Citizenship, Democracies, and Media Engagement among Emerging Economies and Marginalized Communities

"The contributors discuss, with data backing, why proper management of information in the era of big data and social media is essential in promoting economic development and citizen health and in advancing social cohesion and democracy while rooting out corruption in poor and marginalized communities across the world. This book is recommended reading for media managers, social accountability, and health advocacy professionals. The biggest beneficiaries, in my view, are the students of media studies, health promotion and advocacy, and political science." (Levi Zeleza Manda, Editor of Journal of Development and Communication Studies) "This collection of essays attempts to unravel our complex postmodern existence by using the constitutive discipline of communication scholarship to explicate the troubled nexus between the important concepts of citizenship, democracy and the media in a developmental setting." (Muiru Ngugi, Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, Kenya)

This volume analyzes the contexts in which emerging economies in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Asia can chart their socioeconomic futures through progressive democratic practices and media engagement. Using political and development communication, along with case studies from selected countries in these regions, the volume addresses human rights policies, diplomatic practices, democratization, good governance, identity politics, terrorism, collective action, gendered crimes, political psychology, and citizen journalism as paradigms for sustainable growth. Through practical experiences and field research in the selected countries, scholars show how personal and national freedoms as well as business deals have been negotiated in a bid to create a new socioeconomic culture within the nations.