Saving the Sinking Ship of Diplomacy? eDiplomacy and Its Implications on Standardisation, Power, and Visibility in Diplomatic Practices

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Nakrošytė, S.

(2015) University College Utrecht Theses

(Bachelor thesis)

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to define eDiplomacy and its three ideal-types of standardisation, power, and visibility and to analyse digital diplomacy’s application in practice by state and non-state actors. The questions this paper will try to answer are: 1) What are eDiplomacy and ediplomats? 2) To what extent can the practices of eDiplomacy be applied to the traditional and newly emerging diplomatic actors in terms of standardisation, power, and visibility? In this paper, e-diplomacy and its activities will be viewed as inherent to the practices of public diplomacy. However, the practice of digital diplomacy is not limited to that of public diplomacy. One of the reasons is that the reduction of e-diplomacy to public diplomacy misses much of the power and capacity that ICTs can potentially provide (Holmes, 2013, p. 5). Therefore, this paper will contribute to the academic field of digital diplomacy by expanding the prevailing framework in the literature on digital diplomacy. The arguments in this paper are based on the assumption that the hierarchical mentality and outmoded practices of traditional diplomatic actors no longer fit the reality of international relations. Consequentially, the old actors become marginalised by newly emerging ediplomats. In order to stay relevant in the field, diplomatic actors inevitably have to change their ways of thinking about digital technologies. Digital diplomacy and its implications on standardisation, power, and visibility allow diplomats to become active knowledge producers and influential public figures, thus bringing the diplomatic game to a new level. show less

Full Text

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Author keywords: diplomacy, ediplomacy, digital diplomacy, social media, Facebook, Twitter, ICT, public diplomacy, diplomat, ediplomat, networks, standardisation, power, visibility, Lithuania, Lithuanian, MFA, Leonidas Donskis, Donskis, ministry of foreign affairs, Neumann, Magalhaes, Satow, international relations, case study, qualitative, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, security, online

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