2017 marks a decade since the advent of “digital diplomacy”. What began as an experiment by a select number of foreign ministries has transformed into routine practice for diplomats and embassies the world over.
To mark this occasion, I will be publishing a series of working papers. The goal of this series is to reflect on the evolution of “digital diplomacy” over the past ten years, to stimulate debate among practitioners and scholars and to explore case studies that demonstrate the advantages, and shortcoming, of utilizing digital tools in the conduct of diplomacy.
This working paper focuses on the practice of digital Diaspora diplomacy. The working paper begins by identifying the manner in which digitalization has influenced Diasporas. Namely, it is my contention that digitalization has led to five contradictory trends. Next, the working paper reviews four case studies that demonstrate how Embassies, MFAs and diplomats can best practice digital Diaspora diplomacy. The case studies examine digital diplomacy activities of the Indian, Israeli, UK and Russian MFAs. Finally, the working paper argues that practicing digital Diaspora diplomacy requires that MFAs and diplomats adopt networked and tailored approaches to digital diplomacy.
The working paper is aviliable in the link below
The Contradictory Trends of Digital Diaspora Diplomacy
Readers of the blog are encouraged to use these working papers as source material provided they cite both the author and the blog.
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 