Digital Diplomacy: A Promising Approach for Global Human Affairs

Digital diplomacy has a key role to play in dealing with global human affairs in the 21st century. The article first highlights digital diplomacy as a research agenda. Considering contemporary global and digital challenges for diplomacy three trends are outlined: globalisation, interdependence and the shift to a multipolar world order. The change of the traditional role of the state and world politics with a multi-layered political arena ranging from transnational civil society organisations to multi-national corporations has influenced the professional field of diplomats. These developments acknowledge the importance of diplomatic engagement and management. Most of the challenges that humanity is facing can be tackled solely by joint efforts: they are global human affairs. Diplomacy is an imperative in world politics and the current global and digital dynamics make diplomacy a promising option for managing differences among various political entities. Diplomats are perceived as an epistemic community and regarded as highly relevant global actors who can make significant contributions to solving the global challenges which lie ahead of humanity. Digital diplomacy is a turning point in diplomacy. In order to deal with digital ICTs, diplomats have to be trained in how to use these new communication tools in a professional way. Finally, future scenarios of digital diplomacy will be discussed.