Introduction: Understanding Digital Diplomacy—the Grammar Rules and Patterns of Digital Disruption

Corneliu Bjola, Ilan Manor

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

The chapter explores the impact of technological disruption on diplomacy, highlighting its capacity for both destruction and creation. It explains that while new technologies can create new economic and social opportunities, they also disrupt traditional ways of working and collaborating, leading to resistance against them. The chapter also differentiates between the terms ‘digitization’ and ‘digital diplomacy’, with digitization referring to the technical aspect of adopting digital technologies in diplomatic work and digital diplomacy encompassing a broader perspective of the role of digital technology in diplomacy. The chapter then discusses the ‘grammar rules’ that control the logic of interaction in the digital space, such as visual simplicity, emotional framing, computational personalization, and engagement hybridization. The chapter argues that, similarly to how grammar rules govern verbal communication, these mechanisms govern digital communication. They have challenged ministries of foreign affairs and international organizations (MFAs and IOs) to adapt so they can maintain their ability to meaningfully influence policy outcomes in the international arena. Drawing on the theory of the social construction of technology, the chapter explains why MFAs and IOs respond differently to the pressure of digital disruption. It concludes with a discussion of five patterns of disruption of diplomacy under the impact of digital technologies (from below, from above, from aside, through diffusion, and through crisis) and how the contributions to this volume analytically illuminate each category.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Digital Diplomacy
EditorsCorneliu Bjola, Ilan Manor
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages3-28
ISBN (Electronic)9780191949715
ISBN (Print)9780192859198
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2024

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