Exploring ICT Governance in Small Island Developing States: Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius

This chapter examines ICT governance in the small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean and East Africa. More specifically, it critiques the media and communication legislation, regulations and regulatory frameworks of Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. Critical Discourse Analysis is used to analyse the language of the legal documents to reveal the philosophy of governance utilised by the governments under investigation. The impact of relevant International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and World Trade Organization (WTO) policies on the governance approach and process in SIDS is also assessed. In addition, this chapter introduces the concept of Post-colonial Governmentality of Communication and explores the Communication Cycle of Dependency which results from the inequities and imbalance of the global media economy. The analysis builds on Mbembe’s notion of Post-colonial Governmentality, Hamelink and McChesney’s analysis of globalisation and Dunn’s assessment of communications industries in pan-African countries. This chapter concludes by proposing solutions for greater south–south dialogue and collaboration to re-write the narrative of dependence and neo-colonialism.