2019- The Year in Which Digital Diplomacy Research Came of Age0

• Digital Diplomacy
• 26th December 2019

When asked what is the enlightenment, Kant answered “Enlightened is man’s ascension from his self-imposed immaturity”. When reviewing the study of digital diplomacy, 2019 is the year of maturity. In 2015, scholars mainly asked who? Who manages the digital accounts of MFAs/embassies and multi-lateral missions? This was an important question. If digital diplomacy managers were former journalists, then perhaps diplomats viewed digital tools as new means for framing government communication. If, on the other hand, digital accounts were managed by social media wizards, then perhaps MFAs focused their efforts on attracting digital publics. An important activity given that without the public, one cannot practice diplomacy. Lastly, if digital accounts were managed by diplomats, then perhaps MFAs viewed Facebook and Twitter as foreign policy tools. Answers, we soon discovered, were diverse. While some MFAs hired former journalists, others hired social media experts while still others trained ve..

Pull Versus Push in Digital Diplomacy0

• Digital Diplomacy
• 23rd December 2019

The Crimean Crisis has been regarded as a turning point in the relationship between Western Europe and Russia. The Crisis, which burst onto the scene in December of 2013, saw strongly worded tweets followed by troop convoys, financial sanctions and the expulsion of diplomats. In the wake of the Crisis, governments in Western Europe came to regard Russia, and not terrorism, as the greatest threat to national security. The new fault lines drawn around the Crimean Peninsula were soon evident in multi-lateral forums that were plagued by paralysis. A world in which Russia and Western Europe do not collaborate is one in which the Security Council is reduced to a debating society while UN agencies such as the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) are rendered irrelevant.

Yet the Crimean Crisis was not just a diplomatic crisis. It was a digital crisis which forced diplomats and their institutions to re-conceptualize how they use digital technologies. Prior to the Crisis,..

‘Maximize the positive’ from new technologies, for our digital future, Guterres urges0

• Digital Diplomacy
• 2nd December 2019

Both positive and negative technological developments are jolting the world at “unprecedented speed”, the UN chief said on Thursday, underscoring the need to “maximize the benefits…whilst mitigating harms”. “New technologies, and particularly digital technologies, are already having a major impact on the world, affecting all our work on international peace and security, sustainable development and

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY VS CYBER DIPLOMACY0

• Digital Diplomacy
• 17th November 2019

The concept of cyber diplomacy is often associated with digital diplomacy, electronic diplomacy or computer diplomacy. Overlapping use of these concepts raises confusion over the relationship between diplomacy and the digital world. Digital (Electronic or Computer) Diplomacy Digital (Electronic or Computer) Diplomacy refers to the use of digital tools and techniques to advance diplomatic goals.