With this report, our aim is to present initial1
reflections on diplomacy in the digital age. In the ongoing
debate amongst international relations scholars, information
and communication technology (ICT) experts, digital4
strategists, social media advocates and others, the first question
for us is: what is happening to diplomacy? And the obvious
answer is what has always happened to it: diplomacy is7
responding to changes in the international and domestic
environments, in the main centres of authority, particularly
states, and in the character of societies at home and abroad.10
“Newness” in diplomacy today has everything to do
with the application of new communications technologies to
diplomacy. This issue goes right to the heart of diplomacy’s13
core functions, including negotiation, representation and
communication. Given the centrality of communication in
diplomacy, it is hardly surprising that the rise of social media16
should be of interest to practitioners of diplomacy. Most of
them, like people outside diplomatic culture, are in the process
of adjusting their “analogue” habits and finding their own19
voice in a new information sphere. This takes time, and for
technological enthusiasts to simply proclaim the arrival of a
“new statecraft” in the form of what is variously termed22
e-diplomacy, digital diplomacy, cyber diplomacy and
“twiplomacy” is too simplistic.
Paradoxically, greater complexity encourages25
shallow, hurried analyses and the search for simple
explanations about what is happening to diplomacy as the
regulating mechanism of the society of states. As in other28
epochs of fast technological change, the lure of quick fixes
addressing multifaceted processes of change in diplomacy
appears almost irresistible.31
Brian Hocking and Jan Melissen. Diplomacy in the digital age. 2015, p. 9. Internet: <www.clingendael.org> (adapted).