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Editor, Itedge, Segun Oruame.

Social Contract and the WSIS Agenda

Decades ago, Thomas Hobbes propounded the Social Contract Theory - not completely a novel idea since any historian would tell you that the theory is nearly as old as philosophy itself. And philosophy is as ancient as primordial man.
 

But Hobbes gave the theory its most modern currency to open a floodgate of stimulating arguments on the contract between the ruled and the rulers. The Social Contract Theory pre-supposes that collectively enforced social arrangements are sufficiently and justifiably legitimate to become the object of an agreement for the people who are subject to it. In simple term, those who rule are entitle to rule as long as they sufficientlt fulfil the requiements to rule including the provision of basic neccessities and security.

In return, the ruled must honor his or her responsibilities under the terms of the contract including payment of taxes and conforming to laws such as ensuring that the rights of others are not infringed upon.

In 2005, there are increasing arguments to make access to ICT facilities fundamental rights of the ruled and their provision the responsibilities of the rulers. It is an interesting argument that appears to underscore the very essence of the WSIS Agenda or even the duties of States (particuloarly developing countries) to meet the Milleanium Development Goals (MDGs).

Rulers are increasigly under obligation to, among other goals, connect villages with ICTs and establish community access points; connect universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs; connect scientific and research centres with ICTs; connect public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices, and archives with ICTs; connect health centres and hospitals with ICTs; connect all local and central government departments and establish websites and email addresses; adapt all primary and secondary curricula to meet the challenges of the information society; and ensure their people have access to television and radio services.

Basic necessities used to be water, electricity, food, clothing and shelter. But the exigency of modern life has added information communication technologies as constituting citizens’ right. Governments are, therefore, obliged to provide these. At no time is the Social Contract Theory more important than now when States that have increasingly failed to meet the old list of necessities are compelled to provide the new items on the list.

Africa remains a continent of unmet obligations. Basic political rights are trampled on with impunity. Social and economic rights are flung though the window resulting into mass poverty while a few live in absolute luxury. Food is a necessity and so is shelter. But the number of hungry people and homeless citizens on the continent is frighteningly huge. A large percentage of young people below 10 years in many countries have seen violence as a result of political strives than they have noticed peace.

The nightmare is not over. Africa’s debt profile is both intimidating and depressing. It is one of the major factors of underdevelopment in the continent of over 850 million people where more than 50% of yearly income is used to service debts in several instances.

African leaders have failed to deliver on basic necessities and more often than not, they blame their failure on external factors particularly debt servicing/reschedulements. And also more often than not, African leaders hardly accept that they have failed and the agreement they have with their citizens under the principle of the Social Contract is void.


Military force, political coercion and chicanery in several instance have been used to sustain the lost of ligitimacy or even the absence of legitimacy in the first place. How such rulers could be made to accept that they are under obligation to provide ICTs as basic neccessities is a task that is as difficult to achieve as it is to comprehend.

But has the provision of ICTs entered the list of Basic Rights in advanced economies? Imagine what would happen to Blair or Bush if telephone lines and TV signals suddenly go dead and remain so for weeks. The west has come to accept the existence ICTs and affordable access to them as basic rights; no government who wants to last in office would compromise such rights.

Now, can governments in Africa be made to accept as their obligations the provision of affordable access to ICTs? The question does not demand an answer. It requires that the citizens assert their initial rights to demand that governments meet the pristine obligation to provide shelter, basic healthcare and support infrastructure among others. Upon these are the new rights fostered including the right to affordable telephone and Internet access.

The Social Contract Theory entails that once a party fails to meet its own part of the agreement, it ceases to have legitimacy to enjoy the privileges that are attributes of such rights. In other words, citizens who fail to pay taxes or deny others their right to lives, for instances, are no longer entitled to enjoy the privileges or rights in existence for those who have not compromised the agreement.

Similarly, those rulers who have failed to deliver on their obligations are not entitled to rule. Unfortunately, they are in the majority on the continent. It is therefore, the right of the citizens’ to demand that such rulers vacate the seats of power. It is the citizens’ responsibility to resist their continuation in power. We must begin to believe that the relevance of the Social Contract Theory to the African reality is that if the MDGs must be achieved, Africa must re-invent itself by providing and sustaining a new level of leadership. A Leadership that is able to appreciate the dialectics of the Social Contract Theory and its significance in the context of the evolving Information Society.

The Social Contract Theory has had various modern guises and revisitings by different proponents but the kernel of it remains that every society is nurtured on a contractual agreement fostered on the notion that rights entails obligations. And that those who fail to meet their obligations must lose their rights. It is an exciting age we enter, indeed! Imagine a Nigeria or Ghana or Senegal, where leadership would be removed because citizens cannot get a dial tone for a week. Welcome to the Information Society.

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