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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 →
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 →
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 →
A recent article in Nature, titled "Toward effective government communication strategies in the era of COVID-19", outlines communications policies that may help governments face the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors layout 9 guiding principles for "effective" government communication, including clarity, honesty and empathy. It is interesting that most of these principles are relevant to digital diplomacy,... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Exploring Digital Diplomacy 