I N T R O
D U C T I O N
The practice of diplomacy increasingly involves handling not only differences in national cultures, but different organisational and professional cultures at the same time. The issue of communication between different professional and organisational cultures was raised during several presentations at
DiploFoundation’s February 2003 conference on Intercultural Communication and
Diplomacy, which focused predominantly on communication between different national or ethnic cultures in diplomatic practice.
This year’s event will focus more specifically on the increasingly important issue of communication between different organisational and professional cultures in diplomacy. Diplomats today function in an increasingly multilateral environment: more often than in the past they are required to interact with a multitude of international organisations, ranging from the UN down to specific interest lobby groups. Simultaneously, diplomats are more and more involved in communicating directly with the domestic public; again with a multitude of groups.
Modern diplomatic communication can be categorised in the following way:
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Traditional: communication with diplomats from other countries in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks;
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International players: communication with NGOs, private companies and other non-traditional players in the field of international relations;
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Domestic communication: with the fast development of telecommunications diplomats often address not only foreign audiences, but foreign and domestic audiences simultaneously. Moreover, diplomacy at times must work to convince the domestic audience about certain policy moves. This domestic communication is increasingly direct: diplomats now communicate on a day-to-day basis with journalists, business people, pressure groups, religious institutions, and local authorities.
Within each of these categories, an understanding of organisational and professional cultures, in addition to national cultures is of vital importance.
Who should attend?
This conference will be of interest to:
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diplomats from all countries and all departments of ministries of foreign affairs, embassies and consulates
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diplomats and officials of international organisations
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specialists in intercultural communication
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students of diplomacy, international relations, political science, intercultural communication, management, etc.
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academics in the fields of diplomacy, international relations, political science, intercultural communication, management, etc.
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journalists, religious authorities, NGO employees, and international organisation employees who work with diplomats regularly
- business people
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