Kitaw Yayehyirad Kitaw

Kitaw Yayehyirad Kitaw


Joined on January 21, 2020
Total Post Views: 18,139

About

Kitaw works in Geneva for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

Kitaw holds an MBA in Management of Technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and is currently a PhD Fellow in Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Maastricht—UNU-MERIT researching on the role of the Internet in pathways to democratization of authoritarian regimes.

More broadly, his research interests include how ICTs are reshaping authoritarianism, democratization, governance and democracy in general.

More about Kitaw

Except where otherwise noted, all postings by Kitaw Yayehyirad Kitaw on CircleID are licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Featured Blogs

Reflections on the Pandemic Effect on Internet Use and Democracy

Last year, around the same time, the release on the same day of two flagship reports on 'the Internet' had prompted me to write an article on CircleID entitled 'Connecting the Next 46 Percent: Time to Pick the Good From the Bad and the Ugly'. I was then prudently asking whether 'the more we connect the world, the less free it becomes?'. Who would have known that a pandemic would erupt a few months later, unveiling different perspectives in assessing that very same question? more

Connecting the Next 46 Percent: Time to Pick the Good From the Bad and the Ugly

On the 5th of November 2019, the release of the first of ITU's Measuring Digital Development series coincided with Freedom House's unveiling of its Freedom on Net 2019 report. This serendipity prompted me to write this blog note after carefully examining both reports. On one hand, ITU's analytical publication, with its new friendly format, emphasizes that Internet use continues to spread, warning however that the digital gender gap is widening. more