A digital cold war in Africa? Capitalist multiplicity, digital transformation, and shifting dependencies amid US–China tech rivalry

Abstract

Is a ‘digital cold war’ turning Africa, yet again, into a geopolitical battleground for great powers? It is said that African countries now risk becoming incorporated into different ‘technological spheres of influence’ as US–China rivalry increasingly revolves around digital technology. It is believed that China has the upper hand in this struggle given its structural power in African Information and Communications Technology (ICT) networks. Yet we question this understanding. Rather than Manichaean cold war antagonism and bifurcated technology domains, Africa’s digital development is primarily taking place within the context of the uniformity of global capitalism. China is not dominating African ICT networks; instead, the technology stack displays multiplicity, and many governments wish to diversify their ICT suppliers as they make choices around digital investments on pragmatic and non-geopolitical grounds. We observe how multiple stakeholders–public and private actors, global and local firms, both beyond and inclusive of Chinese entities–compete and collaborate across scales for profit and for the digital transformation of African societies. We illustrate our argument of ‘capitalist multiplicity’ by investigating two cases–Nigeria and Ethiopia.