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Volume 13, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2040-199X
  • E-ISSN: 1751-7974

Abstract

Rwanda has received international praise for its rapid development and is said to be undergoing a ‘technology revolution’ at the hands of President Paul Kagame who has been described as a ‘Digital President’. This quantitative content analysis of Kagame’s official Twitter account analysed the first ten years of his tweets and found that he primarily tweets in English, with a positive sentiment about cross-government and cross-border interactions and, in doing so, presents Rwanda as a progressive, democratic player that is connected multilaterally to both African and global affairs. Throughout the decade, Kagame’s tweets evolved from being domestically focused on self-promotion to more globally focused on foreign engagement. While these findings could be indicative of a semi-authoritarian state, they also point to the presence of ‘Twitter diplomacy’ and the use of soft power tactics, which become stronger and clearer in the latter part of the decade.

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2021-03-01
2024-05-01
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Tweeter-in-chief: Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s use of Twitter
Journal of African Media Studies 13, 17 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00031_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00031_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Paul Kagame; public diplomacy; Rwanda; social media; soft power; Twitter

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