Between Tech and Trade, the Digital Turn in Development Policies

The ‘digital turn’ that took place in development policies since the early 2000s is characterized by the growing use of digital devices as development and governance tools, and by the growing use of large sets of data that goes hand in hand with it. This article points to three major changes that accompany this evolution. The first is the diversification of economic strategies that are permitted by the multiplication of markets dedicated to technological devices and data management in the developing world. The second is the evolution of relations between public and private institutions in the Global South; the interactions between public and private sectors have indeed been renewed through the kind of technological development partnerships allowed by digital devices. The third is the reconfiguration of issues as crucial as control, inequalities, exclusion at the individual and population level—digital devices don’t make these issues disappear, rather they take an important part in their reformulation.