Systematic Literature Review: Online Digital Platforms Utilization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Adopting Digital Diplomacy

Abstract

Digital diplomacy has become a subject of scrutiny and public interest in recent years. As technology change, so is the functions of diplomats and ministry of foreign affairs (MFA). Most of the countries and MFAs have tried to streamline their services as well as their communicative context by adopting strategies that make them possible to articulate their position in the digital diplomatic sphere. Different scholars have come up with different definitions of digital diplomacy in regards to their context and content of interest. Although this field is on its embryonic state, it is vital in international relations with few studies done in this field. This study aims to provide a systematic analysis of the current literature on digital diplomacy studies. Therefore, this study contributes to a significant gap in research and provides an ongoing reference to digital diplomacy. It argues that most of the previous studies focused on a qualitative methodology to investigate in countries in Europe, America, Asia, and the Middle East with little attention to African countries. Twitter and Facebook were the major online digital platforms that were investigated as a tool for digital diplomacy while there were no specific theories to study digital diplomacy. Finally, based on the study findings, the study suggests key areas of interest for future research on digital diplomacy.