IMPACT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON FOREIGN POLICY MAKING IN NIGERIA
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL
IMPACT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ON FOREIGN POLICY MAKING IN NIGERIA
Chapter One 1.0: Introduction
Recent improvements in information communication technology (ICT), particularly in the area of foreign policymaking, are becoming increasingly important in other processes, such as nation-state socioeconomic and political development, as well as how nations interact.
ICT offers new ways of exchanging information and transacting business and new style of interaction between countries, change the nature of financial and other service sectors and provides efficient use of human and institutional capabilities of countries in both the public and private sector,
especially in the field of foreign policy information communication technology (ICT) and vast improvement in aviation technology, among other things, have reduced the distance between In fact, information and communication technologies (ICT) have altered the way nations interact.
Prior to World War II, diplomacy was solely the responsibility of ambassadors, who were often representatives of their respective states; however, today, heads of state can communicate directly via telephone, fax, and internet in order to discuss and iron out differences or negotiate differences that ambassadors cannot command.
Diplomacy, as is well known, is the use of political influence to induce other states to exercise their law-making powers in the manner defined by the state command, and the tasks of diplomacy include routine representation, arbitration, negotiation, and the projection of the country’s common and political interests.
This task is now much assisted by the presence and deployment of ICT. Today, ICT has penetrated almost all desirable domestic instruments of the country’s foreign policy making; in other words,
the use of ICTS is required for the effective application of either economic, diplomacy, military, or cultural instruments, or both, in addition to all other aspects of human development, particularly those relating to foreign policy making.
The world is rapidly transitioning to knowledge-based economic structures and information societies, which consist of a network of persons, policymakers, enterprises, and governments linked electronically and in interdependent connections. Today, countries’ competitive and comparative advantages are increasingly decided by their access to ICT and information for the pursuit of national interests.
Foreign policymakers, such as ambassadors and chief executives of ministries of foreign affairs, have benefited from information communication technology (ICT) in a variety of ways. It also helps them comprehend and explain the decision-making process and connection with the bureaucracy; their power is centred on pressure groups in the formation and implementation of the country’s foreign policy.
There are various advantages to using ICT into foreign policy decisions and other aspects of human development. This implies that foreign policymakers and other sectors of the economy in emerging countries must be informed of global ICT trends.
As a result, Nigeria’s foreign policy would be evaluated based on its principled goal of promoting and preserving the country’s national interests, as well as its contact with the outside world and relationships with other countries in the international system, among other objectives. As a result, ICT is an important tool for Nigeria’s foreign policy decision makers.
1.1 Statement of the Problem
v Information is thought to be critical in foreign policy formulation and analysis. Most countries today, both established and developing, have expectedly paid close attention to the development of ICT, particularly in the conduct and promotion of their respective national interests.
Does ICT have a good impact on foreign policy making? That is, whether the value of ICT is recognised and applied in Nigerian foreign policymaking. The study intends to identify the goals, objectives, accomplishments,
and restrictions of ICT in Nigeria’s ambition to join the race for technological growth in order to pursue a dynamic foreign policy in line with globalisation, market liberation, and international relations trends.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The primary goal is to explore the function of information communication technology in information distribution in Nigerian foreign policy. Additional aims include:
1. The purpose of this study is to look into the relationship between information communication technology and Nigerian foreign policy.
2. To investigate the impact of ICT on Nigerian foreign policy.
3. Identify barriers that prevent Nigerian foreign policymakers from using ICT.
4. To propose measures for decreasing or eliminating these restrictions.
1.4 Theoretical Frame Work
In line with the tradition in new political science and international relations of borrowing perspectives and frames of reference from various disciplines, a number of writers, including Nobert Wiener and Karl W.
Deutsch, have developed a new approach in political analysis, particularly in the area of international relations, on the basis of communication theory and cybernetics.
The communication theory, as it is known, examined the task of government and politics as a process of steering and coordinating human efforts towards the achievement of a set of goals within this general framework; decision is assumed to be the central mechanism through which this process manifests itself.
Communication theory as an idea was put forward by Nobert Wiener in the 1940s Wiener, noted an advancement in information transfer through electronic processes or processes such as radar, solar, etc.
however, the application of communication theory in international politics, especially on international relations, was developed and popularised by Karl Deutsch, and according to him cybernetics, which is the science of communication and control, which represent a shift in the centre of
This idea attempts to view the government as a decision-making system based on numerous information streams. Deustch (Leiber 1973) proposed two essential concepts: the concept of operating structure and receptor or receptor systems.
They are affectionately known as “Deutsch.” The political system gathers information from both domestic and foreign sources. The concept of reception encompasses more than just the simple intake of information, such as scanning operations, information selection, data processing, and so on.
What Deutsch is attempting to explain is the manner and nature of how information is processed for processing the incoming information within the decision-making process by the structures representing memory,
value complexes, and the entire apparatus. Information is managed and acted upon in the environment itself, which makes actual decisions.
The second group of notions, which deals with flows and processes, may be even more significant. Information is a systematic set of information flows that, when combined to form a communication network, incorporate a variety of other notions.
Specifically, about channels, load, and load capacity. Load capacity is determined by the quantity and type of channels available for infirm flow, whereas bad refers to the total intake of information at any particular time.
Loads in political systems change dramatically over time and in quality. Deutsch went on to describe a number of other parameters that are closely connected to load capacity, including responsiveness, fidelity background, noise, and distortion.
It is also worth noting that the communication system may associate, locate, and bring forward past experiences that are pertinent to the interpretation of incoming information. This has been described as the concept of recall.
There is also a combination capacity, as Deutsch stated, in which a wide range of information inputs are used to make and implement decisions with positive consequences for the achievement of goals. As a result, according to communication theory, political systems, particularly aspects of international relations, can be studied as networks of communication channels, and we may even be able to achieve these goals.
Deutsch claimed that unless governments receive continuous flows of information about the distance between their original situation and the objective or goal they wish to achieve, the distance between their current position and the goal,
and the extent to which their efforts to reach the goal succeed, which is now possible thanks to the advertisement of information communication technology and its related trends.
The communication theory framework expanded to incorporate four quantitative components in this research, which are as follows: information load, lag, and gain. For the sake of this study, we will focus on load factors, which Deutsch defines as an organization’s ability to predict the future state of its settings.
In order to make an effective way of anticipating the necessary adjustments in the advancement of humanity, decision makers of a political system must attempt to take into consideration and predict some discussion that may be favourable to the environment, which is the most important future of a political system that has its own capacity to keep up with the changing environment.
At this point, it is important to note that a communication approach can assist foreign policy decision makers, among other groups, in better judging a political system’s capacity in terms of control over the entire political process, as well as its ability to maintain the conditions required to achieve its goal.
Furthermore, communication theory has the power to provide the state with the capacity to change its goals and learn through experience the concept of goal-changing feedback and learning. As a result, a political system has the ability to intentionally modify its aim whenever necessary.
Goals are dynamic rather than static, therefore changes in the cultural pattern and personality structure of the political elite may result in changes in the goals pursued by a political decision system.
According to the aforementioned analysis, the communication strategy provides valuable insight into the dynamics of foreign policy. Indeed, movement in the international system stems from hundreds of decisions made by government and non-government institutions and enterprises around the world, many of which are derived from flows of timely information.
It is important to remember that the approach focuses primarily on decision making as a process, rather than the results or consequences of decisions. This theory focuses on the national decision-making process in order to discover what influences or shapes relationships between states.
This approach was chosen as the theoretical framework for this study because it is viable and relevant in foreign policy making in Nigeria and around the world.
1.5 Research Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a tentative answer proposed by a researcher as the likely solution to a research problem or inquiry. It is called a preliminary answer because the answer is presented before the researcher enters the field to collect data. The researcher proposed the following hypothesis as a guideline for this study.
There is a link between information communication technology and the evolution of Nigerian foreign policy.
1.6 Research Methodology
This research relies significantly on secondary sources of data. Data are gathered from books, journals, research thesis and dissertations, the internet, conference papers, daily newspapers, and weekly magazines.
Data is also collected from radio and television programmes. The information acquired from the materials will be presented, examined, and analysed utilising an integrated data analysis approach in order to meet the research’s goals.
1.7 Significance of the Study
This research aims to assist Nigeria as a nation state in forging ahead in its drive for socioeconomic development, reducing poverty and unemployment, and elevating the country’s status from an economic dependent to an economic independent nation through the use of ICT.
It also aimed to improve Nigeria’s conduct of foreign policy decisions and to improve Nigerians’ status and relevance in international politics, by demonstrating Nigeria’s economic potentials, culture, tradition, and so on.
It would also serve as a springboard for foreign policy makers in their quest to pursue a dynamic foreign policy in line with the current area of globalisation,
through the acquisition of relevant modern ICT facilities, and to add value or contribution to exist. To realise the projected benefits of ICT, particularly in the economic sector, which has been identified as a potent tool in the pursuit of national interests by governments, by embracing all applicable ICT facilities and purses and implementing all essential policies.
1.8 SCOPE AND LIMITATION.
The geographical scope of this study is Nigeria as a nation-state. While its content concentrated on the impact of information and communication technology on policymaking between 1999 and 2014, because this was the period when democracy arrived in Nigeria. The focus will be on how information communication technology is used to retrieve, store, and disseminate information,
as well as how this information is communicated and made available to Nigerian foreign policymakers. However, due to the uniqueness of this research work, I anticipated that the problem of data collection would be a hindrance to this work.
This is due to the fact that the ministry in charge of making foreign policy decisions as a matter of policy does not readily disclose information, combined with the existence of bureaucratic bottlenecks that make access to data from these offices difficult.
The human component is often an obstacle to proper information retrieval, as interviewers are often hesitant to disclose the true position of items in relation to their official positions,
despite the fact that names and identities are frequently withheld. Furthermore, the issue of restricted resources and time constraints limits the scope of this research to Nigeria.
1.9 Definition of Terms
The words utilised in this study will be as follows. Thus,
1. Impact
2. Information
3. Communication technology
4. Foreign Policy.
Impact: For the purposes of this study, Menou’s concept of impact was used, which is defined as a process that causes the modification of a phenomenon in both positive and negative aspects.
Information: Can be defined as knowledge that was unknown to the recipient prior to its receipt; in a related development, Michael (1989) regarded the term as the support information system (computerised and manual) within an organisation and those released to customers and suppliers.
Newton defined ICT as the entire communication system, including all of the equipment that must be connected together in order to send and receive information, such as a computer, fax, television, radio, in-focus projector, digital camera, and telephone.
Foreign policy is defined as a system of activities enforced by a community to change the behaviour of other states and to adjust their norms to the international environment,
while Thomas Schelling defines it as complicated and disorderly, different to predict, full of surprises, demanding parts choice that must be based on judgement rather than analysis, taking place in a world that changes rapidly, where memory and experiences are likely out of data, foreign policy project
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic