Internet Diplomacy

This book proposes the concept of Internet Diplomacy to study international cooperation in the digital domain. It captures the diverse and transnational diplomatic practices that have emerged in this field and includes a wide range of perspectives, actors and processes involved in negotiating global digital politics.

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The governance of the internet has gained a central role in global politics. International cooperation is increasingly mobilized to ensure that the expansion of connectivity infrastructure, digital services and their usages also safeguards security, human rights, and economic benefits. The field is truly transnational, including a vibrant stakeholder community that plays an active role in building sustainable ‘digital sovereignty’. Over the past decade, novel diplomatic practices have been adopted in negotiating technical standards, norms, regulations, and policies in the intersection of national and global priorities.

This book defines this novel tool for diplomatic dialogue as Internet Diplomacy, a concept that entails the broad range of emerging international practices clustered around digital environments, including cybersecurity and internet governance. In broadening our view of diplomacy in the digital age, the book includes a comprehensive collection of contributions and cases addressing Internet Diplomacy. Collectively, it expands our understanding of transformations in international diplomacy and transnational digital governance, their drivers and their nature, their capacity to challenge power relations, and, ultimately, the values they carry and channel onto the global scene.