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Internet Campaigning in an Unfamiliar Context: A Study of the Internet Campaigns of the Two Major Political Parties in the 2015 Nigerian Presidential Election / BIBOBRA AGANABA

Swansea University Author: BIBOBRA AGANABA

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.57116

Abstract

This thesis addresses the following research question: How can we best understand the effects of internet campaigning on the campaign practices of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 Nigerian Presidential election? This research represents an impor...

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Published: Swansea 2021
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Wall, Matthew; Wu, Yan
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57116
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Abstract: This thesis addresses the following research question: How can we best understand the effects of internet campaigning on the campaign practices of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 Nigerian Presidential election? This research represents an important contribution to the broader study of internet campaigning; widening the theoretical and empirical scope of the literature. From a theoretical perspective, three major approaches are deployed across the thesis: modernisation, Americanisation, and hybridisation. While all three lenses play an important part in understanding the effect of the internet on Nigerian campaign practices, the hybridisation perspective is particularly important – pointing towards a broader need in the literature to integrate this theoretical emphasis. From an empirical perspective, over 50 original, elite interviews in Nigeria were conducted with members of both parties’ campaign teams and campaign consultants. In analysing these data, the thesis unpacks three sub-questions: How was internet campaigning adopted and adapted by the campaign teams? What factors help to explain variations in the internet campaigns practices of the presidential candidates of the PDP and APC? How did the internet affect the intra-campaign organisational dynamics of the presidential candidates of the PDP and APC? The analysis across these questions concludes that the importance of the 2015 Nigerian online campaign should not be underestimated – it clearly impacted on campaign practices and organisation. However, the nature of this impact falls far short of a full realisation of the potential impact that the web could have exerted. Understanding this reality requires that close attention be paid to the national and party contexts within which internet campaigning was adopted – meaning that a hybridisation perspective is central to explaining how the internet impacts campaign practices in states such as Nigeria.
Item Description: A selection of third party content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis.
Keywords: Internet, Elections, Campaigns, Political Parties, Online Campaigning, Nigeria
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

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