Propaganda, Agitation, Harassment: Government Communication During the Transition in Mali

Propagande, Agitation, Harcèlement: La communication gouvernementale pendant la transition au Mali

Etienne Fakaba Sissoko ()
Additional contact information
Etienne Fakaba Sissoko: Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako - USSGB - Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako, CRAPES MALI - Centre de Recherche et d'Analyses Politiques, Economiques et Sociales du Mali, Faculté des Sciences économiques et de Gestion - USSGB - Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Since the coup d'état of August 18, 2020 in Mali, the government's close collaboration with activists and "video bloggers" in implementing the communication strategy of successive transitional authorities has led to the discrediting of professional government communication specialists, as well as of public speech more broadly. This hyper-aggressive governmental communication has been marked by the dissemination of content of questionable credibility. Paradoxically, despite the absence of a formal strategy, this form of government communication achieved notable successes. It generated strong public support for the authorities' narratives, particularly through the confrontations staged with the international community, including France, ECOWAS, and others. However, despite this relative success, our study shows that such communication methods—grounded in propaganda, agitation, manipulation, and often falsehoods—cannot be sustained over the long term. Government communication is already experiencing its first setbacks, signaling the beginning of its exhaustion.

Keywords: Government communication; Political transition; Mali; Military coup; Propaganda; Political agitation; Disinformation; Information manipulation; Digital activism; Video bloggers; Public discourse; Strategic communication; Legitimacy construction; Anti-Western narratives; ECOWAS; France; Regime consolidation; Cognitive mobilization; Political communication in fragile states. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-10-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in 2023, 978-2-336-41134-7

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05533491

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().