COVID, Deglobalization and The Decline of Diplomacy: Could Tele-diplomacy Revitalize Diplomacy’s Capacity to Promote Consensus?

Abstract

The pandemic has shown a diplomatic system that is dysfunctional. No institution or groups of states was willing or able to take the lead in crafting shared actions to shared problems. The crisis coincided with pressures on diplomacy from deglobalization. This has accelerated a fragmentation of norms and increased willingness to use public diplomacy and digital communication as a point-scoring unidirectional method of self-gratification. The private, painstaking discourse of diplomacy is fading fast. The United Nations needs to urge its members to reassert the values and give new attention to how diplomacy is conducted, building on existing conventions. Meanwhile, tele-diplomacy offers a medium where diplomacy could reassert itself as the core activity that will enable collective global issues to be addressed. The paper examines how such tele-diplomacy might be established.