Digital nation branding beyond neoliberalism in Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador

This chapter frames digital nation branding as a strategic mode of governance and survival in a context marked by neoliberal globalisation and geopolitical volatility. In particular, as tourism industries become increasingly entangled with global digital platforms, questions of visibility, authenticity and contestation of space and place have gained renewed relevance. By examining the case studies of Cuba, Bolivia and Ecuador, the analysis reveals how even non-neoliberal nation-states adopt the visual vocabularies and logics of digital nation branding. Examining this paradox offers a lens through which digital nation branding can be understood as a technique of statecraft that operates across ideological divides, shaped by political contingencies, structured by digital technologies, and continually open to contestation. Significantly, although digital initiatives often invite citizen participation to foster authenticity, their claims of inclusivity are compromised by their reinforcement of historical social hierarchies, and the inequalities that continue to characterise levels of connectivity and digital participation in the region. Research in the field demonstrates that digital nation branding in Latin America does not redress inequality; instead, it rearticulates existing power asymmetries resulting in often fragile national brands.