Abstract
ABSTRACT Deployment of digital surveillance technologies has enabled governments to acquire detailed, precise, synoptic, and—in settings where capacity and resource constraints had historically impeded state information‐gathering efforts—previously inaccessible knowledge about populations. This article introduces a new typology of government digital surveillance and multiple sets of data that provide extensive evidence—the most comprehensive and systematic to date—of the deployment of digital surveillance technologies by African governments. I identify and classify 372 distinct instances of government digital surveillance in Africa, detailing which governments have deployed it; where, when, and whom they have surveilled; the purposes and manner of deployment; and the technological solutions procured to this end as well as their suppliers. The article illuminates the scale and breadth of government use of digital surveillance technologies, advancing our understanding of the political ramifications of digitalization and informing investigation of consequent changes in government performance and state‐society relations.