In search of a dialogue: Digital di-plomacy of Sweden

Digital diplomacy opens up new opportunities for both developed and devel-oping states to promote their international image, clarify their position on current issues, and realize long-term foreign policy aspirations, but it also brings com-pletely new challenges. The chief one among them is establishing a continuous constructive dialogue with the target audience in the virtual space. Facilitation for this dialogue is one of the key priorities of the digital diplomacy of Sweden. The author examines the activities of the key actors of Sweden’s digital diplomacy (the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of Sweden, the Swedish Institute, the Swedish Tourist Association (Svenska Turistföreningen), ‘Visit Sweden’) and identifi es their key features. Particularly, the author emphasizes the government’s readiness to implement innovative and creative methods to promote its media projects. The latter include such projects as ‘The Second House of Sweden’, ‘Curators of Sweden’, and ‘Swedish Number’, which were aimed at improving the quality of communication with the foreign audience. In doing so, the responsible minis-tries and agencies placed a heavy emphasis on promoting a dialogue via social networks between the Swedish offi cials and representatives of the civil society on the one hand and foreign users on the other. The leading actors of Sweden’s digital diplomacy actively engaged the foreign audience in discussions on the most important issues on the foreign policy agenda of Sweden. This was most clearly demonstrated in media campaigns designed to eliminate discrimination against women and gender-based violence. The author concludes that Sweden has achieved a certain degree of success in establishing a dialogue with the foreign audience, yet this dialogue is not comprehensive enough and still depends on the initiative of individual politicians and diplomats.

Peculiarities of using digital diplomacy in a pandemic condition

Problem setting. Dynamics of international relations Alternative forms of communication and new types of transnational policy have a great influence on diplomacy. Diplomatic structures face unknown challenges, and must therefore adapt to modern conditions in order to continue their honorable mission. Thus, the priority task of diplomatic science is to determine the middle ground between traditional and innovative ways of communication. Innovative methods are understood as the use of digital technologies that have not bypassed any sphere of human life and have already become firmly established in the activities of diplomats. It is the inevitability and all-encompassing nature of digitalization that has given impetus to the development of digital diplomacy, an innovative means of communicating with society as a whole and between countries using the Internet, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social networks to strengthen diplomatic relations. E-diplomacy is on the rise against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of closed borders, next-generation diplomacy is perhaps the only way to maintain interethnic relations. In view of all the above, we must learn to use it, especially in such difficult times, and to do this we need to consider different approaches to digital diplomacy, find out its place in the world and answer the question: «Is digital diplomacy effective and will it ever be able to replace the traditional one?» Analysis of recent researches and publications. In the current context of globalization, diplomacy is undergoing a significant transformation. Scientific concepts devoted to the concept of “digital diplomacy” attract the attention of many domestic and foreign scholars, including, in particular, V. Yu. Stepanov, K.G. Brychuk, D.N. Baryshnikov, M.G. Okladna, G. K. Musaeva, I. Shevel, I. Todorov, A. Veselovsky, D. Lewis, A. Fischer, E. Potter, D. Lewis and others. However, the impact of COVID-19 on international life and diplomatic relations at the research level has received little attention. Target of research. To consider digital diplomacy as a form of public diplomacy, a tool of mass communication in public administration in the pre-pandemic period (2019), in its heyday (2020) and at the time of its development (2021). To draw the attention of scholars and practical diplomats to the phenomenon of digitalization and diplomacy of social networks. Article’s main body. The opinion of domestic and foreign scientists on the concept of digital diplomacy is analyzed. Based on these opinions, the authors try to сonsider the definition of the term “digital diplomacy”, the history of the origin and spread of e-diplomacy tactics, advantages and disadvantages of this format of communication, contradictions in the interpretation of the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine with residence in Kyiv, work of the diplomatic corps in times of crisis. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The authors conclude that all forms of e-diplomacy can be an additional effective means of communication both within the world politics system and externally in public relations, but they will never be able to fully replace the centuries-old tradition of diplomatic relations.

Digital Diplomacy in Russian-European Relations: Cross-Cultural Aspects

The development of information and communication technologies and formation of the global information society actualizes the study of new directions in the evolution of diplomatic practice in the digital environment, including in the context of intercultural communication. The modern information revolution is characterized by the widespread and ever-growing use of social networks, blogs, wiki resources and other media platforms (labelled under the common term of Web 2.0 technologies). At the same time, the widespread use of Web 2.0 technologies and the increasing amount of time people all over the world spend there has a wide and profound impact on political and intercultural communication and diplomatic practice. A new phenomenon of digital diplomacy is gaining prominence among foreign policy tools of states and international organizations. Digital diplomacy can be defined as the use of social networks and Web 2.0 technologies in public diplomacy and international interaction by states and international organizations to achieve foreign policy goals and reach foreign audiences. According to the traditional view of digital diplomacy, which has developed in the academic literature, and is reflected in the works of authors such as M. Castells and J. Nye, it helps to strengthen network ties at the level of civil societies in different countries and thus reduces international conflicts. However, cultural differences and digital polarization can impede the potential of digital diplomacy. Today, almost all states and international organizations in the global arena are involved in the practice of digital diplomacy, and Russia is no exception. Russia actively participates in the digital diplomacy practice, by using social media and Web 2.0 tools as soft power instruments to introduce and explain foreign policy initiatives and reach foreign and domestic audiences, as stated in the Doctrine of the Information Security of Russian Federation of 2016. For Russia's foreign policy, relations with the EU countries and EU institutions are of particular importance, including in the digital sphere. However, even though both Russia and the EU countries make extensive use of digital diplomacy tools, the practice of horizontal network interaction mediated by digital technologies does not contribute to strengthening trust between countries and reducing conflicts. The authors consider incidents and allegations in the sphere of digital interaction and, based on the theory of digital polarization, conclude that the use of digital tools in horizontal interactions within digital diplomacy exacerbates intercultural differences between countries and increases conflict instead of improving mutual understanding.

Unveiling China's digital diplomacy: A comparative analysis of CGTN Africa and BBC News Africa on Facebook

This study explored social media use by CGTN Africa and BBC Africa under the concept of digital diplomacy. Digital diplomacy has been seen recently as an important component that international media adapt to set agendas, expand their online presence and create, engage and sustain relationships with their foreign audience. A content analysis was employed to analyse 1200 posts from Facebook accounts of the media. The study's findings show that the media set an agenda through actively posting stories that promote African values and culture to generate interaction among their readership. Also, findings indicate that foreign media prioritized reporting on specific issues in Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia over others. The audience engaged more with reports on sports and less with those on tourism and wildlife. CGTN Africa rarely engages in conversation with its audience. Thus, there is a need to build the capacity of its staff, which might help China's media perform better on social media.

Digital Diplomacy in the Context of Modern Information Communications

The purpose of the article is to find out the essence of digital diplomacy as a component of public diplomacy. The research methodology is based on the application of an interdisciplinary approach, which made it possible to clarify the specifics of the discourse of digital diplomacy. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the attempt to comprehensively analyze the discourse of digital diplomacy as a component of public diplomacy in the subject area of information affairs. Conclusions. It is noted that due to the development of new methods of analyzing the behaviour of social network users, digital diplomacy has become an effective tool not only in political information campaigns but also in cultural policy. For this purpose, services and special web-applications SocioViz, NVivo, Google Trends, etc. are used. Today, the effectiveness of the message in digital diplomacy is achieved by maximizing the range of readers and viewers. It is concluded that digital diplomacy has the capacity to implement a policy of ‘soft power’, to develop concerted action to overcome society and political and socio-cultural crises, as well as to develop measures to prevent them. It is emphasized that the processing of big data and the use of artificial intelligence for the purposes of digital diplomacy is a requirement of the time (so-called data diplomacy).

Russia’s Soft Power

Russia has always been a country seeking the Great Power status. Even though it lost its importance after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the desire to return to the role of the creator of international order force it to introduce new strategy that will implement soft power resources. This represents a certain obstacle for Russia, which traditionally is accustomed to hard power resources like economic pressure or the use of armed forces. Culture is Russia’s soft power resource that is significant. Values can be more problematic for Russia, because in Moscow’s intentions they should be different from the Western values. Russia is trying to create an alternative soft power project, competitive to that of the West. Russia is trying to make good use of its diplomacy, including digital diplomacy, in order to show the use of its hard power to be seen as soft.

Digital diplomacy as a factor of ensuring the real sovereignty of Russia

Current transition processes have closely related with huge numbers of social spheres. The most significant transformations took place in the digital technology sphere. These trends have radically changed most spheres of life primarily including spread of information and communication technologies, civil services, diplomatic negotiations and promotion of state interests through "soft power". Importance of technologies as an element ensuring the sovereignty of states has increased due to involving information and communication technologies in daily people’s life and state management processes. The land, maritime, information and technological borders of sovereign states are actually blurred. The most advanced tech actors have opportunity to impose not only their own economic policy, making other countries dependent on high-tech products and its individual components, but also the information agenda. Nowadays social networks and technological platforms have almost gained the upper hand in competition with traditional mass media, both in terms of the speed of news distribution and audience coverage. This article is dedicated to the transformation processes in the digital, communication and technological spheres and potential impact of mentioned processes on the states sovereignty, Also the article reviews digital diplomacy as an element of "soft power" in promoting state interests abroad.

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY IN THE BIG DATA AGE

В статье автор проводит анализ развития цифровой дипломатии и дипломатии данных на современном этапе. Отличительной чертой является то, что автором сделано сравнение нескольких стран в этой области, подчеркнуты как плюсы, так и указаны возможные недостатки. Приведенные примеры и сделанные автором прогнозы дают возможность взглянуть на вопрос развития цифровой дипломатии под другим углом. Автором высказывается мнение о том, что цифровая дипломатия представляет собой очень мощный инструмент, через который потом будет расширено понятие «мягкая сила».