In recent years the e-commerce agenda has become more complex and has revealed a growing convergence between the areas of trade and digital policy. Diplomats involved in e-commerce talks at the WTO, for example, have been required to discuss the trade implications of a broad range of issues, such as paperless trade, e-payments, data localisation, cybersecurity, encryption and network neutrality.
Two years ago, Diplo introduced a new capacity development programme, the Advanced Diploma in Internet Governance. The programme was built around a selection of online courses focussing on Internet governance (IG) issues: Introduction to Internet Governance, Internet Technology and Policy, Cybersecurity, and E-Diplomacy.
What is diplomacy? Who is a diplomat? And what is it that diplomats do? The answers to these questions will always be contingent. We can only ever give them from the vantage point of a particular place and time. We tend to forget this when we debate these questions. We also tend to forget that things could be otherwise and that by raising these questions we not only debate what is but also have a chance to rethink how things could or even should be.
I am a little late to this particular party; however, in the middle of last year, a very interesting debate broke out between the blogs of Shaun Riordan, Katharina Hone and others on the subject of ‘new’ diplomacies. Does the proliferation of new ‘kinds’ of (or prefixes for) diplomacy serve an intellectual, analytical purpose, or is it just another case of academics hankering after scholarly turf?
Many issues in Internet governance are discussed on both the global and regional levels. For example, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) makes policy on domain names, while the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) discusses a wide range of infrastructural, economic and cultural issues about the Internet.
A Briefing Paper based on the this text is available for download in PDF format.
The year 2018 represents a tipping point for the Internet and its governance. Processes that have been evolving are now starting to mature. Policy decisions are needed. If Internet governance is consumed by inertia or controlled by the invisible hand of the market, the Internet is likely to fragment into numerous national and commercial Internet(s).
Brazil is about to welcome a new submarine cable linking Latin America to Europe: ELLALINK. In addition to strengthening digital inclusion on the continent and reducing access costs, ELLALINK may offer an innovative model of governance that will protect Internet global infrastructures as common goods, thanks to the allocation of indefeasible access rights to non-commercial backbone providers.
The purpose of this blog is to give a new impulse to the discussion on the role of private business in today’s public diplomacy and to open the question on what exactly private public diplomacy means, and whether it should exist as a concept. If there is such a thing as private public diplomacy, what exactly does it imply? Can we simply describe it as the involvement of private businesses in the process of building and maintaining a country’s (city’s, region’s) image abroad, or in the process of advocating for an internationally important cause such as climate change or human rights?
In our December WebDebate, we focused on digital diplomacy. We discussed the following questions: how have ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) adopted social media as part of their public diplomacy efforts? Is digital diplomacy more than simply being on Twitter or Facebook? Should diplomats even be on Twitter or Facebook, or is it time to abandon these as outdated fashion trends? We also explored how digital diplomacy can empower new actors and how they interact with more traditional diplomatic players.
If you are reading this blog, you probably have at least a few things in common with me. Obviously, you can read and write. In English. You have access to an Internet connection, probably from your own smartphone or computer. You probably have electricity at home, and a fridge containing food for your next meal. You’ve probably finished high school, and quite likely you also have a university degree.
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