The Impact of Broadband Internet on Political Mobilization in Sub-Saharan Africa

I use the gradual arrival of submarine Internet cables on the coast and the route of the backbone cables network to demonstrate how high-speed Internet (fixed and mobile jointly considered) has an impact on political mobilization in Africa. I obtained robust difference-in-differences estimates using Afrobarometer data from ten countries, which reveal a positive effect on the likelihood of participating in a protest. Since having access to high-speed Internet allows access to social networks and other content, two mechanisms are explored to explain this positive impact: information and coordination channels. The main explanatory channel appears to be the enhanced coordination