Will Digital Technology Disrupt & Replace Traditional Diplomacy?
Rather than making face-to-face negotiation obsolete, digital diplomacy will provide governments and diplomats with new tools in which to contest the context, influence the substance and communicate the significance of face-to-face negotiation.
As such, digital diplomacy represents a technological twenty-first century extension of the complex rituals, maneuvers, sensitivities, vulnerabilities and anxieties that have accompanied the act of diplomacy since ancient times.
This thesis will argue that while digital diplomacy will change the protocol and frequency in which face-to-face negotiations are conducted between leaders, governments and global institutions, the significance of face-to-face meetings in a networked reality (Park and Lim, 2014, p. 82) is likely to increase rather than decrease in importance.
As such, digital diplomacy represents a technological twenty-first century extension of the complex rituals, maneuvers, sensitivities, vulnerabilities and anxieties that have accompanied the act of diplomacy since ancient times.
The essay is structured as follows. Section I will provide a working definition of digital diplomacy, and briefly discuss the research limitations. Following this, an examination of face-to-face interchange in physical and virtual space will be explored. Three enduring benefits of face-to-face negotiation will be outlined and discussed.
In Section II, a literature review will advance four case studies. The case studies highlight the different ways digital diplomacy is intersecting and assimilating with face-to-face negotiations.
In Section III, the binary understanding of ‘physical vs. digital’ will be presented as an over-simplification. From horizontal communication with citizens, to vertical communication between diplomats, digital diplomacy is amalgamating with and assimilating face-to-face negotiations in a subtle but profound way.
An essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Global Diplomacy of the University of London International Programmes. Read the full article on Academia below.
