Technology, Social Media, and Politics: Foreign Policy and International Relations in the Digital Age
“Technology, Social Media, and Politics: Foreign Policy and International Relations in the Digital Age” is part of an extended series from contributor Kyle Brady for SiliconFilter on the interaction of modern technology and various aspects of politics.
Part I covered the communications revolution of technologically-influenced politics, and Part II discussed the effects on discourse orientation and divisiveness. Part III will now explore the results of this modernization of politics on foreign policy and international relations.
Just as technology and social media have influenced the way in which politicians communicate with their constituents, so, too, has it affected the way in which foreign policy is conducted and international relations are handled.
The Complexity of Foreign Policy
Foreign policy is a difficult game, often involving two channels of conversation (one public and one private), coded doublespeak, behaviors adjusted to both pander to the recipient and be seen effectively by others, and long-term consequences. It is no small coincidence, then, that average citizens, and even those may be politically engaged, avoid the arena of foreign policy – it’s simply too complex to easily understand.
Each decade has seemed intent on making a state’s foreign policy even more complicated and difficult than the one previous, beginning long ago: the United States had to court French interests while mending relations with their former colonialist, English overlords, before the country was even fully formed. Then came various wars, changes in policy, domestic troubles, communications innovations, and the rest of American history.
Enter Technological Diplomacy
Radio and television complicated the arena of foreign policy, if only because the actions of a state could now be broadcast,en masse, to the world. Vietnam was the first so-called televised war, and it was the first major defeat/neutralization of American military forces, largely because of international pressure and domestic intransigence. If World War II were to occur today, many argue that the outcome, and the involvement of the various states, would be substantially different, since all the world would now be watching.
The Internet took this process a step further, allowing anything ever said or done not only to be broadcast, but to be stored for immediate recall at any time. Consequently, the mandates and goals of organizations like the U.S. State Department have become additionally complex, by at least one order of magnitude: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, interviews, and public emails must all have the properly synchronized message, lest a diplomatic catastrophe ensue. Additionally, those within the State Department with public digital personae must also be wary of what content, and with what tone, they disseminate information.
Libya and WikiLeaks
Libya’s ongoing revolution is a prime example of how improperly coordinated messaging can be confusing and politically damaging: what was being said on blogs and through social media about State’s interests was somewhat dovetailed from their official message. Eventually, the messages merged, but not without a change, for the negative, in international assessments of the United States’ intentions within the U.N., NATO, and the region – while the United States claimed to be interested in freedom and democracy, would they actually do anything about it?
Furthermore, foreign policy and international relations have been made more complex through technology and social media in two other ways: security leaks and diplomatic recognition. WikiLeaks, as abhorrent as they may be to any individual or entity with an interest in America’s national security, has shown that documents once considered safely Confidential or Top Secret are no longer necessarily held within such safe havens, and they can easily be published, distributed, and analyzed, courtesy of the Internet. If bureaucrats were wary before WikiLeaks about committing certain types of opinions or missives to paper, they are now doubly so, and international diplomacy will no doubt suffer for it.
The Arab Spring / Winter of Discontent
At approximately the same time as WikiLeaks was making its first large-scale debut, the Arab Spring / Winter of Discontentwas rearing its head. Technology and social media played a central role in the various successes of popular uprisings, a domestic aspect for those states, but it had a foreign policy aspect, from the viewpoint of the outside world: should the West, or the United States, recognize these protests/uprisings? Along with this question, there were many more: by acknowledging the intents and goals of the protesters, and their digital presence, would that be the same as providing them with legitimacy? Would recognition, however informal, from the West damage domestic and regional support for the movements? As talks were being held in the background with leaders, those with influence, and figureheads, what should be said and done in the public eye? These questions, and the difficulties they pose, are currently on display with both Libya and Syria, where the West has little or no influence in the latter.
Just as there are no answers, yet, for the longterm domestic effects of technology and social media developments on giving greater voice and influence to fringists, there are similarly none for how foreign policy and international relations may be affected. If handled properly, technology and social media have the opportunity to partially revolutionize this game of large-scale, international politics, by providing more channels of communication, greater interaction, and an increased messaging ability. However, it also has the distinct possibility to head in the opposite direction, leaving international diplomacy shrouded in greater shadow than ever before, out of a fear of broken secrecy and the inevitable consequences.
In Part IV of this series, we will examine how technology and social media may affect voting systems theory.
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About the author
This guest post was written by Kyle Brady. Kyle is a young political scientist and writer interested in everything from domestic politics to foreign policy to political theory, currently living in San Jose, CA. He blogs at kyle-brady.com, contributes to assorted publications, and is writing a book on the modern political scene in America. Socially, Kyle can be found on Twitter, on Google+, on Facebook, and via email.
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