[19/03/2015 - Guest lecture, book launch & debate] On Digital Diplomacy & Beyond (with Corneliu BJOLA, University of Oxford)

posted Mar 5, 2015, 1:34 PM by Centre for International Cooperation and Development Studies ‎(FSPUB)‎   [ updated Mar 11, 2015, 9:57 AM ]


The Centre for International Cooperation and Development Studies (IDC) 
invites the interested public 

Thursday, 
19 March 2015, 11:30  
Room 1989 
(8, Spiru Haret st, ground floor)  

to the guest lecture, book launch and debate 

ON DIGITAL DIPLOMACY & BEYOND 

with 
Corneliu BJOLA 
University of Oxford 

around the volume 

Corneliu Bjola, Marcus Holmes, eds. Digital Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, Routledge 2015 


Public event (within the limit of available seats), moderated, in English, approx. 3h (with 2 short breaks). Complimentary tea available for all participants. 




About the volume 
The recent spread of digital initiatives in foreign ministries is often argued to be nothing less than a revolution in the practice of diplomacy but little is known about how digital diplomacy works. This volume published by Routledge in March 2015, the first of its kind, investigates now digital diplomacy as a form of change management in the international system.

Digital technology has changed the ways firms conduct business, individuals conduct social relations, and states conduct governance internally, but states are only just realizing its potential to change the ways all aspects of interstate interactions are conducted. In particular, the adoption of digital diplomacy (i.e., the use of social media for diplomatic purposes) has been implicated in changing practices of how diplomats engage in information management, public diplomacy, strategy planning, international negotiations or even crisis management. Despite these significant changes and the promise that digital diplomacy offers, little is known, from an analytical perspective, about how digital diplomacy works.

This volume brings together established scholars and experienced policy-makers to bridge this analytical gap. The objective of the book is to theorize what digital diplomacy is, assess its relationship to traditional forms of diplomacy, examine the latent power dynamics inherent in digital diplomacy, and assess the conditions under which digital diplomacy informs, regulates, or constrains foreign policy. Organized around a common theme of investigating digital diplomacy as a form of change management in the international system, it combines diverse theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented chapters centered on international change.

"Rapid increases in the availability and power of connection technologies are changing the modes of international relations and the conditions for statecraft in the 21st century. This volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of how. This is a smart read for foreign policy practitioners and those that study them." -- Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2009-13)


Corneliu BJOLA (Ph.D., Univ. of Toronto) is Associate Professor in Diplomatic Studies at the University of Oxford. He is currently the Course Director of the MSc in Global Governance & Diplomacy in the Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House. He has previously taught at the University of Toronto and McMaster University, Canada. His current research interests lie at the intersection of diplomatic studies, negotiation theory, international ethics, and crisis management. Dr Bjola is co-editor of Digital Diplomacy: Theory and Practice (Routledge 2015), co-author of Understanding International Diplomacy: Theory, Practice and Ethics (Routledge 2013), co-editor of Arguing Global Governance: Agency, Lifeworld, and Shared Reasoning (Routledge 2010), author of Legitimising the Use of Force in International Politics: Kosovo, Iraq and the Ethics of Intervention (Routledge, 2009) and of various articles published in scholarly journals such as the European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Studies, International Negotiation, Global Policy, Journal of Global Ethics and the Hague Journal of Diplomacy. Dr Bjola is currently working on two book projects. The first one is a co-edited volume entitled “Secret Diplomacy in the Age of Global Disclosures” and examines the objectives, methods, and agency of secret diplomacy in the contemporary global political context (expected publication date: 2016). The second project represents a research monograph tentatively entitled “Before Victory: Diplomatic Management of International Crisis”, which develops an original conceptual framework, based on phronetic theory, for understanding how diplomats make sense, manage and terminate international crises (expected publication date: 2017). Dr. Bjola is the Series Co-Editor of the New Diplomacy Studies book series with Routledge, and Editor-in-Chief of the new journal “Diplomacy and Foreign Policy” with Brill (launch date: Spring 2016). Dr. Bjola is also the convenor of the Global Governance & Diplomacy Public Speaker Series, which brings reputable diplomatic practitioners and academic scholars for engaged conversations with students and fellows at the University of Oxford.


The event is organized for the BA in International Relations and European Studies students within the Professionals in International Relations and European Studies (ProRISE) programme of the Centre for International Cooperation and Development Studies (IDC).