IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v10y2022i2p106-115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drivers and Barriers of Digital Market Integration in East Africa: A Case Study of Rwanda and Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Stephanie Arnold

    (Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Digital development has become a firm pillar in the national development strategies of many countries in the Global South. Although the geopolitical competition over ICTs leveraged their diplomatic and economic relevance in the international sphere, developing countries remain in a subordinate position in global power relations. However, while they could collectively improve their standing by uniting behind an integrated digital market, national governments in the East African Community are reluctant to implement a single digital market, leading us to inquire: What constrains digital market integration in East Africa? This article compares Rwanda and Tanzania, two relatively digitally mature but less developed countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas one is a small landlocked country and the other a larger emerging economy. Following the classification of Hout and Salih, material, ideational, political, and external aspects affect a nation’s enthusiasm for regional initiatives. By examining factors related to domestic politics and political economy, this article finds that material and political factors encourage digital regionalism in Rwanda but discourage it in Tanzania; ideational factors contribute to national rather than regional unity in both countries. Yet, external factors linked to EU foreign policy and developmental cooperation seem to lead current regional projects. Therefore, this article concludes that drivers of African regionalism may turn into barriers depending on the domestic political and economic circumstances while digital market integration is currently driven by foreign players. More generally, the study contributes to the debate on African agency in ICT for development and developing countries’ capacity to overcome traditional dependency structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephanie Arnold, 2022. "Drivers and Barriers of Digital Market Integration in East Africa: A Case Study of Rwanda and Tanzania," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 106-115.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v:10:y:2022:i:2:p:106-115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4922
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564298.
    2. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521635363.
    3. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564403.
    4. Baldwin, Richard, 2011. "21st century regionalism: Filling the gap between 21st century trade and 20th century trade rules," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2011-08, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    5. Mattli,Walter, 1999. "The Logic of Regional Integration," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521632270.
    6. Ian Taylor, 2016. "Dependency redux: why Africa is not rising," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(147), pages 8-25, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wil Hout & Michal Onderco, 2022. "Developing Countries and the Crisis of the Liberal International Order," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 1-5.
    2. Yaqiao Xu & Jiayi Hu & Liusan Wu, 2023. "Efficiency Evaluation of China’s Provincial Digital Economy Based on a DEA Cross-Efficiency Model," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-11, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Büthe Tim, 2010. "Private Regulation in the Global Economy: A (P)Review," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 1-40, October.
    2. Eric Tremolada Álvarez, 2018. "La Cooperación Internacional como alternativa a los unilateralismos. colección Ius Cogens n.° 6," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1037, October.
    3. Baccini,Leonardo & Fiorini,Matteo & Hoekman,Bernard M. & Altomonte,Carlo & Colantone,Italo, 2021. "Global Value Chains and Deep Integration," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9598, The World Bank.
    4. Arts, Bas, 2014. "Assessing forest governance from a ‘Triple G’ perspective: Government, governance, governmentality⁎⁎This article belongs to the Special Issue: Assessing Forest Governance," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 17-22.
    5. Andrés Malamud, 2013. "Overlapping Regionalism, No Integration: Conceptual Issues and the Latin American Experiences," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/20, European University Institute.
    6. Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2009. "Systema Indikatorov Evraziyskoy Integracii [The System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration]," MPRA Paper 20914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Keyan Lai, 2021. "National security and FDI policy ambiguity: A commentary," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(4), pages 496-505, December.
    8. Michele-Lee Moore & Frances R. Westley & Tim Brodhead, 2012. "Social Finance Intermediaries and Social Innovation," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 184-205, October.
    9. Assen Slim, 2015. "L’aide européenne (1989-2020) aux PECO sous le prisme de l’économie politique internationale (EPI)," Post-Print hal-01271881, HAL.
    10. Simplice A, Asongu, 2011. "Government quality determinants of stock market performance in developing countries," MPRA Paper 35508, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Laima Gerlitz & Christopher Meyer, 2021. "Small and Medium-Sized Ports in the TEN-T Network and Nexus of Europe’s Twin Transition: The Way towards Sustainable and Digital Port Service Ecosystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    12. Bruszt, Laszlo & Campos, Nauro F., 2018. "Economic Integration and State Capacity: Evidence from the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union," IZA Discussion Papers 11782, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Mark Hallerberg, 2002. "Introduction," European Union Politics, , vol. 3(2), pages 139-150, June.
    14. Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2010. "The System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration," MPRA Paper 22227, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Tanja A. Börzel, 2010. "The Transformative Power of Europe Reloaded - The Limits of External Europeanization," KFG Working Papers p0011, Free University Berlin.
    16. Zoltan Adam, 2004. "Autonomy and capacity: a state-centred approach to post-communist transition in Central Europe," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 40, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    17. Paul John, Pena, 2019. "An ASEAN Digital Single Market: Boosting the Aspiration for a Single Market in the Digital Era," MPRA Paper 95948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Lena Partzsch, 2011. "The legitimacy of biofuel certification," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(3), pages 413-425, September.
    19. Hermann Sebastian Dehnen & Jan H. van Dinther & Norbert Koubek, 2013. "From emerging economies toward the Emerging Triad," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP13008, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    20. David B. Audretsch, 2018. "Industrial Organization and the Organization of Industries: Linking Industry Structure to Economic Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(4), pages 603-620, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v:10:y:2022:i:2:p:106-115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.