Digital Diplomacy

This Year in Events Dec 20, 2018 Each year, CPD hosts a multitude of events with the top leaders and thinkers in public diplomacy. Included in this roundup are our 2018 event highlights ranging from an event with a Tony Award-winning playwright to a roundtable conversation with the Mayor of Paris and much more. What Marketers Can Learn From Terrorists The social media revolution has been integral to communication across the Muslim world. From the Arab Spring and active youth engagement to extremist recruitment and networking, digital diplomacy and social media use have transformed the communication paradigm in international relations. So what does this mean for regimes and voters? For terrorist organizations? Haroon Ulla, former head of the former BBG (now USAGM), discussed his new book, Digital World War: Islamists, Extremists, and the Fight for Cyber Supremacy, which outlined social media’s influence on the Muslim world, and its implications for regional and international poli..

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the International Communication Association’s 68th Annual Conference in Prague. My presentation focused on the digital and public diplomacy activities of the Palestinian government in the West Bank, specifically it’s Facebook Embassy to Israel. While presenting my work I mentioned that unlike other virtual Embassies, Palestine’s Facebook Embassy seems to stand the test of time as it is still active three years after being established. Following the presentation, Prof. R.S. Zaharna of the American University asked me why so many digital initiatives, like virtual Embassies, are short-lived? Why is it that MFAs often announce grand digital initiatives that are abandoned within a few months? This is a fascinating question whose answers can also illustrate the difficulty of practicing digital diplomacy. Answer # 1- Digital Diplomacy is Resource Intensive In 2015, the Israeli MFA launched a Twitter Embassy to the GCC, a group of six Gulf States t..

7min Read. As 2018, draws to a close the Digital Diplomacy Hub sought to provide an insight into global statistics of world leaders social media presence. These statistics can be used as an indicator of global governments’ digital diplomacy presence. This article borrows statistics from An annual survey conducted by Burson Marsteller, a public relations and communications firm aimed to assess government’s leaders, MFA’s and various institutions activity on social media. The research conducted found that as of December 2018, governments and world leaders predominantly still used traditional social media sites mainly Facebook and Twitter predominately to engage with the population. Governments globally increased their social media presences on other sites such as Instagram, Snapchat,etc…. but proved not as popular as Facebook or Twitter. This can be linked to the comfort of MFA’s being able to craft stories with long captions or stories via Facebook or Twitter posts. As well as being th..

7min Read. Understanding the digitization process of diplomacy is important, in order to appreciate how it has evolved and is practised today. It is equally as important to question where diplomacy fits within 21st century politics. This question may appear straightforward, however “diplomacy is experiencing an existential crisis…as a set of processes for managing an increasingly complex policy environment”(Hocking et al, 2012; p10). Pamment identifies three distinct factors that are causing changes in diplomacy; namely, ‘globalisation, technological and geopolitical factors. Pamment’s factors are key in understanding the impetus behind a MFAs adoption of digital technologies for diplomacy. Globalisation Globalisation has affected virtually all aspects of society including diplomacy. It is the “unfolding resolution of the contradiction between ever-expanding capital and its national political and social formations”(McBride and Wiseman, 2000;p9). It has increased a nations responsibi..

Inside Facebook’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, top executives gathered in the glass-walled conference room of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. It was September 2017, more...

The world has changed more rapidly over the last 35 years than over the last 350 years. These changes ultimately permeated the world of...

Under the patronage of Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the inaugural two-day Abu Dhabi Diplomacy...

Former UN envoy, Bernardino León, is tasked with training the UAE’s next generation of overseas representatives Diplomats of the future will need to be experts...

The Term Diplomacy is difficult to define, as there is no universal definition for diplomacy. Broadly speaking It has been defined as “institutionalised communication, among internationally recognised representatives…[who] produce, manage and distribute public goods”(Bjola and Kornprobst, 2013; p4). Alternatively, diplomacy can be defined as “the conduct of human affairs by peaceful means, employing techniques of persuasion and negotiation”(Badie et al, 2011; p1). What is clear is that diplomacy concerns communication between international actors in a networked sphere. Moreover, diplomacy is conducted by independent states that enter into dialogue because of domestic policies affecting each other. Eighteenth century philosopher Jacques Rousseau termed this ‘body politic’, whereby a state is “forced to look outside itself in order to know itself”(Watson, 1982; p1). States must therefore constantly be aware of the happenings outside their borders, by engaging in dialogue as “their domes..

  https://youtu.be/wD0FdpMK70Q