21st Century Statecraft

My previous post mentioned that social media must find its proper place in the world.  The U.S. Department of State has done a wonderful job of doing just that with its implementation of 21^st Century Statecraft.  Throughout my posts, I have urged that technology merely extends human capabilities with no inherent ethical consequences.  This new program seeks to embrace tools that leverage the “networks, technologies, and demographics of our interconnected world.”  21^st Century Statecraft merely refers to a direction the State Department is taking to accept innovative technologies and use them to expand their current capabilities.  

Source: xkcd.com

I don’t believe this is the giddy implementation of new technology so often seen by more naïve programs.  The internet has changed international relations and the State Department recognizes that.  Traditional methods of diplomacy still dominate U.S. activity and are not being replaced by digital measures.  Jared Cohen and Alec Ross were the two social media superstars in the State Departments new program.  Examples of its success can be seen with the Text Haiti 90999 initiative, which raised $40 million for the Red Cross to help individuals affected by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.  Ross and Cohen have worked with industry leaders, such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, in developing programs using everything from viral videos to mobile phones.  

In a few interviews, Jared Cohen mentions programs that haven’t been implemented yet.  The majority of focus is on mobile applications that can enhance education, medicine and justice.  Mobile banking is being implemented to pay policemen in Afghanistan and soon conflict areas in Congo in order to bypass the corrupt systems that were stealing from payroll funds.  Programs, such as text Haiti, are assisting NGO’s in raising funds for disaster relief.  I believe we are only beginning to realize how this technology will affect diplomacy.  Cohen works for Google now, but these programs will not disappear.  He has set the U.S. on a track to embrace technology without fear.

Evgeny Morozov has criticized the U.S. government’s complete acceptance of social media.  “Diplomacy is, perhaps, one element of the U.S. government that should not be subject to the demands of ‘open government’; whenever it works, it is usually because it is done behind closed doors. But this may be increasingly hard to achieve in the age of Twittering bureaucrats.”  Morozov has a point that diplomatic measures are restricted by the transparency brought by technology.  Wikileaks may have provided the greatest example of this problem when they released thousands of diplomatic cables.  However, the threat technology causes is there whether or not we use it.  Transparency has come through in many different forms, whether it is through hacked emails or the personal Twitters of senators.  This trend cannot be controlled.  However, through using digital diplomacy, the U.S. can benefit from its services social media provides and influence the direction the technology takes in the world.