Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Xi’s Gambit: China Plans for a World Without American Technology (The New York Times) Startup using Soviet-era technology to build satellite servicing vehicle (Space News) Chinese Technology Stocks Have Fallen Harder... Continue Reading →
UAE Ambassador to Israel Makes Positive #Digital Impression
On the 17th of February 2021, the UAE’s Ambassador to Israel took to Twitter for the first time. In a tweet published in both English, Hebrew and Arabic, the Ambassador promised to strengthen ties between Israel and Emirates by ‘fostering peace, understanding and prosperity among our people and across the region’. Within 48 hours of... Continue Reading →
Social Media & Life in the Risk Society
In his book ‘Risk Society’, German Sociologist Ulrich Beck proposes a theory of reflexive modernity. Unlike other sociologists, Beck is far removed from the utopian vision of modernization as the continuous progress of industry and human thought. Namely he is concerned with the role of scientific knowledge in society. In Beck’s mind, scientific and industrial... Continue Reading →
Monday’s #MustRead 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- Auschwitz survivor, 92, takes over @Israel for Holocaust Remembrance Day (Times of Israel) Satellite boom attracts technology giants (BBC News)A network of Twitter bots has attacked the Belgian government's Huawei 5G... Continue Reading →
The Iran Deal is already being negotiated on Twitter
Digital platforms are now increasingly used for diplomatic signaling. MFAs and diplomats often use Twitter to comment on crises, address other nations’ policies and even criticize state action. They do so knowing full well that their Twitter accounts are monitored by their peers, and influential social media users such as journalists and blogger. Already in... Continue Reading →
How Biden & Harris used Twitter to signal the world
Historically, the transition of power in one global empire necessitated extensive diplomatic efforts on the part of all other powers. A new Austrian emperor, for instance, would have to be studied carefully so as to ascertain his political mindset, his commitment to peace, his zeal for war and his willingness to maintain ties with old... Continue Reading →
Monday’s #MustRead 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- Concern mounts over government cyber agency's struggle to respond to hack fallout (CNN)Teachers on TV? Schools Try Creative Strategy to Narrow Digital Divide (The New York Times)Digital Advertising Harms Society. Here’s... Continue Reading →
Monday’s #MustRead 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 will the future remember Covid19? (The Atlantic)7 Reasons Why Silicon Valley Will Have a Tough Time With the Biden Administration (Foreign Policy)The State of AI in 2019 (The Verge)Better Than... Continue Reading →
Should Diplomats Pay More Attention to Publics’ Online Knowledge Voyage?
Two years ago the Dutch Foreign Ministry held a Digital Diplomacy Camp. Over the course of two days, the Camp offered a platform for diplomats, journalists, scholars and representatives of social media companies eager to discuss the digitalization of diplomacy. In one session, Jay Wang of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy reflected on online... Continue Reading →
The Banality of Soft Power
In the autumn of 1990, Joseph Nye sought to re-imagine what American power would like in the 21st century. Writing near the end of the Cold War, Nye offered scholars and policy makers a new conceptual framework through which they could understand power dynamics in a changing world. The Cold War would soon be over,... Continue Reading →