DiploNews – Issue 312 – 15 November 2016

Upcoming study opportunities

Humanitarian Diplomacy

Diplo is now accepting applications for the next session of the popular online course Humanitarian Diplomacy, offered in cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). This highly interactive 12-week course, led by Ambassador Christopher Lamb and a team of experienced practitioners, extends the knowledge base and develops practical skills of current and future practitioners in humanitarian diplomacy and policy. The course familiarises participants with basic definitions, concepts, actors, and institutions in the field of humanitarian diplomacy, introduces international humanitarian law, hones advocacy and negotiation skills, develops participants’ research skills, and increases their understanding of national and regional humanitarian diplomacy activities.
 The course is offered in English; however, participants have the option to write and submit some course assignments and the final research paper in French.
 The next session starts 6 February 2017 and the appliction deadline is 9 January 2017. Please visit the course webpage to read more and apply.

Capacity Development

Capacity development has been emerging as a central approach within development for more than two decades. To help development professionals better understand and master this paradigm, this interactive course, offered in cooperation with the Learning Network for Capacity Development (LenCD), introduces the key concepts, principles, and values of capacity development. The main focus is on building practical skills for better design, planning, implementation, and assessment of capacity development initiatives. The course is taught online by Jenny Pearson and Carol Kiangura. The next session starts 6 February 2017 and the appliction deadline is 9 January 2017. Please visit the course webpage to read more and apply.

2017 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy

If you missed the deadline to apply for the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy and Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with Internet Governance specialisation, we have good news! To accommodate late requests, we have extended the application deadline till 15 November 2016. These unique postgraduate programmes, offered in cooperation with the University of Malta, include a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16–20 months of online learning. Visit the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy webpage to read more and to apply. Scholarships covering 20–50% of the Postgraduate Diploma fee are available for applicants from small and developing states. The programme starts 1 February 2017.

February 2017 online diplomacy courses

Start the new year with one of our most popular online courses:

• Diplomatic Theory and Practice
• Public Diplomacy
• Introduction to Internet Governance

Apply by 19 December 2016 for University of Malta accredited courses and by 16 January 2017 for Diplo certificate courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses listed, or visit our courses webpage. Register now to reserve your place.

Sign up for our courses mailing list to stay informed about upcoming courses.

Workshop on Implicit Communication

If you live in Belgrade or will be in the city next month, DiploFoundation invites you to attend a workshop on Implicit Communication on 16 and 17 December 2016.

The workshop’s primary objective is to alert participants to the power and particularities of implicit communication. This is an area of interaction that has largely been overlooked by the literature on effective communication, but which is nevertheless essential to master if we are to achieve our objectives effectively. Since successful communication has much to do with reading intentions and contexts correctly, insights are provided into relevant cultural, social, and psychological variables. The workshop is exercise-driven and requires active participation. The final exercise will be based on a Hard Talk simulation aimed at developing the linguistic skills essential for effective persuasion and constructive dialogue.

The workshop will be facilitated by linguist Dr Biljana Scott (BA in Chinese, M.Phil and D.Phil in Linguistics, University of Oxford). She is a Senior Lecturer on the Language and Diplomacy course at DiploFoundation, and an Associate of the China Centre, University of Oxford, where she has taught for the last 25 years. Although the workshop is run in English, the lessons learned are applicable to all languages. Participants are not expected to have an academic background in linguistics to actively engage in the discussions. Read more and apply here.

Malta scholarships

Thanks to support from the government of Malta, partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries to attend upcoming Diplo online courses. These scholarships cover 50-70% of course fees and can be applied to most online courses in 2017. Browse our course catalogue and contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edu for further information.

WebDebate: Data management, data diplomacy, and big data

Big data has become a buzzword and we need to begin to think about the impact this has on diplomacy. Questions on providing adequate training on data diplomacy also need to be raised. The speakers at our next WebDebate, on Tuesday, 6th December at 12:00 UTC (13:00 CET), will discuss how to provide training for diplomats in data/information/knowledge management and share practical examples in the area of training and capacity building. Learn more and register.

[Webinar] Cyber norms: Towards an inclusive dialogue

News headlines are featuring more and more cases of severe cyber incidents, some openly attributed to states and their institutions. While increasing their budgets for cyber defence, governments are also pushing for cybersecurity accords – through both bilateral cyber agreements and multilateral deliberations – on norms of state behaviour in cyberspace and confidence-building measures to prevent cyber-conflicts. Other stakeholders are trying to influence global discussions through multistakeholder forums and their own initiatives, such as Microsoft’s proposal for cyber norms. Can current multilateral dialogues contribute efficiently to the stability of cyberspace and overall international peace and security? Is there a meaningful place for every country to discuss cyber norms? Should this dialogue be exclusively intergovernmental, or can/should other stakeholders play a role? Join us on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2016 at 12pm UTC, for a special webinar with Angela McKay, Director of Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy, Global Security Strategy and Diplomacy Team at Microsoft. Ms McKay will discuss the Microsoft proposal of norms in the context of other global initiatives, and will look at the stability of the Internet ecosystem in the case of cyberconflicts. She will also discuss the role of various stakeholders in global negotiations on cyber norms, and share her views on the future of this process.

Digital policy practitioners join the Geneva Internet Platform as senior fellows

Mr Markus Kummer and Prof. Rolf H. Weber have joined the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP) as Senior Digital Policy Fellows as of 1 November 2016. More than 50% of global digital policy is addressed in Geneva, which hosts 35 international organisations, hundreds of NGOs, and more than 200 diplomatic missions and representation offices. The senior fellows will further the work of the GIP – an initiative supported by the Swiss authorities and operated by DiploFoundation – by engaging these digital actors in Geneva. The GIP runs capacity development activities in Internet governance and digital policy, including the GIP Digital Watch online observatory. Learn more about the Geneva Digital Fellowship.

Internet governance in November

What were the main Internet governance updates in November, and how will they shape future developments? What can we expect? Join us for our next monthly briefing, on Tuesday, 29th November, for a round-up of the major global IG and digital policy developments. Hubs from various cities around the world will participate. The November developments will also be summarised in the next issue of the Geneva Digital Watch newsletter, which will include articles on the latest trends, and upcoming events in December. If you missed the October briefing, read the digest.

What’s been happening in Diplo’s blogsphere

Over the past few weeks, Diplo’s director Dr Jovan Kurbalija has been tackling some of the big questions in diplomacy and digital politics. Early in November, he asked Will digital diplomacy ‘select’ the next US president? and illustrated the impact of the use of a private e-mail server on the Clinton campaign. His second post details 25 points for digital diplomacy which he divides into six sections: organisation and management; security in digital diplomacy,; time-timing-tempo; content, context, and failures; maximising knowledge and hidden resources; and training and support for digital diplomats. Guest bloggers Anar Sarsenova and Diana Madibekova raise questions of misunderstanding in language and ambiguity in law. They reflect on language use, vagueness, and moral and legal obligations. Diplo’s Tsendnyam Enkhchimeg writes about e-commerce in China and discuses, among other things, the three big Chinese Internet companies: Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent. She explains WeChat, a Chinese super app that combines services similar to Facebook, Twitter, Digital Wallet, E-Banking, Uber, and Yelp in one app. Last but not least, Diplo guest blogger Bernardo Javalquinto introduces us to the social business model as a change of paradigm in the context of economic and development diplomacy.