Social media have permanently changed the area of foreign policy: transparency in political activity, interaction rather than mere information, and communication on an equal footing are but a few of the implications for a reconfiguration of international relations. Governmental actors are responding to these changes in the digital world. Thus, states such as the USA, Great Britain and Sweden have already defined communication via social networks as one of the core tasks of their foreign policy. They use cyberspace as a medium for conducting virtual diplomacy - and in this way, they try to bring their foreign policy into line with the changes in media.
"This book analyses digital diplomacy as a form of change management in international politics. The recent spread of digital initiatives in foreign ministries is often argued to be nothing less than a revolution in the practice of diplomacy. In some respects this revolution is long overdue. Digital technology has changed the ways firms conduct business, individuals conduct social relations, and states conduct governance internally, but states are only just realizing its potential to change the ways all aspects of interstate interactions are conducted. In particular, the adoption of digital diplomacy (i.e., the use of social media for diplomatic purposes) has been implicated in changing practices of how diplomats engage in information management, public diplomacy, strategy planning, international negotiations or even crisis management. Despite these significant changes and the promise that digital diplomacy offers, little is known, from an analytical perspective, about how digital diplomacy works. This volume, the first of its kind, brings together established scholars and experienced policy-makers to bridge this analytical gap. The objective of the book is to theorize what digital diplomacy is, assess its relationship to traditional forms of diplomacy, examine the latent power dynamics inherent in digital diplomacy, and assess the conditions under which digital diplomacy informs, regulates, or constrains foreign policy. Organized around a common theme of investigating digital diplomacy as a form of change management in the international system, it combines diverse theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented chapters centered on international change. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomatic studies, public diplomacy, foreign policy, social media and international relations"--
The article presents a comparative analysis of the official presence on the Internet, including social networking sites, of the state diplomatic agencies of France, Italy, Russia, and others. A new form of "digital diplomacy" on the one hand provides new opportunities for the implementation of the state international politics, and on the other, imposes special requirements on its members. There is the feedback loop between the diplomatic and public agencies (a new phenomenon of the modern information society). Social media play an important role in shaping public opinion, which puts forward specific requirements for how information on the official pages of diplomatic offices in social networks. The new format of close cooperation between the public and diplomatic agencies makes the modern diplomacy more public and less restrained. In these circumstances, it is very important information without losing the initiative and applying new and modern means of communication with their particular style of communication, they can not fall the level of political culture, as happened with the diplomatic authorities of the USA and some other countries. Thus, the ongoing technological revolution complicates the interaction between the participants of international relations. The usage of digital technologies in the diplomatic activity opens up new possibilities for conducting a policy of «soft power» aimed to develop concerted action to overcome the political, social and economic crises, as well as develop the measures to prevent them.
This article develops a conceptual framework for analyzing the international activities of internet companies. It focuses specifically on the question of whether internet companies' activities are examples of business diplomacy, by examining cases of conflict between corporate actors and the Chinese government and their negotiations under a divided set of loyalties. In so doing, the article seeks to re-examine notions of sovereignty as applied to cyberspace, and to engage in a conceptual discussion of critical issues on the role of business diplomacy in the internet governance debate. Ultimately, it argues that while their activities are more commercial than diplomatic on the whole, internet companies cannot be neutral actors outside of international politics. The article thus makes a case for greater engagement by companies in business diplomacy on a country-to-country basis.
Dış politikanın yürütme aracı olan diplomasi, ilk çağlardan günümüze gelinceye kadar büyük bir değişime uğramıştır. Küreselleşmeyle birlikte iletişim alanında meydana gelen değişimler, diplomasi alanında önemli etkilere neden olmuştur. Bu çalışmada küreselleşmenin diplomasiye yansıması kapsamında, dış politikanın şekillenmesinde hayati öneme sahip karar alıcılar üzerindeki etkileri üzerinde durulmuştur. Küreselleşmeyle gelen değişimin; diplomatik kurumlara nasıl yansıdığı incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Küreselleşen dünyada diplomasi uygulamaların getirdiği eskiye yönelik toplumsal kayıplar ele alınmıştır. Bu çalışma konusunun derin araştırmalara ihtiyaç duyduğu ve henüz bakir bir alan olduğu saptanmıştır. ; Diplomacy which is a means in pursuing of the foreign policy has been greatly changed since the ancient times. The changes happened in the field of communication at the same time with the globalization have caused important effects on diplomacy. In this study, the effects of globalization on policy makers that have great importance in the shaping of foreign policy have been dwelled on from the reflection of globalization perspective on foreign policy. How the change coming with the globalization has reflected on the diplomatic institutions is studied. The deadweight losses that happened in the past as the result of diplomatic acts within the globalizing world have been mentioned. It is determined that the objective of this study needs to be researched deeply, and it is still a virgin area.
Development of information and communication technologies (ICT) deeply affected our lives. ICT revolution in the second half of the 20111 century transformed the way we communicate and transfer information. As a result ICT were incorporated into governance and notion of e-governance 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. The paper starts by examining how international affairs have been affected by advancements in the ICT industry. It discusses major challenges and benefits foreign services have to face in this highly technological world. It is concluded that ICT has helped states to run their communications with a larger audience in a much faster and cost-effective ways. But at the same time state borders has been blurred, large numbers of emerging actors in international relations have made it difficult to manage the communications and more importantly digitalisation of state affairs has put government networks under threat of cyberattacks or simply hacking. The first chapter tries to depict the large scale of the ICT revolution and its impact on world affairs. Furthermore, the report examines US experience in order to provide better understanding of how and why digital diplomacy came to existence and its importance in the 21 st century. In this part historical background of the US public diplomacy is presented. The transformation of public diplomacy from a Cold War weapon into a modernized tool of US influence. The reasons behind reforms in public diplomacy were mainly declining US image in the world affairs at the end 1990s and start of the 21st century. It is argued that American officials started to realize a need for dialogue and interaction with the rest of the world in order to be able to sustain their global influence. The paper also examines US arsenal of digital diplomacy from an institutional point of view by looking at different programs and projects American digital diplomats have been involved in. The chapter concludes that transformation in US public diplomacy has brought new era in the conduct of diplomacy, namely digital diplomacy. The third and last chapter draws from the previous ones and tries to apply them to the Australian public diplomacy. In doing so it first defines what Australian public diplomacy is. Furthermore it discusses major problems facing Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in the 21 st century. The paper argues that Australia's once well-developed ICT industry came to decline in the late 1990s which slowed down the process of digitalisation of the state affairs, namely e-government. Moreover, budget cuts and dramatic reduction of staff in DFAT exacerbated the situation. Today DFAT do not have a clear policy on digital diplomacy. The paper claims that digital diplomacy can serve as a cost-effective and fastest way to rejuvenate Australian public diplomacy and carry it into another level. Furthermore case studies of Virtual Student Foreign Service and virtual embassy in Second Life are presented as prospective projects for DFAT. The report concludes that emergence of digital diplomacy in the 21st century has been a long process that required reforms and rethinking of the ways public diplomacy is conducted. DFAT should accelerate this process and become foremost advocate of digital diplomacy in the world. Active presence in the digital world is the best way to promote geographically isolated Australia.
Social media holds the potential to foster dialogue between nations and foreign populations. Yet only a few studies to date have investigated the manner in which digital diplomacy is practised by foreign ministries. Using Kent and Taylor's framework for dialogic communication, this article explores the extent to which dialogic communication is adopted by foreign ministries in terms of content, media channels and public engagement. The results of a six-week analysis of content published on Twitter and Facebook by eleven foreign ministries show that engagement and dialogic communication are rare. When engagement does occur, it is quarantined to specific issues. Social media content published by foreign ministries represents a continuous supply of press releases targeting foreign, rather than domestic, populations. A cross-national comparison revealed no discernible differences in the adoption of dialogic principles. Results therefore indicate that foreign ministries still fail to realize the potential of digital diplomacy to foster dialogue.
