Recent years have seen the mass migration of MFAs (foreign ministries) and diplomats to social media sites. It is now estimated that 95% of UN Member States have established some form of social media presence. Iran is no exception. Although Twitter, Facebook and other platforms cannot be accessed from Iran, senior Iranian policy makers can... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week - Two-thirds of Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are online, COVID driving them to tech training (Times of Israel)How Russia tries to censor Western social media (BBC News)The worst technology of 2021 (MIT Technology Review)India... Continue Reading →
A Season of Faith’s Perfection: Digital Diplomacy’s Greatest Year
The universe, as we now know, began with a bang. A big bang to be precise. A cataclysmic and cosmic explosion that at once gave birth to more than 120 billion galaxies. Digital diplomacy also began with a bang, or a momentous event that instigated a global change in the practice of diplomacy. This event, according... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List- Best of 2021
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week I have curated a list of the most important digital news of 2021. Happy Holidays! Leveraging digital technology during the pandemic (Brookings)The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online (The New York Times)Tokyo... Continue Reading →
Walking a Tightrope: How Ambassadors Meet the Demands of the Digital Society
To understand digital diplomacy, one must first understand the digital society. The reason being that diplomacy is a social institution and diplomats are social beings. Processes that affect society as a whole affect diplomats and it is through diplomats that such processes permeate into MFAs giving rise to new norms, values and working routines. Sociologists... Continue Reading →
Mondays’ Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- The 20 Most Promising Israeli Startups to Follow in 2021 (Haaretz Newspaper)WSJ’s deep dive into eating disorder on TikTok explains a sudden policy change (The Verge)What is the metaverse? (BBC News)Could... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- How Israeli Spy-tech Became Dictators' Weapon of Choice (Haaretz Newspaper)The opportunities that geospatial technology presents for India Inc. (The Economic Times)We don’t yet have the technology needed to reach net zero... Continue Reading →
The End of the Charm Offensive? Iran on Social Media
The 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani as President of Iran was greeted with a global sigh of relief. Here was a clear indication that Iran was willing to rejoin the international community even at the cost of halting its nuclear weapons program. From the eve of his election, Rouhani was positively depicted in Western media... Continue Reading →
Monday’s Must Read List
Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- The Vast Promise of mRNA Technology (Wall Street Journal)Can Technology Predict War? (The Diplomat)The Job Juggle: Gen Z and millennial employees embrace the concept of ‘Polywork’ (Digiday)U.S. to lead global initiative... Continue Reading →
Is Digital Diplomacy A form of Liquid Diplomacy?
In the year 2000, Zygmunt Bauman introduced his theory of Liquid Modernity. Bauman argues that modernity (i.e., 18th-20th centuries) was characterized by solid social institutions such as nation states, with clearly marked borders, social classes, characterized by limited mobility, and fixed identities built around nations, religion or ethnicity. Late modernity, or the 21st century, is... Continue Reading →