On April 5th 2017, the Australian Embassy in Israel and the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group co-hosted a workshop on Digital Diplomacy. The workshop, which was attended by journalists, foreign diplomats and members of the Israeli MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), focused on three issues: utilizing digital tools for communicating with journalists, transitioning from digital... Continue Reading →
Ambassadors in a Digital Age
Note: This post originally appeared in Diplomat Magazine On 30 MARCH 2017, the Cyprus High Commission and Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group co-hosted London’s first Ambassador’s Forum on Digital Diplomacy. The Forum examined the varied ways in which digitalisation has impacted the function of ambassadors, be it in creating new challenges or fostering new opportunities. Notably,... Continue Reading →
Can the Internet Save Public Diplomacy?
Introduction- Narratives, Narratives, Narratives Several weeks ago I began watching a TV show depicting the lives of vampires in New York City. One of the greatest challenge facing these vampires is their lack of ability to gain acceptance from the human population. As the vampire leader summarized, “we lack a compelling narrative”. This week I... Continue Reading →
How Palestine Digitized It’s Public Diplomacy
NOTE: This blog post originally appeared on the USC CPD Blog and was co-written with Professor Marcus Holmes In 2011, the U.S. State Department launched Virtual Embassy Iran, a web-based platform that aimed to promote American “values and culture” to Iranians. This embassy served as an example of how diplomats can use digital technologies to... Continue Reading →
On the use of videos in Digital Diplomacy
Images & Diplomacy Images have traditionally played an important role in diplomacy. For instance, paintings were often used to bare testimony to diplomatic summits and conferences. Such is the case with Gerard ter Borch’s painting of the treaty of Munster. Additionally, political cartoons were used to narrate a nation’s foreign policy, frame its adversaries, manage... Continue Reading →
The Revolution Has Been Tweeted
On February 2017, the editor of Foreign Policy magazine David Rothkopf published a podcast focusing on digital diplomacy. Titled “The Revolution will be Tweeted”, the podcast attempted to examine the manner in which digital technologies are changing the DNA of diplomacy. To do so, Rothkopf interviews several experts including Alec Ross, former innovation advisor to... Continue Reading →
Digital Diplomacy Conference Summary
To Download the Conference Summary Report click here (Digital Diplomacy Conference Summary_Final) On the 30th of March, 2016, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Partner Institute at Tel Aviv University co-hosted Israel’s first Digital Diplomacy conference. Attended by 50 diplomats from 20 countries, alongside scholars from 25 universities, the conference aimed to investigate the impact... Continue Reading →
The UK as a Russian Battleground State
Since its emergence nearly a decade ago, digital diplomacy has been accompanied by a need to justify its costs. This is due to the fact that senior diplomats and policy makers often regarded digital diplomacy as a fad rather than a strategic tool for achieving foreign policy goals. This negative view of digital tools led... Continue Reading →
The Digitalization of Diplomacy
Digital diplomacy is no longer a novel phenomenon. In one form or another, digital diplomacy has existed for more than a decade. And yet scholars and practitioners continue to explore the practice and definition of digital diplomacy. During this process, different scholars and MFAs have offered different terms to understand the utilization of digital tools... Continue Reading →
How Embassies Managed the London Terror Attack
The horrid attack that shook London on Wednesday was a painful reminder that terrorism still plagues our world. Within minutes of the attack confusion and panic spread offline and online as people scrambled to make sense of the events unfolding outside Parliament. Initial reports indicated that several terrorists had attacked various targets across the city.... Continue Reading →