits on analysis by an international civil servant
 focus on issues and processes and
 policy implications
Presentation Outline
• Communication infrastructure and the public sphere
• Framing the state or nation
• Public opinion and legitimacy
Citizen-State Relations in Post-Conflict
Countries
The broad landscape:
• Unstable elite consensus
• Operative vs. deep consensus
• Unsettled idea of the nation
• Contested and in flux
• Weak legitimacy and exit temptations
• Fragmented media system and public
sphere
Ideal direction of travel:
• Rebuild a national media system and public sphere
• Cultivate a shared national identity
• Restore loyalty and legitimacy
Rebuilding the National Media System and
Public Sphere
Why it matters:
• State capacity implies effective communication infrastructure
• Ancient and modern
• “Spherecules” destroy state viability
What it involves:
• Infrastructure of communication
• Coverage of territory
• Access by all citizens
• Shared national conversation space
Infrastructure
Loyalty & Identity
Media
State
Citizens
Communication
Infrastructure
Legitimacy
Role of the Media in
Framing the State or Nation
A nation is “an imagined political community”
created, in part, by the media through targeting
a mass audience or generalizing and addressing
citizens as the public.
- Benedict Anderson (1983), Imagined Communities…
• “We” vs. “They” narratives and mobilization
• Wars of the airwaves (within or without the country)
• Including ICTs
• Problem of selective exposure and return to conflict
Media Events Can Help
Integration
Media Events:
• Outstanding events that are covered by
most national media
• Attract a very large audience
• Broadcast live
• Interrupt usual media schedule
• Interrupt daily routines (people gather in front of TV)
Examples:
• Coronation of Elizabeth II.
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission
South Africa
• U.S. State of the Union Address
• National sports team competitions
(Nigeria, Iraq)
Mandela Plays the Springboks
Card
• South Africa:
•
Rugby World Cup 1995
Public Opinion and Legitimacy (I)
“Nothing appears more surprising … than the easiness with which the many are
governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own
sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. … as FORCE is always on the side
of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is
therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim
extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most
free and most popular.
“Opinion is of two kinds, to wit, opinion of INTEREST, and opinion of RIGHT.
By opinion of interest I chiefly understand the sense of the general advantage which
is reaped from government; … When this opinion prevails among the generality of a
state, or among those who have the force in their hands, it gives great security to
any government.
“Right is of two kinds, right to POWER and right to PROPERTY. …
“Upon these three opinions, therefore, of public interest, of right to power,
and of right to property, are all governments founded, and all authority of
the few over the many.”
- David Hume (1741), Of the First Principles
of Government
Public Opinion and Legitimacy (II)
David Hume: Of the First Principles of Government
Legitimacy depends on majority opinions that:
• This government has a right to rule over me.
• This government and the state act in my interest
(including the interest of my group).
• My rights and my property are secure.
Two-fold challenge
Substantive challenge
• State as “fountain of
justice” (J.S. Mill)
Communication challenge
• Shaping public opinion
through two-way
communication with the
public
Without Voice, Exit is Tempting
Voice
Exit
Fragile state
Citizens express
their dissatisfaction
and prompt
government to react
Citizens turn away
from the government
toward other groups
for identification
 A call for an inclusive politics
 Suppression of voice is an invitation for a return to conflict
- Albert Hirschman (1970), Exit, Voice, and Loyalty…
The Ideal Post-Conflict Media
System
• Constituted to encompass pluralism and diverse political
debate
• A public service broadcaster that promotes voice,
inclusiveness, and diversity within and without
• e.g., South African Broadcasting Corporation?
• A broadcasting code – and media ethics – designed to
ensure civility and respect for all ethnic groups, sects
etc.
 Not easy to achieve in practice!
Observed Persistent Challenges with
Regard to Post-Conflict Media
• Once the domestic players return to power, media
structures become part of the power struggle.
• Under authoritarian control, information hegemony is
still rampant.
• If deep divisions persist, ethno-sectarian media will
flourish somehow (within and without the state).
• Authoritarian rulers forget “everyday talk” and its role in
shaping opinions (mosques, temples, churches, clubs,
workplaces, dinner tables etc.).
• Therefore, they’re sowing seeds for further conflict if
grievances and lack of voice persist.
Conclusion
• Rebuild a genuinely national media system and public
sphere
• Media system must support the idea of the nation or
shared, inclusive political community
• Media events can help unite the nation
• Work to ensure that public opinion supports the joint
enterprise
• Information hegemony and authoritarian control of the
media is tempting, but will promote exit, not loyalty