Issue ? 49. April 2015

Digital Diplomacy in Global Politics

Ph.D., associate professor, Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Member of the Advisory Board of the Financial Market Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: vsurma@gmail.com

The article presents a new form of “digital diplomacy”, which on the one hand, provides new opportunities for the implementation of international politics, and on the other, imposes special requirements on its members. The article examines the consequences of the growing influence of the Internet on global politics, including the possibility of large-scale public opinion manipulation.

One of the negative consequences of rapid development of information and communication technologies and the Internet is the emergence of new forms of international conflicts, including information and network wars. The article presents a new form of public diplomacy, gives a brief overview of the brief history of digital diplomacy and shows its mechanism of influence on foreign audiences. It is shown that there is an inverse relation between the diplomatic and public offices (a new phenomenon of the modern information society). The author also stresses the role of social media in shaping public opinion, which puts forward specific requirements for how information is supplied on the official pages of diplomatic offices in social networks. The new format of close cooperation between the public and diplomatic agencies makes the modern diplomacy public on the one hand and less restrained on the other. In these circumstances, it is very important information without losing the initiative and applying new and modern means of communication with their particular style of communication, they cannot fall the level of political culture. Thus, the ongoing technological revolution and complicates the interactions between the participants of international relations, but the use of digital technologies in the field of diplomatic activity opens up new possibilities for “soft power” policies.

Keywords

Digital diplomacy, geopolitics, cyber terrorism, social networks, international relations, Internet space, soft power, trolling, foreign policy.