Digital diplomacy and digital international relations: Challenges and new advantages

In: Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. International relations, Band 15, Heft 2, S. 174-196

Abstract

The paper introduces concepts relative to digital international relations, including the following clusters as data/digital diplomacy; cyber security and cyber diplomacy; global internet governance; and, finally, digital voting. All these elements have come under the pressure of datalization that is the growth of digital actors and of big data analytics used often for political purposes. This paper focuses on one of the elements of digital international relations, notably the digital diplomacy. The authors discuss new challenges including digital uncertainty, fractured digital reality, and framing. Based on the analysis of data retrieved from social media by computational algorithms, the authors test these new challenges in case studies related to the digital diplomacy conducted by the United States, Russia and China in such countries as Afghanistan, Syria and Iran in various timelines. The authors reveal that multiple digital bloggers, mass-media, various entities, etc., can diminish the effectiveness of governmental digital diplomacy. At the same time, the datalization, digital uncertainty, and fragmentation allow the official diplomacy of the states to promote values through specific policy of framing discussed in the paper. Based on the empirical data, it can be concluded that the current stage of digitalization of international relations compels the states to introduce new binding agreements to draw "cyber red lines" or, equally, to maintain internet freedom that will contribute to shaping a balance of power in cyberspace.