Information Revolution and Growing Power of Communication: A Foundation of New Diplomacy
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0973598419861472 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
1 Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Corresponding author:
Mashood O. Omotosho, Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
E-mail: mashomotosho@yahoo.com
Information
Revolution and
Growing Power of
Communication:
A Foundation of
New Diplomacy
Mashood O. Omotosho1
Abstract
Information and communication technology strategy can be said to have
emerged as a road map for capitalizing on the use of information and
technology as a key enabler of the government’s transformation in the
realms of new diplomacy. The recent information and communication
technological development, in both developed and developing countries,
has increased the high-speed interactive digital network for multilin-
gual voice, video, print, data communication worldwide, revolutionizing
how nation states communicate with one another in the international
system. There is no doubt that in the contemporary international system
information technology (IT) is fundamentally transforming the way we
live, work, govern and communicate. The global digital network and the
growing power of communication have created a new foundation of
diplomacy in the international arena. Therefore, this article examines the
sweeping changes in the global system, high-speed interactive network
with adequate bandwidth for multilingual voice, video, print and data
communication vis-à-vis the conduct of diplomacy in the twenty-first
century. Furthermore, it should be emphasized that IT is as important as
Jadavpur Journal of
International Relations
23(2) 142–157, 2019
2019 Jadavpur University
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DOI: 10.1177/0973598419861472
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Omotosho 143
politics, economics and military power, information, communication skills
and foreign policy are high national priorities in international relations.
The introductory part of this article focuses on the concept of diplo-
macy and we further analyze the sweeping changes in IT and growing
power of communication in the new millennium and the contribution
of IT toward the development of diplomacy in the international system.
Keywords
Information revolution, communication technology, diplomacy, international
system, non-governmental organizations
Introduction
Communication is to diplomacy as blood is to the human body. Whenever
communication ceases, the body of international politics, the process of
diplomacy is dead, and the result is violent, conflict or atrophy.
—Van Dinh Tran
Information technology (IT) in the twenty-first century no doubt has
increased the high-speed interactive digital network for multilingual
voice, video, print, data communication worldwide, revolutionizing how
nation states communicate with one another in the international system.
The globalization of issues and the rapidly expanding reach of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are fundamentally changing
how the nation states pursue their various national interests in the
international system. The existence of NGOs has also been stimulated by
increased eagerness on the part of the donor community to channel aid
through them. As Hulme (2001) argues, ‘the rise of NGOs throughout
the 1980s and 1990s was fuelled by international development agencies
and aid donors who assumed that civic organisations should rapidly
scale their direct service provision function’ (Duhu 2005; Hulme 2001).
As a result, during the last two decades, both developed and developing
countries have witnessed a steady increase of NGOs. In the contemporary
international system, IT is fundamentally transforming the way in which
we live, work, govern and communicate. Within governmental
institutions, NGOs, corporations, educators, military leaders and a
number of citizens’ groups are defining their future with the knowledge
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