Diplomacy in the Digital Age | LSE Research Showcase 2023

the idea here is really to talk about diplomacy in the digital age more than digital diplomacy and I'm going to basically look at the new means new challenges is there a new substance um they will start with the sort of the 101 on diplomacy what is diplomacy and what is diplomacy in the digital age then we're going to to look at the new means and I'm going to focus on the evolution of embassies ambassadors and diplomatic dispatches let me be super clear from the start that this is going to be a very interesting graphic set of examples so that I will use it just to inspire you more than bore you to death with a range of data the idea being that you see my direction of travel rather than study a graph in the detail and then I'm going to start a bit of a reflection on the new time space of diplomacy and what are the challenges and the choices the difficult choices that diplomacy is facing at the moment before concluding with a question and a preliminary answer in terms of whether this amounts to a sort of new post-human diplomacy as I would like to [Music] um explore so let me get started with a sort of Vape definition of diplomacy which you know we can start from again a sort of a nice way to put it that is the diplomacy started when the first human societies decided that it was better to hear a message than to eat the messenger which is you know a pretty basic definition but at the same time does give the idea that there are Societies in the plural and there is no violence no eating of the messenger and rather instead listening to the message so there is a message to put it in more academic terms we can say that diplomacy is essentially a communicative practice designed to manage relations between States and it's like functions are negotiations information gathering and representation in relation to enemies as well as two friends so it's not just about the peaceful means which is a bit of a sort of The Superficial view of diplomacy but it is also an especially about the communication clear enough when the digital age and the incredible transformations of the digital Technologies are bringing to communication big changes are in the offing it's not just about using digital means it's more than that it's a sort of a hybrid as a for instance Biola and Manor defined it it's a sort of a an intimate entanglement of diplomacy with digital Technologies something that for instance Atlantic and Eglin definers Blended diplomacy this sort of really blurring of the lines between the physical and that they are virtual um how does it happen it happens obviously through means through digital means and to name those that we are all familiar with zoom Twitter email WhatsApp messages it also happens about digital issues and this is about cyber security about digital sovereignty you open the newspaper and you find a negotiation about digital digital related issues all the time it is also happening in a digitally saturated environment which means that it happens for instance in a digital environment where we're talking about cheap Wars uh where everyone is interested in artificial intelligence uh trying out artificial intelligence and more artificial intelligence is profoundly changing uh working environment and personal spaces at the same time so let me start with the sort of the inspiring examples that I promised at the beginning and let me start with the evolution of embassies this is the classical Embassy something that we can all relate to the brick and mortar Embassy in this case the Swedish Embassy in Italian Estonia projects this image of solid peaceful relations a flag in front I mean postcode case study of an embassy this is a bit of a more modern take the Swedish Embassy in Washington prize-winning architecture trying to project this idea of Scandinavian architecture being super modern Sleek functional again projecting an image of solidity and presence with the flag in front this this is instead the Swedish Embassy on Second Life which is a virtual reality fantasy world and it is a intentionally created to mirror the wish in the Washington Embassy is exactly the same so the idea is to recreate the Swedish Embassy in Washington in a virtual world to do what you might think you know why on Earth parachuting an embassy in a fantasy world to promote Sweden so courses of Swedish language Swedish festivals information about Sweden information about visas for people who are interested in going to Sweden this was the very first virtual Embassy that was opened a name virtual environment it it attract a bit of controversy on the time the big question here was do we need embassies in Virtual Worlds we don't have borders in Virtual Worlds why do we need embassies to manage those relations but at the same it was quite successful a number of people visited met swedes met swedes in the Swedish Embassy in Second Life it was an experiment that was brought to an end in 2013 but with the you know advancement of meta what we have seen is other countries you know thinking to go along the same path like for instance Barbados announced that it's going to open a virtual Embassy in 2021 meta as we all know is this thing that might happen soon is happening we're not sure when precisely is going to happen but the more it happens the more we will see this coming to the front and it is interesting to see you know how they um we start with brick and mortar and we end up in a totally digital environment composed of zero one this is another one in another interesting one data embassies and digital twin this is prompted by existential threats which are endangering Digital Services that states offer to their own citizens and therefore they create the need to protect this data in embassies abroad or with dedicated data embassies we're all familiar with the concept of data server Center where the the our data is hosted behind um you know it's obviously impossible to visit the confidential spaces and so I've chosen sort of a neutral picture here but the story is that Prince of this donor has invested very heavily on this Estonia is part of the sonian brand and as they say you can do almost everything online in Estonia apart from getting married and divorced so the the problem was raised that with the big cyber attacks that Estonia faced starting from 2007 how are they to protect their data one possibility was at first to literally carry it into embassies but then they decided to open a data Embassy in Luxembourg which is sort of is totally separated thing you might again this is meant to inspire you but to make you understand how this can actually happen in a different context think also of Ukraine when Ukraine was invaded it had to transfer its data very quickly because it risks the otherwise the sort of a digital Extinction and therefore thanks to by using Microsoft and Amazon it transferred all the data of its ministries of its um land registry universities all the important data was transferred abroad in a way here we're talking about digital twins we're all familiar with the concept that in order to have business continuity you need to make sure that data can be accessible in difficult and challenging situations in the case of the estate that this means a sort of a data Embassy or alike what can this lead to the web page the importance of the web page this is the U.S Embassy to Canada projecting an image of solid peaceful relations in a digital environment this is the US Embassy in Afghanistan as you might know the U.S obviously um abandoned left the U.S embassy in Kabul but the webpage is still there and it's giving information about where to find other information how it's working Etc and this is the US virtual Embassy to Iran the U.S does not work where it does not recognize the Iranian government but it has a web page which is very similar to the others um and with the aim to reach Iranian citizens and again you see how the digital environment the virtual environment brings you to blur the line between what exists what doesn't exist in physical reality what is recognized and what is not recognized by a state here I will be quicker but it's interesting to see that for instance tuvalu a small island in the Pacific which is facing an existential threat with the rising levels of the sea is planning to have a virtual version of itself in order to protect its own identity um this is instead it's a virtual space for buying stuff promoted by Italy this is an image inspiring the Aboriginal indigenous community of Australia who wants to have a virtual recognition by opening virtual Embassy all examples meant to draw you in the direction of imagining how embassies are evolving obviously the vast majority of embassies are made of brick and mortar but they all of them have a web page and somehow the web page is more important than the brick and mortar because that's where all the information for accessing the brick and mortar is are kept and that the digital slash virtual version is becoming more relevant as we speak would be much faster on the evolution of for instance ambassadors we have embassies we have ambassadors physically representing States since 2017 there is a very visible Trend towards the appointment of tech ambassadors or digital ambassadors this was our pictures of the Danish Estonian and French digital ambassadors are aim cyber and Tech retreat in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago Silicon Valley being the place where a lot of them are posted or tend to gravitate around again it's interesting to see the states feel the need to appoint a state representative to a word that doesn't physically exist but it's becoming more and more uh relevant important for their own uh functioning they have a broad remit to negotiate with tech companies to be top of the league in terms of digital issues solution of diplomatic dispatches were when we talk about diplomatic dispatches we all imagine a sort of a little letter coming in from a far away Place describing the latest evolution in a far away remote place this incident is the Irish Ambassador at the UN being briefed about developments in Guatemala the future of diplomatic dispatches includes it's not just them but it's a sort of a virtual reality or a sort of a mix of digital and physical reality representing visually what a diplomatic dispatch used to do so where does it leave us let's talk about the consequences of all these um interesting examples at least interesting for me examples of how diplomacy works in the digital age um the big consequences we can measure in terms of time and space in terms of time it is clear that there is a quickening of the tempo talking to diplomats they all feel Under Pressure we feel it you know in our daily work that you know we're constantly running after things and off with an increasing number of emails that lie unread in our mailbox diplomats feel this every single time and every single day and this has a consequence that they have much less time to respond so for instance this was clear during the Ukrainian Invasion that puts it a terrible pressure on diplomas to try to understand what exactly was going on very often and we see it also with politicians that they have they'll have the time to be debriefed by diplomats before putting up a position and always in terms of tempo uh now diplomacy Works 24 7 365 days uh per year uh so much time uh that needs to go into following uh international events that um that our diplomats are used to check their phone during the private time all the time what about the space Dimension well yes there is a flattening of geography so that there is no more the distance of the far away places there is also new slash old digital divisor emerging in terms of age so that we have our in a funny situation where diplomats in the positions of power do not belong to the digits only native situation we have a agenda Gap where women potentially could be helped to participate more to the Diplomatic processes but often end up in fact being on the wrong side of the spectrum sorry and we have an increasing divide between Global North and Global South which means that the priorities of the Global Science do not get heard as much as priorities in the global North so let me finish does this all does all this mean that we're in a trans have transitioned to a post-human diplomatic World um just to be on the same side post Humanity refers to this a seamless articulation of human beings with intelligent machines and other material presence of this word and if you're interested you can follow up on hails and bridotti's work um in a way we are all in attention between a human and post-human condition and this can be constraining you know you might think that we're losing control but it can also be liberating uh you know to move away from a an untroubled eccentric version of international politics to include instead different subjects from technology to the environment for instance and it is in a way in the evidence that despite being a conservative art diplomacy is more and more relying on a number of post-human practices as I have uh touched upon in this presentation and let me finish by saying that we were a bit of a sort of at the watershed moment with arrival of artificial intelligence in the way that it is arriving um the next couple of years will really be crucial in defining the new normal for diplomacy in the digital age and I'll stop here thank you [Applause] you can start by asking you certainly mentioned this is research in progress what's what's next for the project oh at the moment I am focusing very much on the tech ambassadors so I'm fascinated by the fact that they have this mandate to a land that doesn't exist and while ambassadors at large have always existed in terms of you know for gender issues or for human rights Etc uh there is a sort of a a very clear drive towards the tech ambassadors being the new normal for modern countries so they're becoming a sign of being top dogs if you have a tech Ambassador despite the fact that it might just be a sort of a console General in San Francisco that is given the actual responsibility to tackle technological stuff in in the Silicon Valley but we see for instance in the UK the UK has a published this sort of a technology strategy that includes to training for all its diplomats to become Tech ambassadors de facto and therefore you know whoever is aiming to be a diplomat nowadays needs to develop this set of skills which is not just about tweeting or being able to communicate in them through social media but also to understand that the very profound and challenging Transformations that we are witnessing things for example between diplomats or if these different Arenas are now happening you know virtually on in online spaces through screens do you think that is something that you think will have a considerable impact given that this sort of informal um sort of behind the doors uh human natureism I also wanted to ask because of course often we've heard that body language is very important in kind of diplomacy and I wondered whether you thought that that's something which will now kind of lose its sailience with things being done increasingly online through screens or if maybe it will be kind of transcended by sort of different forms the language or e or digital etiquette somehow yes no definitely I mean in fact the two things are related because the bodily language tends to happen more in in the informal uh settings and situations um which are absolutely Central to uh diplomacy um we do see a sort of an e-body language being developed WhatsApp groups are very very important and they are becoming the new informal way to communicate including with Emojis which you know it's a way to try to transpose the body language or the emotional aspect the effective aspect of the diplomacy in a digital environment at the same time it's interesting to see that the the embodiment of diplomacy needs to find some specific settings where it just stays like that because for instance a very interesting observation that a diplomat told me for instance is that in the digital environment and in the written environment it's much more difficult to hear the silences so the sort of the hesitations theme which you might get in a zoom or in a phone call but but the nuns said the non-verbal risks to be impossible to translate in a zero one language and therefore that space for the silences for the hesitations I think is for them be good aguitities that diplomacy tackles I think that that's quite important to maintain we do see that you know we still see the summitrium loads of bilateral meetings and diplomats chatting around the world so that they still keep up the physical presence in all this but it's interesting to see how the physical presence might be reduced to a couple of hours and around it there is a whole word of whatsapping emailing zooming Consulting hypertext uh you know that with with links and networks so that the the physical presence is just one part in a bigger picture me I'm curious whether that with emphasis going virtual will they change the basic services to the citizens living in the foreign countries or there's like not much difference just being more confident convenient to the business who told you well the convenience is up to you to judge but it is certainly interesting to see that for instance Canada has moved its Consular Services totally online and it's not supervised either so you apply for a Visa through a website and you might have a an interview through Zoom if you really lucky or unlucky but the the the digital the digitalization of Consular Services is moving in this direction so that fewer and fewer people will actually have to enter an embassy uh queuing to get a Visa is this more or less convenient in a way if everything goes well it is very convenient if things don't go well then it becomes very inconvenient because you but in order to appeal and to go around that system it's much more clanking sorry this is kind of ignorant but I'm curious about the the cost and the resources associated with setting up this digital infrastructure to facilitate diplomacy because I can see situations in which some countries can afford to set this up and be present in this and sometimes you can you know influencing different power dynamics and how able they are to engage in this diplomacy so could you speak more to that absolutely yeah no very good question I mean a good questioning they they uh part of that is uh reflecting in the global North Global South uh digital divide where countries of the global South struggle for a number of reasons from digital sovereignty of their own data uh to the possibility to put up the facilities that are very costly and that are generally placed in the global North uh so that they are not just not available but when they are available they are placed elsewhere and digital regulations apply in a way that is not favorable to the global South so the thing is that explains also why somehow you see a rash at the moment because once we have a new equilibrium then we will have winners and losers one aspect that you know touches upon your question is also the fact that often we talk about the digital age digital environments as if they have no cost no material basis but it's just much more hidden and so it does pay off to follow the wire and see precisely where it is located what kind of Regulation apply what kind of costs because that brings you to a better focus on the type of issues that you're mentioning here thank you so much for the presentation um it's been fantastic my question is in regards to the security that comes with this transition and honestly curious as to whether you're finding that the post-human diplomacy is mainly like it's maintained within the the lower level or medium level uh priority issues that are going along with diplomacy because I do understand that having a face-to-face is much more important for security issues whereas when you're having a conversation on computer with somebody on a very high level issue that was its own very different issues I'm curious as to whether you're finding that it is staying at that level of like where they're not really having that at the high level and then is there a push maybe to have that you know where person finding is having a conversation with prime minister Albanese in Australia or something like that yeah no it's uh it's a very good point because indeed not that you know together with that informal elements another you know issues that is going to stay is this super confidential stuff that is done you know in the open in the middle of a field or far away from from places where it can be picked up this has always been the case in a way if we go back to the time of the Soviet Union you know it was renowned that the only safe conversation was in the middle of the street um so we are again in that type of environment where um you know face to face away from digital sources would help there there is a lot again of uh digital North digital South stuff here so that the digital nose is a much better at protecting its own data it is also a matter of trust ultimately in the system because you know even if you go face to face you know that doesn't mean that the document is not leaked and so we see for instance in in terms of multilateral environments where the trust is eroding at the margins or at the U.N most explosively you know then it doesn't really matter because you know if there is no trust it doesn't matter if it is digital or in person in terms of the confidentiality it matters in terms of offer the informal relationship that you might develop at the edges but indeed that's another big big issue on the table sorry [Music] thank you for your questions [Applause] yeah this was the last of the series we should be back in the Autumn but we do have a special part of the 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Channel: LSE

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Keywords: LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science, London School of Economics, University, College

Id: _FQr5868viE

Length: 32min 4sec (1924 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 27 2023