Digital Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities

The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy, 2018

Digital diplomacy describes a moment, capturing the novelty of information and communication technologies put to use for diplomacy. The term conveys a concurrent set of issues at the intersection of technology and diplomacy: how the practice and context of diplomacy is influenced by the availability of digital platforms for communication, information gathering, and analysis. Technology has catalyzed change for both policy-makers and practitioners. Information and communication technologies have created emergent challenges for foreign policy decision-makers, who must contend with how digital platforms have enabled new forms of public engagement, commerce, and warfare.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN THE AIR FORCE, 2022

Diplomacy has emerged in interstate relations as a mechanism that facilitates the achievement of state objectives, with the task of promoting and protecting state sovereignty. It has had to be reinvented with every important discovery in world history and with every substantial change in the field of communication. The fourth industrial revolution changed the whole panoply of interpersonal and interstates relations, having an important effect on the way international relations unfolded. The emergence of 24/7 news networks, social networks, blogs and streaming has led diplomacy to enter a new stage of its transformation and adaptation to the realities of the contemporary world, giving rise to the so-called digital diplomacy. In this article cyber diplomacy is described from its communicational dimension point of view underlining its importance for assuring national interest of states.

“Security, Political and Legal Challenges of the Modern World”, 2018

The world is changing. Communicating with the world and learning information is done with the speed of light and this is all due to the fast rise of technology in all the parts of the world. These changes influence all of us privately and publicly. It influences states and the way they conduct foreign policy. Diplomacy changed into digital diplomacy. Diplomats, states, NGO’s are online and are open to the community which was unthinkable in the past. As much as there are positive connotations to all of this new technologies and the internet there are also negative once that are linked to terrorism, war, uprisings, hackers and so on. Important information can be hacked by terrorists and used to harm a state, a nation or the world. Therefore, digital diplomacy should be conducted in a very specific way and the diplomats should be trained to conduct diplomacy to be open but safe.

Greenfield Journal of International Relations and Security Studies (GJIRSS), 2022

Digital Diplomacy is the talk of the town in the corridors of international diplomacy. Digital diplomacy as an instrument or tool for foreign policy is the transformation of traditional way of foreign relations to a more advance method. Digital Diplomacy is the growing use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and social media platforms within the conduct of Public Diplomacy. This is believed that the medium has changed but not the message. Instead of talking to foreign publics over the radio, one now communicates with them through a twitter and other channel through the internet. The paper adopted soft power theory to analyze the work; soft power describes the utilization of positive attraction and persuasion to achieve foreign policy objectives. The paper finds out that one of the benefits of digital diplomacy is its ability to foster two-way communication which has improve the practice of foreign policy. Also, the paper discovers that there are challenges faced by digital diplomacy one of which is cyber security; the rapid spread of information which is often an advantage for digital diplomacy, can also turn out to be a great disadvantage. The paper concludes that technology is an asset that can greatly benefit those who use it in the right way; it is not a requirement and should not replace all parts of diplomacy. That when it comes to international affairs, technology will never replace the expertise that can be gained from sending diplomats to foreign countries to view these places first-hand.

Cogent Social Sciences , 2017

The Internet revolution has affected all aspects of life, including International relations. Diplomacy as a tool of foreign policy has also being transformed by this revolution. This paper examines the concept of digital diplomacy, focusing on the use of digital media in the field of diplomacy and how countries are utilizing these tools in the pursuit of their foreign policies. It examines the opportunities and challenges these media offer for diplomatic activities, and argues that countries cannot afford to be left behind in this era of digital diplomacy as they can greatly benefit from these emerging diplomatic trends. Digital diplomacy and Internet activities as a whole can greatly assist in projecting a state's foreign policy positions to domestic and foreign audiences.

Русская политология, 2020

There are numerous global challenges facing humanity in this century. Diplomacy has to take these needs into account and contribute with profound expertise to academic and political discussions as well as societal developments. Any single state-related or disciplinary solo effort will not provide adequate answers to how humanity can manage and cope with the global risks of the 21 st century. The article deals with the question of digital diplomacy versus downfall by fi rst outlining the global hazards endangering humanity as well as infl uencing world politics and international relations. Thereafter digital diplomacy as a tool to prevent humanity's downfall is presented. Requirements for diplomats in the global age are highlighted in the following. Furthermore, visionary claims of a global turn in politics are designated and diplomacy's contribution toward this undertaking are formulated. To close, diplomacy's most promising way of off ering humanity its profound expertise in the digital era is set forth.

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy , 2023

To date, scholars have only investigated how societal norms reshape diplomacy. The War in Ukraine demonstrates the need to examine how diplomats' use of digital technologies may reshape societies. In this article I examine two new, digital practices adopted by Ukraine during the War. By analyzing these practices, I try to reflect on how these may impact the norms and values of digital societies. This article takes the road not taken by digital diplomacy scholars while demonstrating the importance of broadening digital diplomacy's horizons and examining the reciprocal relationship between diplomacy and society.

ICT revolution in the second half of the 20 th century transformed the way we communicate and transfer information. As a result ICT were incorporated into governance and notion of egovernance emerged. Digital diplomacy emerged as a continuum of the ICT revolution in the conduct of diplomacy. With the popularisation of new media, social networks, smartphones and other latest internet-based tools, diplomacy moved into a new domain of digital affairs. Thus digital diplomacy is simply defined as use of new ICT tools in order to achieve diplomatic goals.

Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 2018

It is claimed that digital diplomacy will radically change how diplomats engage with the populace in the countries to which they are stationed. Facebook in particular is seen as a means by which embassies can speak to sections of the local population that have previously been difficult to engage. The European Union has signalled its intent to embrace social media more purposefully and meaningfully as part of its diplomatic effort. This article examines those claims made for digital diplomacy relying on data that show the patterns of use of Facebook by European embassies in Kazakhstan. The results show that, primarily, Facebook's features are used for one-way communication of banal and routine information. However, little policy dialogue is evident.

Recent years have seen the digital disruption of diplomacy. The global proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and mass adoption of social media networks created a new set of opportunities and challenges that diplomacy had to grapple with. Alongside the ability to manage consular crises in near real time and shape a nation’s image, diplomats had to contend with calls for more open and transparent forms of diplomacy as well as develop a digitally literate diplomatic corps . The disruptive nature of digitalization has also been evident in the realm of public diplomacy. Digitalization has enabled diplomats to interact with foreign populations, establish global virtual embassies and overcome traditional gatekeepers such as the news room elite. Yet digitalization has also seen the rise of an opinionated online public that is clamouring to be heard as well as the transformation of social media into competitive framing arenas in which multiple actors vie over public attention and support. More recently, digitalization has become a tool for strategic use of dis-information and mis-information. It is amid this backdrop of digital disruption that this issue of the Revista Mexicana de Política Exterior (RMPE) aims to offer a more comprehensive understating of the current state of public diplomacy.