EFFECT OF DIGITAL DIPLOMACY TO ENHANCE PUBLIC AND DEFENCE DIPLOMACY IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Sri Lanka has faced negative coverage of its security and human rights situation since 2009. One of the main reasons for the negative security and human rights coverage since 2009 is that the country continues to engage in traditional diplomacy which is ineffective in today’s era of rapid and extensive information dissemination through the internet and social media. The aim of this study was to analyze how Sri Lankan has used Digital Diplomacy DD to mitigate security and human rights situations and to analyze how DD could be used to enhance public and defence diplomacy in Sri Lanka. Findings from the study revealed that DD has not been adopted in Sri Lanka to mitigate the negative coverage of the security and human rights situation. Failure to adapt to combat negative coverage of the security and human rights situation in the country can be attributed to several factors. These factors include financial challenges, employee-related, and policy-related issues, and the lack of support from Government leadership for adopting DD. Findings from the study indicate that DD can be used to enhance public and defence diplomacy in Sri Lanka in several ways. These ways include using social media to counter the negative publicity of security and human rights situations by state and non-state actors, dissemination of the actual picture of the security and human rights situation in the country, facilitating low costs and effective two-way communication with all stakeholders, effectively present the Sri Lanka Government position at legislative meetings and other social activities in foreign countries, build effective support for Sri Lanka among member nations at international bodies and forums, and identify and mitigate existential threats to the country.