When tribal wars are mass mediated: Re-evaluating the policy of “non-interference”

This paper explores the current and potential role of existent and emerging electronic media in the peacemaking process in Africa, where media ownership is paternalistic, politics tribalistic, and internal conflicts are driven by inter-tribal animosity. Against the background of an international political culture of “non-interference,” the author attempts to answer the ques tion, “when has interference occurred?” A proposed typology, which weighs the dimensions of third party involvement in prototypical conflicts along host nation's anxiety-cooperation continuum, provides the basis for the suggestion of another political culture of preventive diplomacy. The need for another political culture is offered as a rationale for the proactive deployment of electronic media at the onset of conflicts and well before genocidal blood- bath.