Conceptualising the Web for post-conflict governance building in fragile states

This paper examines how the web is used in contexts of post-conflict governance building in fragile states, how it is conceptualised in those uses and what implications this has. Related academic research in the field mentions the web and other communication technologies only in relation to transnational web use by diasporas. Meanwhile, recent pilot projects conducted by international organisations and others in the related areas of conflict prevention and governance building in developing countries provide invaluable evidence of both the importance of the web in post-conflict settings and the urgent need for a deeper, more critical understanding of these uses. Specifically, multiple and sometimes contradictory conceptualisations of the web are in play, with very different implications for current understanding and future development of the web in post-conflict governance building in fragile states.