Diplomacy is considered as one of the instruments for the state to achieve national
interests. As political and social conditions change in the global scope, which is caused
by the digital revolution, the interaction between actors in international relations is
getting easier. The existence of the internet and social media have prompted
significant changes included in the activities of diplomacy. This paper will discuss the
extent to which diplomacy has evolved, ranging from traditional diplomacy to modern
diplomacy or we know as digital diplomacy. Also, this paper would discuss more about
the digital diplomacy itself and the influence to International Relations. Digital
diplomacy is closely related to diplomatic efforts to achieve the country's goals or
national interest. Diplomacy itself is interpreted as the implementation of relations
between countries and other political entities. As for the relationship is represented by
official representatives and conducted in a peaceful manner. Diplomacy developed in
response to the global order, especially with the advent of technology and
communication.
Diplomacy no longer focuses on formal relations between countries, but leads to open
relations between state actors and non-state actors by utilizing various aspects
possessed such as economics, culture, food, including information technology. This
case raises a new concept called public diplomacy. Public diplomacy itself is an
attempt or instrument of diplomacy to spread culture, values, and also the attitude of
the state in order to build good relations with the community. Public diplomacy
ultimately places non-state actors in the efforts of the state. Related to this, digital
diplomacy is an instrument that develops in the framework of the concept of public
diplomacy. Digital diplomacy in relation to diplomacy of a country, can play a role to
help the foreign ministry and embassy representatives to achieve the interests of a
country.
In the other hand, digital diplomacy can also be a soft power instrument to make a
nation branding. For example of nation branding is our own tourism brand by ministry
of Tourism “Wonderful Indonesia”. "Wonderful Indonesia" is Indonesia's ongoing
nation branding campaign and has been used as a brand message that has been
agreed and disseminated by Indonesia. Wonderful Indonesia emphasizes Indonesia's
wealth of ethnic and local culture after Indonesia used the "Visit Indonesia" campaign
program in 2008. Wonderful Indonesia campaign has been delivered by a variety of
As time goes by, the practice of diplomacy also changed. In the ancient Chinese period
which was marked by increasing trade activities between countries. At that time China
emphasized the principle of “countervailing mechanisms of balance of power”. China
think if there are no eternal friends or opponents, including when forming alliances with
other countries. Instead of emphasizing negotiations, at this time, the strategy game
and warfare dominated in relations between countries who were equally eager to have
power. Diplomacy at the time of ancient china, identical to the bilateral relations,
bribery, secret alliances, and effort that can be used to maximize the power of the
state. Alliances and cooperation are not a priority because for China to increase the
power of their own country so that being superior is more important than having
dependence on other countries.
As same as ancient China, in ancient India the practice of diplomacy had the same
views and ways of relations between countries. Diplomacy is “a subtle act of war, a
series of actions, taken to weaken an enemy to gain advantage for oneself, all with an
eye towards eventual conquest”. Therefore each country competes to conquer other
countries in order to achieve their respective national interests. Warfare is still the main
choice while negotiations are seen as a sign of weakness in a country that has not
been able to survive in competition with other countries.
Entering the year 1815, various diplomatic activities such as the recruitment of
diplomatic representatives, the preparation of diplomatic procedures, the formation of
foreign ministries, until the emergence of interstate meetings, one of which was the
Wina congress. The congress was attended by strong countries in Europe, namely
Austria, France, Britain, Russia and Prussia. In this congress, every representative
seeks to resolve the political and territorial problems that are happening in Europe.
For the first time a peaceful conference between countries with the aim of solving
problems together. Then, the practice of diplomacy expanded to other countries until
modern diplomacy continued. Since that time the old diplomacy era began.
Then old diplomacy leads to new diplomacy where diplomacy activities are not only
focused on formal relations between countries, but involve non-state actors, such as
non-governmental organizations, transnational companies, media, public, etc.
Diplomatic activities are not only the responsibility of diplomatic representatives,
Trust and communication, each of these issues involves diplomacy in its most basic
sense – namely the management of change in international relations by means of
institutionalized communication. However, each of the three instances demonstrates
just how difficult it is to manage communication in a highly fragmented information
environment. Central to all these cases is: The importance of public trust: these
events highlight the problem that official actors – national governments and
international organizations – confront in an environment where public trust is lacking.
The development of social media brought the goal of diplomacy to be far more
complex. The scope of the target is no longer only the international community but
also the domestic public and the society of a country living abroad. Conversation on
social media becomes an important source for the government in digging up
information and then processing it into government policies or actions. Social media
also change the secretive world of diplomacy to become more open and transparent.
Digital diplomacy is an easy and inexpensive tool for sharing goals such as responding
to disasters, gathering information and managing relationships. From all these
transition models of diplomacy, there are several challenges and opportunities that
might occur in this activity.
Besides the opportunities, in digital diplomacy there are also challenges that must be
faced are:
Language
It looks trivial but this includes challenges in digital diplomacy. The challenge is the
use of language in information dissemination. It can be said that the Indonesian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in each of its activities on social media, uses more
Indonesian as the language of instruction than using English. Of course this has an
effect on the targets or targets of diplomacy carried out, whether this is for Indonesian
society or for foreigners.
Human Resources
The use of ICT devices is not yet the basic or core competency of everyone who works
in the foreign ministry. Hence of the technology is needed for workers in the ministry
so that diplomatic capability through digital media diplomacy can be carried out and
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