Topics Catalogue

Over the past few years, there has been significant progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives (from intelligent digital personal assistants and smart home devices, to autonomous vehicles, smart buil...

Bilateral diplomacy is a form of international relations between the two countries. The interactions can be through occasional or permanent diplomatic contact. Today’s diplomatic practices are a consequence of the globalization of diplomacy, including the revolution ...

The European Commission defines four strands of climate diplomacy at the political level: committing to multilateralism in climate policy, particularly to the implementation of the Paris Agreement; addressing implications of climate change on peace and security Acce...

Consular diplomacy (affairs) is related to the protection of the state’s interests as well as the interests of its citizens and legal entities in the host country. It includes strengthening and developing relations between diaspora and the home country in the fields ...

Contemporary diplomacy implies the use of modern tools in the field of information and communication technologies. Through its use, diplomats are enabled to act promptly according to the goals of interest and to have access to a wide range of information and documents....

COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees. With almost every country and territory reporting cases of the coronavirus, the world is having to adapt to a new kind of normal. Online meetings have long been seen as a poor substitute for face-to-face ones. With the COVI...

Read the report of our Roundtable ‘The Potential of Virtual Reality for Peace Mediation‘ (5 November 2020) The 2020 Geneva Peace Week event ‘Building Trust in CyberMediation: A Collective Leadership Challenge?‘ Read our policy brief ‘Vir...

Today’s headlines often feature the word ‘cyber’, reporting on threats related to the virtual world: online child abuse, stolen credit cards and virtual identities, malware and viruses, botnets and denial-of-service attacks on corporate or government servers, cyb...

In Focus: Reporting from eCommerce week on Data and Development Described as the ‘oil’ of the 21st century, the potential of data to achieve breakthroughs in various industries and fields is significant. Diplomacy is no exception. Data and diplomacy have three maj...

Development diplomacy is the highest priority of international relations. This is mostly performed through multilateral activities on a global and regional level. Both within the activities of international organizations (UN and its specialized organizations) and throu...

Digital diplomacy in 2023 will be shaped by fast-changing digital geopolitics. Digital geopolitical tensions are showing no signs of easing in 2023, especially between the USA and China. Worse, global conflicts and tensions could trigger the fragmentation of the inter...

On the emergence of digital foreign policy you can consult: a research report, and conference summary from the conference held on 2nd March 2021. All countries (albeit with differences in emphasis depending on their circumstances and capabilities) recognise that digi...

The diplomacy of small states is a subset of diplomacy. It is sufficiently identifiable to warrant an examination on its own. At the same time, it also helps to provide an insight into the broader themes, objectives, and methods of diplomacy in general. Small states f...

New: Consult a report from the webinar ‘Will AI take over diplomatic reporting?’   Information is the lifeblood of the diplomatic services with diplomats, like veins and arteries, reporting from their posts back to their home countries. These diplomati...

Technology has significantly transformed the world’s economy. The ability to make data flow worldwide, and the digitisation of information have enabled digital business models and spurred the growth of e-commerce. Digitalisation of Trade On the one hand, digitisatio...

Economic diplomacy is the use of government recourses to promote the growth of a country’s economy by increasing trade, promoting investments, collaboration on bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and etc. It can also mean the use of the economy to promot...

Education diplomacy aims to utilize diplomatic skills and cooperate with both public and private sectors, educators and educational institutions, individuals and organizations, with an agenda of promoting education all over the Globe as a basic human right, accessible ...

There are two aspects of energy diplomacy. One is the provision of energy resources and positioning of the country concerning energy security and international partners.  On the other hand, it can be used as an instrument of foreign agenda, by influencing governments ...

EU diplomacy is the joint foreign and security policy of its member states. It is designed to resolve conflicts and foster international understanding, is based on diplomacy and respect of international rules. Trade, humanitarian assistance, and development cooperation...

In December 2019, Zoom reported 10 million daily users. Three months later, the number of Zoom’s daily participants jumped to more than 300 million. The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically altered our daily routines, shifting our day-to-day activities from offline to ...

Health Diplomacy is a field of diplomacy that brings together the priorities of global health and foreign affairs. It brings together a variety of participants in areas that affect public health all around the globe. This can be done only through joint policy health so...

‘The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.’ This quote from Winston Churchill could be a tweet about the interplay between diplomacy and technology. This page will, by revisiting the history of diplomacy, try to find guidelines for the...

Honorary consuls are typically local citizens of the host country with careers outside of official diplomacy. They promote economic, cultural, and educational ties between the two countries. Honorary consuls help people from the sending country with consular matters, ...

Humanitarian diplomacy strives to mobilize public and governmental support and resources for humanitarian operations and programs, as well as to establish effective partnerships for responding to vulnerable people’s needs. It is the process of influencing decisio...

An Internet search on the topic of intercultural communication or cross-cultural communication yields over three million results. In recent years practitioners in a wide variety of fields — scientific cooperation, academic research, business, management, education, h...

The characteristic of International life is a variety of actors. International organisations, multinational corporations, international non-governmental organizations, and individuals, in addition to the states and their institutions, take part. With increasing global ...

Internet governance, also referred to as digital policy, deals with the policy issues associated with digital technology. Diplo has been providing capacity development support to digital policy practitioners for almost 20 years. This includes online and blended courses...

It has often been said that language is not only an instrument of communication, but the very essence of diplomacy. Diplomats engage in negotiations, persuasion, presentation, and communication, all of which necessitate language skills for the effective conduct of dipl...

What is the Metaverse?   Metaverse diplomacy in 2023: Predictions and Trends Is the current drop in the overall interest for the metaverse temporary or longer t...

Migration was always a part of human history. Societies as we know them are a mix of people whose predecessors came from other locations. There is a variety of reasons, types, and forms of migration. We move in search of better economic opportunities, some of us to stu...

Latest: Time to Reflect – Multilateralism Day We can define multilateral diplomacy as the cooperation of three or more countries that work toward a common goal. It has developed alongside bilateral diplomacy mainly through congresses and conferences. Modern mul...

There is no agreed definition of public diplomacy. Fitzpatrick identified 150 definitional statements of public diplomacy.[1]  All of them can be situated between the wide and narrow definitions of public diplomacy. The wide definition treats it as an expression of so...

Diplomats seeking to analyse political rhetoric can benefit from knowledge of the terms and techniques of classical rhetoric as well as techniques frequently used in modern political speech. Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric provided by Dr Gideon Burton of Brig...

There are approximately 1 billion people around the world, or 15% of the world’s population, who experience some form of disability.  There are several factors that contribute to the increase of this number, including: human conflicts, destruction due to natura...

Read publication on Science Diplomacy Capacity Development: Reflections on Diplo’s 2021 online course and the road ahead Watch the recording from the science diplomacy webinar Science diplomacy has the potential to help us address some of the most pressing cha...

The United Arab Emirates has launched the first-ever Arab interplanetary mission to Mars. Luxembourg has its own space programme. A few hundreds satellites, owned by the private company SpaceX, are in Earth orbit providing the internet in a few dozen countries around t...

Sports diplomacy is the use of sport to realize policy goals. Sports and sportspeople are important tools in promoting agendas and helping encourage positive social-cultural changes. Star athletes are ambassadors of the modern age and are often utilized to advocate for...

Water diplomacy aims to resolve or reduce disagreements and conflicts over shared water resources to promote cooperation, regional stability, and peace. Water covers approximately 70,9 % of the Earth’s surface.  It is essential for agriculture, and also as a sou...