Problems and Prospects of Network Diplomacy in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

In most reviews and researches, network diplomacy is concluded to be a positive force. Nevertheless, this new wave in diplomacy has limitations that have to be analysed to better understand network diplomacy. Furthermore, there are also prospects for network diplomacy in the twenty-first century as it is set to play a key role in acting as the foundation for most new forms of diplomacy. The research considers the five most relevant challenges to the modern network diplomacy and seeks to make predictions on its further development. The purpose of this chapter is to reveal and analyse problems of network diplomacy as well as to make an educated guess about the prospects of its further development as a tool of international relations for various actors in the twenty-first century. During the research the author discovered several general problems, undermining the effectiveness of the “network” of modern diplomacy. The problems found are shifts in states’ sovereignty due activeness of other actors; excessive bureaucratization caused by the complexity of the modern system of international relations; lack of trust conditioned by misperceptions and clashing values of opposite parties; threats to cybersecurity of states; and non-state actors posed by developing e-technologies. Every participant in the network has its limitations due to the recent transformations in the system of international relations. Thus, states are losing their absolute sovereignty in conducting foreign policy because of the emergence of new actors. Several events were analysed after this step, to further illustrate the discovered problems of network diplomacy. They will be looked at in the parts of the research dedicated to the progress in the development of information technology and lack of influence of some actors of network diplomacy (Problem №4 and Problem №5).