Uneven liberalisation in Southern Africa: convergence and democracy in communications policy Javnost 6

COMMUNICATIONS POLICY Technological convergence between telecommunica-tions, broadcasting and computing has become a central object of communications policy initiatives worldwide. This paper explores the implications of the associated shift towards prioritising industrial and competition policy impe-ratives over those of cultural policy in the context of processes of democratisation in Southern Africa during the 1990s. It examines the institutional mechanisms by which national regulatory regimes have been adjusted according to the dictates of market liberalisation promoted by interna-tional agencies (including the WTO, IMF, and World Bank), and mediated by regionally-based agencies (such as th