Diplomacy in the Digital Age
- By Brian Hocking and Jan Melissen
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 26, 2015
Among the multiple digital challenges, it is worth noting two concerning communication and a third one indicative of the trend towards more collaborative diplomacy, mentioned in the report of a 2013 Wilton Park (UK) practitioners' conference on trends in consular practice. The first one is that of citizens' expectations regarding quick solutions and the ability to maximize the use of technology in providing consular services whilst providing face-to-face assistance when required. Here we see the repetition of a familiar theme, the trade-off between 'online' and 'offline' affecting a range of other areas of diplomacy in the digital age.
Next, consular officers expect that citizens will want to communicate with government representatives in the social media. We can already observe governments using for example Twitter in the case of natural disasters and other emergencies, but the other side of the coin is that individual consular officers helping people in distress are understandably reluctant to reveal their identity by using personal social media accounts in the line of duty. Broadly speaking, as the 2013 conference report states: “The challenge for MFAs is to move from a static 'registry' approach, to interactive, information on demand, flash organization and crowd-sourced intelligence. Structuring mobile applications that encourage people to add value to the applications as they use them can provide mutual benefits to the owners and the users of information. Two-way communication via social media enables MFAs to receive citizen innovations and insights and raise citizens' awareness of travel warnings, particularly in crisis.”
Another area of consular innovation is that of public-private partnerships. Earlier in this report we already mentioned the scope for collaboration with the private sector in the field of digital diplomacy. Starting from straightforward collaborative arrangements with mobile phone providers to using free or cheap services of internet giants such as Google and social networks like LinkedIn, it is clear that the private sector also sees business opportunities in consular diplomacy. The protection of citizens abroad requires ICT systems that exceed the capacities of small technological players like foreign ministries; they call for a degree digital literacy that cannot yet be taken for granted within many MFAs, and they require a round-the-clock sophisticated consular management operation that is very different from other fields of diplomatic activity. There are also ethical considerations, privacy concerns and a range of other issues that come with the digitalization of consular diplomacy. That reminds us of the wider societal dimensions and multiple effects of technological change on diplomacy – which has always been and will remain a social institution.
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