BOOK REVIEW Diplomacy in a Digital World— Foreign Policy and

Remises en question
BOOK REVIEW
premier ordre sur les développements
de pointe dans des secteurs particuliers, le troisième chapitre regroupe
les idées et opinions de l’auteur sur
divers sujets d'actualité, dont l’union
monétaire avec les États-Unis, la politique économique internationale du
Canada (bi-latéralisme versus multilatéralisme), la libéralisation des
échanges à l’échelle internationale et
l’impact du 11 septembre. Ce chapitre
n’est sûrement pas sans intérêt pour
ceux qu’intéressent les réflexions de
John Helliwell, mais celles-ci débordent largement ses champs spécifiques
de recherche. On y lit John Helliwell le
penseur économique, et non pas le
chercheur.
Il est intéressant d’observer le cheminement intellectuel de John Helliwell à
travers les ans, et de le juxtaposer avec les
questions que soulève Joseph Heath.
C’est un peu comme si John Helliwell les
avait anticipées, et qu’il se préparait à y
répondre. Paradoxalement, il est fort
probable qu’il y aura entre les deux plus
de points d’accords que de désaccords.
Diplomacy in a
Digital World—
Foreign Policy
and the Internet
Evan H. Potter, editor. Cyber-Diplomacy: Managing
Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century
Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University
Press, 2002.
Review by David Clarke
H
ow can the Department of
Foreign
Affairs
and
International Trade (DFAIT)
best use information technology (IT)
to communicate? That is the key question Evan H. Potter and others raise in
Cyber-Diplomacy: Managing Foreign
Policy in the Twenty-First Century.
Millions of participants are creating myriad data flows that often flow
right over the floodgates foreign services everywhere build to protect and
control information. That doesn’t
mean diplomats are done for. It just
means diplomats are doing to have to
do things differently.
He uses one medium, the book, to
discuss others and other how they
impact on the conduct of diplomacy in
general, while suggesting future directions for DFAIT. Books like this have
been around for a while. Don Quixote
was in a sense a novel about the impact
of the printing press. Marshall McLuhan
famously argued the media were creating a "Global Village." Literary critic
Hugh Kenner countered with a case that
the new phenomenon more closely
resembled a "Global City."
This collection reflects Potter’s perspective as both an academic, teaching
communications at University of
Ottawa, while simultaneously a DFAIT
policy communications advisor. The
book is of some historical interest as it
profiles the thinking of experts during
POLICY OPTIONS
MARCH 2003
69
David Clarke
COMPTES RENDUS
the era of the onset of digital diplomacy. The next question is how useful is
all the theory it contains. The test will
be in how this all plays out in practical
terms, starting with how much the suggested program input is accepted by
DFAIT.
"Of all the communications technologies, the ones that are destined to
be the most democratic and widespread are the new media led by the
Internet and new digital media," Potter
typically writes in a way that leads the
reader in more directions than the
DFAIT home page.
T
he Internet is a digital medium, so
presumably this should read "new
media led by the Internet and other
new digital media." Or are we discussing "the Internet and other newer
digital media?" Like what? The Web is
indeed evolving from a telecom based
network of networks into a digital soup.
But discussing the impact of wireless,
Web-compatible toasters on diplomacy
is getting ahead of ourselves.
For many readers, the practical
aspects of what the book has to say
about digital diplomacy will be more
interesting than the theoretical mus-
ings. Especially since digital technology devours its sound, and several of the
essays are hopelessly dated. The fact
that NGOs use the Web, for example,
doesn’t need to be demonstrated any
longer. Global broadcasting audiences
are turning back to local suppliers of
content in another, much newer development, to the dismay of the CNNs of
this world and presumably advocates
of government participation.
Potter very helpfully makes some
"concluding observations based on
findings in this volume."
Fundamentally, he argues, "Information technology and the rise of the
mass media, while levelling the playing field, do not portend an inexorable
decline in the utility of foreign ministries—quite the opposite." That is
quite true. Bankers have figured out
how to turn the global flow of data to
their advantage. Diplomats are doing
the same.
"The same technologies that are
heralded as ushering in a new age of
transparency are the ones that can be
used by the state to increase its own
surveillance, reconnaissance and communications needs," he says. It is hard
to say what this means. Probably "to
Books received—Livres reçus
F. King ALEXANDER and Karen ALEXANDER (eds.). The University. International
Expectations (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002).
David CAMERON et Janice GROSS STEIN (ss. la dir. de) Contestation et
mondialisation. Repenser la culture et la communication (Les Presses de l’Université
de Montréal, 2003).
David CHEAL (ss. la dir. de). Vieillissement et évolution démographique au Canada
(Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2003).
C. Stuart HOUSTON. Steps on the Road to Medicare. Why Saskatchewan Led the Way
(McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002).
Suzanne LALONDE. Determining Boundaries in a Conflicted World : The Role of
Uti Possidetis (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003).
David MUTIMER (ed.). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs: 1996
(University of Toronto Press, 2002).
70
OPTIONS POLITIQUES
MARS 2003
meet its needs more effectively, and
potentially exponentially more abusively."
Potter’s own essay, “Information
Technology and Canada’s Public
Diplomacy,” focuses on public diplomacy as a means to enhance Canada's
"soft power." His basic point is well
taken, that "amid a cacophony of competing voices," and "in the face of a
decade's worth of declining Foreign
Affairs' budgets, the new and old communications technologies' potential to
advance Canada's interests to foreign
audiences has not been fully exploited." Potter’s second major point is that
"Ottawa, in contrast to its main competitors, has not identified international broadcasting as a key element in
its public diplomacy approach."
T
he merits of an increase to Radio
Canada International’s budget
aside, and doubtless the case Potter
makes is a strong one, this discussion is
out of place in a book on cyber-diplomacy. It is doubly disconcerting
because it is the Internet that provides
the cost-efficiencies a strapped DFAIT
and for that matter CBC require, not
international broadcasting. Wireless
digital delivery of Web audio and video
along with vastly cheaper reception
technology will in any event soon make
the distinction between Webcasting
and broadcasting irrelevant.
Potter has done DFAIT a service in
putting this collection together. And
Potter serves us all by playing the practical Pancho to the digital Don
Quixotes of this world, as he brings
some conceptual order to a vastly complex set of issues and paradigms. Cyberdiplomacy is enormously fertile garden
of ideas for Canadians who want to see
Canada’s foreign policy flourish. And if
the conceptual garden needs a little
weeding here and there, that is only
natural. The Web has its roots in previous communications technologies.
But, like a genetically engineered plant,
it can run a little wild sometimes.
David Clarke is an Ottawa-based communications consultant.