Teilnahme 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICE-GOV), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Antragstellender: Blessmore Nhikiti
Fachbereich, Studienrichtung: FB06, Promotion Politikwissenschaft

My utmost gratitude goes to the Santander Mobility Fund for financially assisting in attending the United Nations University 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICE-GOV) 2023. The conference was held from 26-29 September at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This year´s theme was “Digital Governance for Democratic, Equitable, and Inclusive Societies”. The conference had 18 research paper sessions, 6 roundtable sessions, 5 keynote speeches, and 3 high-level panel sessions. It was an incredible experience networking and exchanging ideas with e-governance experts in industry, academia, and diverse backgrounds. My takeaway from the conference is that automation and digital democracy are the future. However, like any other future, it needs sustainable planning and regulation.

At the conference, I presented a research paper on “Social Media, Party Narratives and Supporters’ Opinions. Zimbabwe´s post-2018 elections” in Paper Session 12. It is a must-read for those interested in elections, post-election opinion formulation, and loser consent. The most surprising finding is supporters' independent opinion formulation in intra-party dynamics. In Zimbabwe´s context, I find that with a lack of substantial evidence of electoral fraud and the passage of time, partisans diverge from partisan-motivated reasoning despite their leader's consistency in alleging vote aggregation fraud. The paper will be included in the conference proceeding publications.

I am glad to have participated in this conference because I got excellent participant feedback. From this experience, I got ideas for my following research paper. Beyond the academic knowledge generated in the sessions, the conference organisers included a cultural exchange within the programme. We explored the local cuisine and learnt the local history of Minas Gerais and Belo Horizonte. I highly recommend that other scholars participate in next year´s ICEGOV conference in South Africa.

Once again, thank you, Santander Mobility Fund.