Foster, C. G. 2026. Assembling the notion of “Digital Public Infrastructure” Global Institutions and Southern Realities, Paper presented at GDI International Conference, Manchester, UK, May
[In progress]
Abstract
This paper analyses the emergence of “digital public infrastructure” (DPI) as a major area of national development projects, but also one also taken up by global institutions such as the World Bank and UN.
The paper is, therefore, grounded in seeking to unpack the two quite contrasting development discourses taken on DPI. On one hand, as reflected in the emergence of India’s successful “Indiastack”, the narrative of DPI is one of digital industrial policy centred on domestically-created ICT systems, and economic sovereignty in the context of growing big tech concentration.
On the other hand, as reflected in World Bank analysis, DPI aligns closely to other forms of infrastructural development project centred on support for de-risking projects to make them pliable to private investment, the so-called Wall Street consensus.
I use two cases DPI to reflect, focussing on eCitizen (government services) in Kenya and PromptPay (digital payment infrastructure) in Thailand. Rather than seeing these separated discourses as at odds, I suggest it is productive to examine in more detail the evolving overlap and appropriation of goals and their political economy.
Through diverse cases of DPI, this paper also allows a broader reflection the emerging dynamics of digital infrastructure and global development.