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Masterclass with Jovan Kurbalija
Diplomacy and technology: A historical journey #4
Ancient Greek Diplomacy: Politics, new tools, and negotiation
Thursday, 29th April
12:00 UTC (08:00 EDT | 14:00 CEST | 20:00 CST)
After dealing with the early days of diplomacy and the diplomacy of the ancient world, we move to ancient Greek diplomacy. To the ancient Greeks we owe the term ‘diplomacy’ ('folded in two').
We will start our discussion with the role of the orator, and the first examples of extraterritoriality. Ancient Greek diplomacy was probably the most open form of diplomacy in history, delivered in plenary sessions. Ancient Greece also made early innovations in communication by developing some type of proto-telegraph. Lastly, they made huge advancements in developing crypto-protected communication.
What can modern diplomacy learn from ancient Greek diplomacy? In short, full transparency and openness is not an optimal environment for diplomacy which needs to solve complex problems through convergence and compromise.
Join us for an engaging discussion on these and other issues at our next Masterclass which will be held, on Thursday, April 29th, at 14:00 CEST.
Find out more about how technology influenced the history of diplomacy
Our experts involved
Dr Jovan Kurbalija
Executive Director
Dr Jovan Kurbalija is the Executive Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP). He was a member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (2004‒2005), special advisor to the Chairman of the UN Internet Governance Forum (2006‒2010), and a member of the High Level Multistakeholder Committee for NETmundial (2013‒2014). In 2018-2019, he served as co-Executive Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation.
A former diplomat, Jovan has a professional and academic background in international law, diplomacy, and information technology. He has been a pioneer in the field of cyber diplomacy since 1992 when he established the Unit for Information Technology and Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta, and later, DiploFoundation.
Since 1997, Jovan’s research and articles on cyber diplomacy have shaped research and policy discussion on the impact of the Internet on diplomacy and international relations. His book, An Introduction to Internet Governance, has been translated into 9 languages and is used as a textbook for academic courses worldwide. He lectures on e-diplomacy and Internet governance in academic and training institutions in many countries, including Austria (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna), Belgium (College of Europe), Switzerland (University of St Gallen), Malta (University of Malta), and the United States (University of Southern California).
His publishes regular articles on DiploFoundation's blog, and the Huffington Post.