Each week, I publish a list of interesting articles, essays and reports that may be of interest to the digital diplomacy community. This week- Privacy fears as Moscow metro rolls out facial recognition pay system (The Guardian)Danish White Paper: Towards a better social contract with big tech (Danish MFA)Facebook Uses Deceptive Math to Hide Its... Continue Reading →
Image Management at the UN General Assembly: The Russian Case Study
It’s that time of the year again. A time of expectation and jubilation. A time of press junkets and photobombs. A time of pomp and circumstance and a time of high level negotiations. It’s the time of the UN’s annual General Assembly when leaders, foreign ministers and diplomats swarm to New York to redraw borders,... Continue Reading →
Who won the framing competition over Afghanistan? A Twitter Analysis
In 2012, Craig Hayden published one of the first research papers on digital diplomacy. Focusing on the emergence of social media, Hayden stated that the audiences of diplomacy were fragmented into networks of elective exposure. Some individuals learned about the world by following diplomats on Twitter, others turned to trusted bloggers while still others followed... 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- DOD awards $1B contract to Peraton to counter misinformation (FedScoop)Russian Hypersonic Technology Expert Accused of High Treason (Militray.com)CCTV watchdog criticises Hikvision Uyghur response (BBC News)The UN climate report pins hopes on... Continue Reading →
Is it time for a terminology shift in digital diplomacy?
The digitalization of diplomacy has been closely associated with the practice of public diplomacy. Indeed, early adopters sought to leverage digital tools such as social media, blog sites and virtual worlds to foster ties with foreign populations. Public diplomacy underscored the digitalization of the US State Department that sought to engage with critical Muslim audiences... Continue Reading →
A Q &A with University Students- Assessing the Impact of Diplomacy’s Digitalization
This week I was invited to a Q&A session with university students in Chile. Many questions were asked, ranging from the role of Ambassadors in the digital age to the live-streaming of UN deliberations. Below are questions and answers that may prove valuable to scholars and practitioners of digital diplomacy. Q: Has digitalization led to... Continue Reading →
Russia and India- Strategic Allies?
Although booted out of office, Tony Blair remains an astute observer of international affairs. In a recent statement, Blair argued that the 21st century will be governed by three giants: China, thanks to its military and financial power, and the US thanks to its financial prowess and mass investments in defense. The third giant has... 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- Drones deliver blood to prevent maternal death in Botswana (Un News)France’s plan to rein in Big Tech (Politico)Voters already love technology. They don’t need anti-China messaging to get there (Vox)AI is... Continue Reading →
Covid’s Diplomatic Legacy
Last month, ‘The Economist’ magazine published an extensive article examining Covid’s impact on the practice of diplomacy. According to the article, the Coronavirus has led to the accelerated digitalization of diplomacy. Once the United Nations Headquarters shut its doors, and as diplomats all over the world found themselves quarantined at home, diplomacy migrated to digital... Continue Reading →
How World Leaders Framed the Climate Crisis
Traditionally, diplomats and world leaders have turned to communication channels in order to frame crises. Specifically, leaders and diplomats aim to identify the cause of a crisis, or the underlying problem that has precipitated a crisis between states. For instance, following the 9/11 terror attacks, President Bush announced that terror groups had declared war on... Continue Reading →