Information Revolution and Growing Power of Communication: A Foundation of New Diplomacy

Introduction

Communication is to diplomacy as blood is to the human body. Whenever communication ceases, the body of international politics, the process of diplomacy is dead, and the result is violent, conflict or atrophy.

—Van Dinh Tran

Information technology (IT) in the twenty-first century no doubt has increased the high-speed interactive digital network for multilingual voice, video, print, data communication worldwide, revolutionizing how nation states communicate with one another in the international system. The globalization of issues and the rapidly expanding reach of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are fundamentally changing how the nation states pursue their various national interests in the international system. The existence of NGOs has also been stimulated by increased eagerness on the part of the donor community to channel aid through them. As Hulme (2001) argues, ‘the rise of NGOs throughout the 1980s and 1990s was fuelled by international development agencies and aid donors who assumed that civic organisations should rapidly scale their direct service provision function’ (Duhu 2005; Hulme 2001). As a result, during the last two decades, both developed and developing countries have witnessed a steady increase of NGOs. In the contemporary international system, IT is fundamentally transforming the way in which we live, work, govern and communicate. Within governmental institutions, NGOs, corporations, educators, military leaders and a number of citizens’ groups are defining their future with the knowledge that ideas, products and activities can be delivered in digital form (Roy 1981). IT strategy is the road map for capitalizing on the use of information and IT as a key enabler of the government’s transformation. Better use of information resources has the potential to provide a sound basis for the setting of policy and standards in governance. Like other large organizations, the government relies heavily on information and technology. Hundreds of systems now support planning, service delivery to the public, evaluation and internal administration. Information and technology are also important to improving other significant activities of government planning and evaluation as well as internal administration in support of all the government’s functions. It also supports better access to and analysis of up-to-date information from a number of sources, and provide new process management tools (Smith et al. 2007).

The developed nations of the world (the superpowers) have an unmatched capacity to create and integrate complex information systems. The growing power of information for the developed states is an edge over the developing nations of the world. While it is extraordinarily attractive to other countries, helping the developing nations of the world in the area of IT can have positive consequences in international relations. Information and technology hold enormous promises for purposeful leadership and better understanding in foreign attitudes for effective decision-making (Barnett 2001). There is no doubt that the global digital network and the growing power of communication have created a new foundation of diplomacy in the international arena. IT is as important as politics, economics and military power, and information, communication skills and foreign policy are high national priorities in international relations. A new diplomacy rooted in the Information Age is a necessity if we are to rekindle state public’s interest in foreign policy.

A critical assessment and analysis of the impact of information revolution and growing power of communication on diplomatic relations between and among nation states is the subject matter of this article. As a preamble to this, however, it is necessary to state our understanding of information revolution and power of communication skills and in order to clarify the central theses of this article. The first section focuses on the concept of diplomacy, the second section analyze the sweeping changes in IT and growing power of communication in the new millennium, and the third section argues the contribution of IT toward the development of diplomacy in the international system and the conclusion of our submission.

Concept of Diplomacy

Constantinou and other scholars define diplomacy within the ambit and terms of communication. Constantinou in his presentation states that diplomacy is ‘a regulated process of communication’ (1996) and James asserts that diplomacy is ‘the communication system of the international society’ (1980). Symbolic representation of diplomacy tends to highlight its communicative aspects. For the purpose of this article, diplomacy is conceived as an institution structuring relations among politics. A polity can be understood as a political authority which ‘has a distinct identity; a capacity to mobilise persons and their resource for political purposes, that is, for value satisfaction; and a degree of institutionalisation and hierarchy (leaders and constituents)’ (Ferguson and Mansbach 1996).

Going through historical binocular, we can link up the issue of diplomacy and communication. It is sometimes argued that the first diplomats were angels, messengers between deities and human beings (Nicolson 1963). Though Derian dismissed this assertion, he posits that the issue of relations between man and deities are nothing but ‘mytho-diplomacy’ (1987). We should remember that ‘in two classical languages, Hebrew and Greek, the words for messenger (“mal’ach” in Hebrew and “angelos” in Greek) convey the idea of sacredness as well as of secular mission’ (Der Derian 1987; Eban 1983). In Ancient Greece, Hermes, the divine messenger, was the deity of language and diplomacy, and the most prominent diplomatic emissaries were regarded as the offspring of Hermes. The sanctity of diplomatic messengers in the ancient world implied inviolability and thus foreshadowed more recent notions of diplomatic immunity (Eban 1983; Frey and Frey 1999). In the diplomacy of the Roman Empire, protocol seems to have developed only among equals or near equals. Whereas sophisticated rules of protocol developed between the Roman and Persian Empires, Rome’s diplomatic relations with the ‘northern barbarians’ seem to have involved no protocol (Lee 1993).

Langhorne also argues that as the Ancient Near East diplomacy foreshadowed the refinements of diplomatic protocol, Ancient Greece may be seen as the forerunner of the verbal skills and eloquence associated with modern diplomacy (Langhorne 2008). Diplomatic communication among the Greek city-states depended on direct and oral exchange and face-to-face contacts between representatives. Moreover, communication was open and public, relying on oratorical skills. Diplomacy by conference and by implication reflects confidential negotiation in the relations of the Greek city-states, where envoys reported to public assemblies and argued in public (Mosley 1973). It is significant to note that Keryx (herald) is an Indo-European word already found in Mycenean Greek, which refers to the clarity of the speaker’s voice. Celebrated orators, such as Pericles and Demosthenes, were frequently entrusted with diplomatic missions (Jones 1999). In Ancient India, as well, eloquence was considered an essential criterion in the selection of envoys (Roy 1981). A student of Islamic diplomacy argues that Arabs added an element of poetry to the Ancient Greek diplomacy by oratory (Iqbal 1977). The diplomatic letters of the Byzantine period often had ‘literary pretensions’ (Mullet 1992). In short, there is no shortage of precursors of the ‘semantic obsession’ of modern diplomats.

One of the most important innovations of Renaissance diplomacy flowed from the growing need not only to send messages but to gather information about neighbors among vulnerable yet ambitious Italian city-states (Hamilton and Langhorne 1995). Information gathering has come to be regarded as a basic function of modern diplomacy, explicitly listed in the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

Gathering information on the local scene and reporting it home has long been recognised as one of the most important functions of the resident embassy. The state of the economy, foreign policy, the morale of the armed forces, scientific research with military implications, the health of the leader, the balance of power within the government, the likely result of any forthcoming election, the strength of the opposition, and so on, have long been the staple fare of ambassadorial dispatches. (Berridge 1995)

While often associated with the emergence of permanent embassies, information gathering has been an enduring aspect of diplomacy. In Ancient India, for example, intelligence played a prominent role, as is evident from Kautilya’s classic work of Arthasastra. Once a diplomat had obtained whatever information he could gather, he had fulfilled his chief mission and had to ask for permission to return (Nag 1997; Roy 1981).

Diplomacy is facing new challenges, including an expanded foreign policy agenda, changing social demands, and the rapid growth of domestic agencies operating abroad. One feature of the twenty-first century that is changing the character of diplomacy is the use of advanced information technologies in modern communication. Nowadays, the operative mode of information’s circulation and its accessibility change the dynamics of diplomatic work requiring faster reactions and other principles of information selection. Diplomacy’s transformation in the twenty-first century has been characterized by fast-growing cooperation and coordination between institutions in solving different questions. In the context of the European Union, for instance, it is the question of the development of the European External Action Service (EEAS), which would be capable of ensuring effective and efficient delivery of policies (Klavins 2011; Langhorne 2008). These new diplomatic options will come to rely increasingly on NGOs and the panoply of organizational connections, quasi-official agreements and ideological buffering they provide. As corporations become increasingly internationally influential, co-operative efforts in international organizations involving NGOs and sovereign states will prove increasingly effective. This will force diplomacy to explore new avenues of interaction, bilateral to multilateral, from broad treaties to ever more specific agreements outlining specific privileges and specific responsibilities in the far less semantically forgiving world of global competition (Roy 1981).

A second impression about new diplomacy is that it is designed to maintain world peace and solve international problems. In fact, it should be realized that the main diplomatic actors–states try usually and mainly to achieve their goals and improve their national image. Considering the rapid development of events in the circumstances of globalization, as well as the fact that international relations include many new important actors, traditional diplomacy cannot handle a vast array of new issues. For example, the environment, population, terrorism, transnational crime, drugs and sustainable development would overrun the old order. Thus, effective foreign affairs institutions are essential, not only for improvement of economic and social welfare, but also for providing security. Foreign affairs institutions that were serving as the core of diplomacy during many centuries have to make a decision. If they will stay with previous methods and structure of work, their actions will probably become not only sluggish but also unclear (Riordan 2007).

Information Technology and the Growing Power of Communication

According to Tran (1987) ‘the skills of communication, especially international communication, is an art that some seem to have an intuition for and some not’. Cohen (1986) and Dominick (1983) in their different presentations argue that, communication starts from the rudiments; how to speak, how to carry yourself and where to direct your gaze. The growing power of communication no doubt presents new opportunities for diplomats in international system. As the world becomes increasingly complex, communications among professionals with different areas of expertise become harder and yet, more important. The creativity and enthusiasm of information technologists have changed the way in which hundreds of millions of people work and communicate; the last 20 years gave us personal computers and software, cellular telephones, global networks and the Internet.

The development in IT is no doubt replacing or at least changing the nature of many functions and methods of traditional diplomacy such as routine consular activities, communications and information gathering, at the same time it is leading us to re-assert the importance of other core issues and techniques, including language use, negotiation, and such elements where human creativity can be assisted but not replaced by machines. Social development today is determined by the ability to establish a synergistic interaction between technological innovation and human values, leading to a new set of organizations and institutions that create positive feedback loops between productivity, flexibility, solidarity, safety, participation and accountability, in a new model of development that could be socially and environmentally sustainable. The entire realm of human activity depends on the power of information, in a sequence of technological innovation that accelerates its pace on monthly basis. Genetic engineering, benefiting from this wealth of information processing capacity, is progressing by leaps and bounds, and is enabling us, for the first time, to unveil the secrets of living matter and to manipulate life, with extraordinary potential consequences (Castells 1999).

At a human level, IT has increased opportunities for direct communication between people, developing awareness and understanding of cultural differences in our communities. Enhanced communications technology increases the ability of a society to communicate within itself and remain cohesive (Rouke and Boyer 2002). People from different cultures and backgrounds are, more often than at any time in the past, in direct contact, via e-mail, chat and other Internet-based communication tools. At the same time, IT is changing the way we use language to communicate indirectly, as fast and personal communication leads to less formality; and directly, as we begin to explore new possibilities for enriching our communication with IT-based tools.

Diplomacy has been influenced by the development of available means of communication, most importantly; the speed of diplomatic communication has varied greatly over time. The most important aspect of new technology and information has revolutionized every aspect of society as it has diplomacy. It should be noted that, in the Ancient Near East, diplomatic missions could take years to complete. In the Amarna Letters, there is reference to a messenger being detained, and thus bilateral communication was interrupted for 6 years (Johnson 2000). In the sixteenth century it took 4 months for a Hapsburg diplomat to travel to Moscow, and in the seventeenth century it took eleven days to send a courier from Paris to Madrid (Busk 1967). The well-known expression that, Napoleon did not travel faster than Caesar is not merely a figure of speech, but it reflects the reality in the eighteenth century, the Ancient Roman roads remained the best communication routes on land. Still by the end of the eighteenth century, United States President could write a memorandum to his Secretary of State, lamenting the fact that the ambassador in Spain had not been heard from for 2 years. ‘If we do not hear from him this year,’ he added, ‘let us write him a letter’ (Eban 1983).

It was only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that technological revolutions changed the premises of diplomatic communication. The role of the State has changed in response to the rapidly changing international environment and the involvement of new actors. The result, of course, is that diplomacy has changed with it. Multilateral processes connected to security, economic, social, technological and other changes influence the essence of modern diplomacy. One of the authors who have been able to elegantly express the subject of change is Richard Langhorne. According to him,

the current sense of flux in diplomacy which is evident in studies of the subject is primarily due to the conjunction of major growth in the diplomacy of states at a time when the role of states is changing and this change is leaving space for the emergence of new and untrained users of diplomacy. (Langhorne 2008)

Thus, it is true that modern diplomacy has become a transnational process of social relationship realized by an enlarged diplomatic community (Langhorne 2005). Robin Brown also posits that, within the contemporary international system, there has probably been more media discussion of public diplomacy than in the past three decades. He also mentioned how the War on Terrorism has hauled public diplomacy from the margins of diplomacy toward the center of public attention (Brown 2005)

While facilitating the exchange of diplomatic communication, these technological innovations, high-speed interactive digital network with adequate bandwidth for multilingual voice, video, print and data communication have been seen as challenges to ingrained diplomatic procedures. For instance, the Royal Commission of 1861, which investigated the British Diplomatic Service, dwelt on the influence of the telegraph on diplomacy and wondered whether ambassadors would become unnecessary when such rapid communication could be made with foreign powers (Busk 1967). The dramatic development of today’s media and IT has elicited similar concerns. But it should be reiterated that the growing power of communication vis-à-vis diplomatic relations among nation states diplomats are adjusting to, and learning to use, the new communication media. They become engaged in ‘media diplomacy’, exploiting the media for purpose (Cohen 1986). Television, for example, provides ample opportunities for creative diplomatic stage managing, yet frequently requires instantaneous improvisation without the possibilities of retakes. Foreign ministries have discovered the potential of the Internet as a powerful medium for the worldwide dissemination of information to an audience of highly educated and influential member of foreign societies (Kurbalija 1999).

While the recent development in IT is growing, there are evidences that the Internet can enrich the art of diplomacy and other professions such as journalism, political science, linguistic and literary theory. Some scholars in the field of international relations have argued that the rate of development in IT will improve the function and destiny of diplomacy (Lehrman 2007).

Information and Communication Technology: Tools Toward an Effective Diplomacy

Within the contemporary international system there is convergence between the centrality of texts in Internet-based communication and diplomacy. The IT has reinforced the importance of texts as the key medium of modern human communication, in a variety of forms such as e-mail, websites and hypertext-based documents. International observers and practitioners in the field of international relations alike testify to the vital role of communication in diplomacy. Despite the slowdown in the communication industry, Internet traffic continues to grow rapidly, fuelled by the explosion in data communications, mobile Internet, e-commerce, content rich applications and multi-media services. Internet traffic has increased by approximately 80 per cent yearly in each of the last 3 years, and will continue to grow at 60–80 per cent annually through year 2006 (Communication Network Power Efficiency Assessment 2008). For effective diplomacy, it has always been very crucial, the richness and complexity of diplomatic activities, including negotiations, representation, and social activities and media coverage is crystallized in texts–diplomatic documents. One major diplomatic role has always been to gather information and impressions and to analyze and report these back to the home office. This mostly includes routine activity, such as reading newspapers and reporting observations (Rouke and Boyer 2002). Diplomacy is all about persuasion, requires a unique mixture of empathy, persuasion, bluster and cajoling amongst other things, but more importantly the presentation, communication skills and oratory prowess of the diplomat plays a vital role. A diplomat must make effective use of communicative advocacy tools such as public testimony, speeches, interviews and debates. Learning to create and present public presentations effectively is critical to a diplomat and his ability to negotiate effectively.

Diplomacy has traditionally been made a method of conducting interstate relations involving discussions and negotiations between heads of states and their representatives in order to advance national interest. As one may imagine, these efforts may not always be sincere. More broadly, however, diplomacy often involves efforts to keep channels of communication open between different sides of a dispute in the hope that tension can be diffused, and violence averted. Modern diplomacy is in many ways more complicated with inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) and NGOs because they are involved in socio-economic issues that cut-cut across international boundaries. More importantly, globalized communication and transportation have opened up new avenues for the conduct of diplomacy and helped new participants get involved (Freeman 1997). Effective diplomacy encompasses the entire analysis, advocacy and negotiating chain leading to international agreements political and socio-economic issues.

Communication and public presentation skills are keys to success in almost any profession, business, law, the media, academia and political diplomacy. Public speaking skills are needed not only to make professional presentations at conferences and to the press, but also to build professional networks, another key to success in the political bargaining. In the procedures of discharging their duties, diplomats face a particular challenge; much of their communications take place with people from other cultures with different communication styles and native languages. This underscores the need to develop excellent public speaking skills. Typical presentations by a career diplomat require the audience to absorb a great deal of information in a short period of time. These presentations must clearly convey the essential information on complex issues. Working in a highly independent arena, career diplomats are required to clearly explain complicated issues such as:

the political interest at stake

The challenge is to convey the essence of the most important factors driving a case, while convincing the audience of proposed courses of action. An accomplished professional in diplomacy can often exert an influence far beyond his or her policy-making authority (Tran 1987). This manual provides the aspiring career diplomat with guidelines for making presentations in the field. Technology is already aiding with the use of texts in diplomacy in a number of ways, contributing to the sharing, storing and preservation of documents. IT-assisted methods of analysis such as Diplo-analytica reveals the layers of information and knowledge, both focal and tacit, contained in diplomatic documents (Kurbalija 1999; Nigro 2012). IT also offers possibilities for the creation of more adequate documents, both in working and final phases. Diplomatic negotiations conducted via the Internet removes the trappings of direct communication such as body language and eye contact, allowing negotiators to focus on the document text. It should be emphasized that, the information revolution has made foreign relations especially among nation states more essential and it has brought about fundamental changes in the pattern and structure of diplomatic relations among nation states, for example, the direct radio broadcasting and news gathering, on-line reference services, electronic libraries being transmitted via the Internet, Internet publishing and digital video conferencing (Barnett 2001). Opinion leaders and decision-makers increasingly are users of the Internet, the World Wide Web, electronic libraries, personal computers, digital video and other new information technologies. Many young educated and affluent people are engaged in various diplomatic bargaining. For a diplomat, bright ideas are important and they often crop up naturally. They need to accumulate knowledge, sharpen their responsiveness and build up capabilities to handle emergencies. New information technologies and communications procedures can help reduce the cost of administrative running and increase the effectiveness of chief diplomats in areas of bargaining and negotiations with other nation states. The challenges for embassies, ministry of foreign affairs is to standardize their equipment and procedures for communications interoperability in the field and to share information to their mutual benefit (Riordan 2007). Increased efficient through more effective communication can have a dramatic impact on the success of their operations and negotiations.

International crisis of the Post-Cold War world calls for a new kind of cooperation among nation states in the international system. Personal participating in these joint operations shares a high level of dedication to achieving the same goals. Yet the differences in their professional cultures, the lack of familiarity with each other’s methods and imperfect communications in the field can lead to misunderstandings or poor coordination of effort in the area of diplomatic bargaining. Scholars have agreed on the types of problems they face in the field; however, they said they are optimistic that new telecommunications technologies can be adapted to meet communications needs, and thus can improve the possibilities for cooperation among nation states (Cohen 1986; Dominick 1983; Tran 1987).

Despite the positive impact of communication on diplomacy some scholars in the field of international relations have also argued that one of the obvious effects of the IT revolution is that diplomacy has lost its position as the main facilitator of contacts and communication across state boundaries. Hamilton and Langhorne (1995) also posit that with the high-speed of interactive digital network and development in data communication the actions of diplomats are today much more circumscribed when compared to earlier periods when it took long time to relay instructions. Moreover, direct contacts between political leaders have become more frequent, as Eban (1983) also reiterates that ‘as communication become easier the nomadic instinct is given greater scope’. In a related development George Ball, a senior United States diplomat, lamented in the early 1980s that ‘jet planes and telephones and the bad habits of Presidents, National Security Assistants and Secretaries of State had now largely restricted ambassadors to ritual and public relations’ (Berridge 1995). The contemporary emphasis on speed often forces decision-makers to react instantaneously to international events, bypassing traditionally diplomatic channels. In the age of abundant and instant information combined with intrusive media, the moderate tempo of traditional diplomatic communication which allows for careful deliberations of signaling strategy and interpretation seems irrevocably lost.

Conclusion

The information revolution and effective communication skills in the contemporary international system has given diplomacy a unique edge. A new diplomacy will build a multicultural civil society and the appeal of our values and ideals. In the field of international relations, we need diplomats with new skills and new tools. Diplomats that can engage the right audience at the right moment, that can resolve conflicts that might lead to war, create markets for profitable trade and deal with the problems of terrorism, drugs, immigration and the environment. Diplomacy remains crucial as does military strength, adequate intelligence and economic power. Effective communication will be at a premium in diplomatic relations; these are what create a Bosnia peace accord or an Israeli-Palestine Declaration of Principle. But only public support for these agreements will sustain them. Diplomacy, in short, has proved to be a resilient and adaptable institution, and communication has been, and remains, an essential aspect of diplomacy.

Therefore, in the field of international relations we should move quickly to build open, reliable networks for communication within and between nation states, international agencies, missions abroad, and with NGOs and populations worldwide. Though we believe that information technologies will never replace human contact, but their value in furthering nation state interests abroad will make diplomats on the ground even more essential in connecting useful information with influential users. Communication will remain necessary in most parts of the world, and digital technologies increasingly will become universal and will enhance and replace many traditional programs. They are the inevitable and cost-effective tools of a new diplomacy.

The developing nations of the world do not have the state-of-the-art digital network it needs for open communication with other missions abroad, and with local populations and NGOs around the world. The telecommunication service, which is responsible for creating such a network, has not developed a system that meets the needs of the developing nations. The first priority of the Telecommunication service in the Third World countries is to build a network for closed communication with relevant governmental agencies all over the globe, for example, many of the Third World countries do have sufficient access to the World Wide Web. Therefore, they should be in partnership with the private sector to develop a global high-speed interactive digital network with adequate bandwidth for multilingual voice, video, print and data communication. The network will enable the foreign ministries and other foreign agencies to use the low cost, readily available technologies that are revolutionizing global communications.