Diplo Blog

Public diplomacy has become a ‘hot button’ issue, not just for diplomats but for a whole clutch of non-state actors – those active in business, culture, education, the media, public affairs and scholars, and even tourism – all of whom contribute to PD and are affected by it.

'Today’s State Department, as shaped by Secretary Clinton, ... has created a better balance between the “Billiard Ball World” and the “Lego World”', writes Andreas Sandre, the Washington based Italian diplomat who has carved out an influential curatorial role in e-diplomacy.

There is general agreement that the recent climate change negotiations in Doha were a failure from many perspectives, especially with regards to making progress towards a post-Kyoto regime as well as with making the Green Climate Fund operational.

The much anticipated World Conference on International Telecommunications, which took place earlier this month, ended without consensus. The outcomes of the meeting are now the subject of many debates, and are expected to develop further as ICT-related discussions unfold at the UN, the ITU, and other upcoming meetings.

'We cannot afford to get wise slowly' was the answer from one junior diplomat to my question about how young diplomats, attending last week's Seminar on 'Excellence in Diplomacy' in Belgrade, demonstrated so much wisdom. Wisdom is usually associated with age and experience.

Innovation is often seen as something done by young people. The Canadian Embassy in Beijing's experiments with Wei-plomacy have been led by a seasoned Diplomat, Mark McDowell, whose long, distinguished career suggests he probably wouldn't qualify for a young-person's railcard! The innovation shown in the work of the Canadian Embassy in Beijing on the Sina Weibo platform demonstrates how important it is in eDiplomacy to steer innovation with experience.

(just a fairy tale?)

In a recent blog Katharina writes: “As much as “one state, one vote” rules or methods of consensus decision-making aim at giving the impression of resulting in a decision among equals, this is simply not the case. To anyone involved in diplomacy this statement is akin to a truism.

As the new Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is inaugurated in Beijing, terms like “harmony” and “stability” are buzz-words describing the vision of the China Communist Country for the country. The West tends to scoff at these terms, and tends to put them down as slogans. Multi-party democracy is best when achieving sustainable “stability”, it is argued.

Implicit communication, the unsaid – how important is this in an age of supposed transparency and openness? This and other questions were raised in a presentation by Dr Biljana Scott at Diplo’s conference on Innovation in Diplomacy.