ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of social media in enhancing the agency, mobilisation and effectiveness of youth in interfacing with the state, especially on socio-economic and political issues. The author argues that the increased militarisation and securitisation of the state by the ruling elite in Africa has closed down space for criticising and engaging with the state for many actors including the youth. The youth who are marginalised and denied space and voices on governance issues have harnessed technological developments in the field of social communication to foster counter-hegemonic conversations. In this context social media has provided space for political articulation outside the control of the state. African states have invested a lot of resources in monopolising access to and circulation of information by controlling the establishment and operations of public and private media. This chapter explores how social media has been used by youth movements in countries like Egypt and Zimbabwe to achieve their objectives.
