Foreign policy in an Era of Digital Diplomacy

Foreign policy in an era of digital diplomacy

As Crabb stated, “foreign policy consists of two elements: national objectives to be achieved and the means for achieving them. The foreign policy of all nations is the same”. Thus, one of the elements of foreign policy is the means of achieving a country’s foreign policy objectives, and one of the major instruments of foreign policy is diplomacy.

We are living in an electronic age and in the last three decades; the revolution of information and communication has affected every part of our lives as well as the diplomacy and foreign policies. More than 2 billion people are using social media platforms daily, digital connectivity has made the world smaller and, in the process, changed the daily lives of billions of people. These big changes in our lives are offering less developed countries to seize opportunities. Using digital diplomacy actively they have a chance to see the world and to change their economic values into high-value information values. Although, every part of our lives is affected by the digital revolution, could less developed countries make a big improvement using only digital world’s benefits? Even if the digital revolution has made the world smaller, we live in the physical world so geopolitical aspects still have a big impact. Thus, I think less develop countries might have a chance to make their countries better in every situation but only improving the digital world isn’t enough.

Digital diplomacy needs to be defined to have a better understanding. Essentially, diplomacy the is core instrument through which goals, strategies and broad tactics of foreign policy are implemented. As a recent development, digital diplomacy has been defined in different but similar ways. After reading all definitions what I understand is that digital diplomacy is using the Internet to reach a country’s foreign aims and make an influence on other countries in terms of country’s policy and diplomatic aims. Hanson (2012) made a wide explanation for digital diplomacy objectives. These objectives are knowledge management, public diplomacy, information management, consular communication and response, disaster response, Internet freedom, external resources and policy planning. Digital diplomacy is seen as an important tool in furthering a nation’s foreign policy as it enables direct interaction and engagement with foreign publics. Digitalism led a revolution in diplomacy because it has changed the way diplomacy takes place and it’s now from people to government and from people to people.

Digital diplomacy is a soft-power, which is the ability to set an agenda in world politics through persuasion, enticing and attracting others through the force of one’s beliefs, values, and ideas, and not through military or economic coercion. We live in the age of digitalism and the importance of information is becoming vital, and easier to attain. I think information is more important than guns, bombs and military deterrence, which means soft power is becoming more important than hard-power. For example, cyber deterrence has more impact than any progress in the military because cyber power has the influence of slowing down or stopping military progress without declaring a war.

Diplomacy has always had to adapt and change to the particular communication forms of its environment. In a world where everyone is increasingly connected, the ability to gather and share information to wide audiences at unprecedented rates has created new opportunities for policy leaders and government departments to share messages and set political agendas beyond traditional channels.

Many countries use the creation of websites, blog and social media platforms to pursue actively their foreign policy objectives. Since billions of people use these platforms too, citizens and civil society are now able to hold governments accountable for policies and politicians for statements. Countries are in competition for digitalizing their foreign policies to make a bigger impact on people than other countries. These competitions lead to countries’ use the of social platforms more actively to reach, interact and affect people in terms of their own objectives. For example, Russia uses its own term “innovative diplomacy” which means a tool of Russian foreign policy to exert influence on public opinion through the use of the Internet. As a part of foreign policies, a large number of embassies now have interactive websites and social media account.

For example, last summer I attended a cultural exchange program called ‘Work and Travel’ in the US. Before I applied for a U.S. Visa, I had checked the embassy website and social media accounts. There was plenty of useful information about how to behave in the embassy, what questions they might ask about the visa, and there was even a video showing the visa processes. Countries are using social media and website for many purposes to interact with people. The countries that use digital diplomacy have more success reaching their foreign policy aims.

Nowadays digital diplomacy is a foreign policy essential. When used properly digital diplomacy is more persuasive and timely more effective than traditional diplomacy. It’s much easier to influence people and advance its foreign policy goals. Also, social media platforms provide spaces for interaction. For example, UK ambassador of Turkey has been using social media actively and responding people interacting with him. That is why Turkish people like him very much and feel close to him. That led to make the relations between two countries better and Turkish people to have more sympathy for the UK than they had before this ambassador.

Essentially, digital diplomacy has brought about a transformation of the conduct of traditional diplomacy. Digital diplomacy brings with it both opportunities and challenges. Nonetheless, the opportunities appear to overshadow the challenges. Because as FCO mentioned “those whose ideals and objectives we oppose are active and highly effective at using the web. If we don’t take up the digital debate, we lose our argument by default.” every country should be in this competition. Digital diplomacy and Internet activities as a whole can greatly assist in projecting a state’s foreign policy positions to domestic and foreign audiences.

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Fatih DURUKAN