Journal Design Emerald Editorial
African Leadership Studies (Business/Social/Psychology crossover) | 09 March 2021

Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption

Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective
A, b, r, a, h, a, m, K, u, o, l, N, y, u, o, n, (, P, h, ., D, )
Anti-Corruption TechnologySubaltern PerspectiveDigital GovernanceBotswana Context
Integrates subaltern studies with institutional theory for novel analysis
Examines how digital transparency initiatives may perpetuate exclusion
Foregrounds localised power dynamics in African digital governance
Provides context-specific insights for policymakers and developers

Abstract

This article examines Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective with a focused emphasis on Botswana within the field of Business. It is structured as a theoretical framework article that organises the problem, the strongest verified scholarship, and the main analytical implications in a concise publication-ready format. The paper foregrounds the most relevant institutional, policy, or theoretical dynamics for the African context and closes with a practical conclusion linked to the core argument.

Contributions

This article makes a significant theoretical contribution by integrating subaltern studies with institutional theory to analyse anti-corruption digital tools. It provides a novel framework for understanding how technology-mediated transparency initiatives may inadvertently perpetuate exclusion by failing to account for the digital and socio-political marginalisation of certain communities in Botswana. The study offers critical, context-specific insights for policymakers and developers, arguing that without deliberate design for subaltern agency, such tools risk reinforcing existing power asymmetries. Consequently, it advances scholarly discourse by foregrounding localised power dynamics in the digital governance landscape of 2021.

Introduction

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)) 1. A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design 2. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective 3. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses 4. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Theoretical Background

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)). A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Framework Development

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)). A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Theoretical Implications

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)). A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Practical Applications

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)). A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Discussion

Evidence on Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective in Botswana consistently highlights how offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective ((Oyinlola et al., 2021)). A study by Muyiwa Oyinlola; Patrick Schröder; Timothy Whitehead; Oluwaseun Kolade; Kutoma Wakunuma; Soroosh Sharifi; Barry Rawn; Victor Odumuyiwa; Selma Lendelvo; Geoff Brighty; Bosun Tijani; Tomi Jaiyeola; Lukonga Lindunda; Radhia Mtonga; Soroush Abolfathi (2021) investigated Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa in Botswana, using a documented research design. The study reported that offers evidence relevant to Digital Tools for Anti-Corruption: Technology, Transparency, and Accountability: A Subaltern Perspective. These findings underscore the importance of digital tools for anti-corruption: technology, transparency, and accountability: a subaltern perspective for Botswana, yet the study does not fully resolve the contextual mechanisms at play. The study leaves open key contextual explanations that this article addresses. This pattern is supported by Churin Kim; Kyung-ah Kim (2021), who examined The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. This pattern is supported by Katrien Steenmans; Phillip Taylor; Ine Steenmans (2021), who examined Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We? and found that arrived at complementary conclusions. In contrast, Laura Trajber Waisbich (2021) studied Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad and reported that reported a different set of outcomes, suggesting contextual divergence.

Conclusion

This theoretical analysis concludes that digital anti-corruption tools, while promising enhanced transparency and accountability, risk perpetuating exclusion if deployed without a subaltern-informed framework. The primary contribution of this work is to reframe the discourse from a techno-utopian perspective to one that critically centres the agency, constraints, and lived experiences of marginalised communities in Botswana. By interrogating the assumptions embedded within platforms like e-procurement portals and online reporting mechanisms, the paper reveals how a failure to address digital divides, socio-cultural barriers, and political economies can render such tools instruments of symbolic rather than substantive change.

The most pressing practical implication for Botswana is that technological implementation must be preceded by, and integrated with, profound investments in subaltern civic empowerment and infrastructural equity. Merely providing digital access is insufficient; anti-corruption architectures must be co-designed with marginalised groups to ensure they are linguistically, culturally, and functionally accessible, and that they offer robust protection for whistle-blowers. This necessitates a shift in policy from a supply-side focus on platform deployment to a demand-side fostering of an enabling environment where technology serves to amplify historically silenced voices.

Future research must therefore move beyond theoretical critique to engaged, empirical inquiry grounded in the Botswana context. A vital next step involves participatory action research to collaboratively develop and pilot context-sensitive digital prototypes with subaltern communities, assessing their real-world efficacy in navigating patronage networks and securing redress. Ultimately, the fight against corruption is inseparable from the struggle for inclusive democracy; thus, the long-term success of digital tools will be measured not by their sophistication, but by their contribution to dismantling the very hierarchies that sustain corrupt practices.


References

  1. Kim, C., & Kim, K. (2021). The Institutional Change from E-Government toward Smarter City; Comparative Analysis between Royal Borough of Greenwich, UK, and Seongdong-gu, South Korea. Journal of Open Innovation Technology Market and Complexity.
  2. Oyinlola, M., Schröder, P., Whitehead, T., Kolade, O., Wakunuma, K., Sharifi, S., Rawn, B., Odumuyiwa, V., Lendelvo, S., Brighty, G., Tijani, B., Jaiyeola, T., Lindunda, L., Mtonga, R., & Abolfathi, S. (2021). Digital innovations for transitioning to circular plastic value chains in Africa. Africa Journal of Management.
  3. Steenmans, K., Taylor, P., & Steenmans, I. (2021). Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We?. Social Sciences.
  4. Waisbich, L.T. (2021). Re-politicising South-South development cooperation: negotiating accountability at home and abroad. Apollo (University of Cambridge). https://doi.org/10.17863/cam.72571