DiploNews – Issue 354 – 4 September 2018

Upcoming study opportunities

Applications open for the 2019 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy

Diplo is now accepting applications for the 2019 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy, and the Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy with a specialisation in Internet Governance. These unique postgraduate programmes, offered in co-operation with the University of Malta, include a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16–20 months of online learning. Visit the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy webpage to read more. Scholarships covering 20%–50% of the Postgraduate Diploma fee are available for applicants from small and developing states. The programme starts on 4 February 2019. The application deadline is 15 October 2018 for international applicants, and 15 November 2018 for Maltese applicants.

Autumn courses on diplomacy and digital policy

Diplo offers a wide range of exciting online courses this autumn, starting the week of 8 October.

• Consular and Diaspora Diplomacy
• Cybersecurity
• Development Diplomacy
• Economic Diplomacy
• Language and Diplomacy

Apply by 20 September 2018 for Diplo certificate courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses above, or visit our courses webpage. Register now to reserve your place.

Malta scholarships

Thanks to support from the government of Malta, partial scholarships are available for applicants from developing countries to attend upcoming Diplo online courses. These scholarships cover 30%–60% of course fees and can be applied to most online courses in 2018. Browse our course catalogue and contact us at admissions@diplomacy.edu(link sends e-mail) for further information. You can also sign up for our courses mailing list to be informed about upcoming courses.


July/August newsletter

Published on 3 September 2018, Issue no. 33 of the Geneva Digital Watch newsletter provides the latest digital policy updates which took place in July and August. The main highlights include:

• The timely UN initiative – the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation – is built on the premise that the transboundary nature of the Internet requires solutions beyond national borders. Its focus is on international co-operation which can realise the potential of digital technologies – including frontier technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain – while minimising the risks they pose. The panel, led by Melinda Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and Jack Ma (Alibaba Group) and supported by a Secretariat headed by Amb. Amandeep Gill and Prof. Jovan Kurbalija, has already started its consultations with stakeholders. It is expected to deliver its final report in early 2019. The first face-to-face meeting will take place in September.
• The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are one area which was particularly prominent in the past few weeks. Although the agreed timeline for fulfilling the goals is the year 2030, for some targets the deadline is actually 2020 – just 18 months from now. A sense of urgency was felt during the High-Level Political Forum on SDGs, the annual meeting in New York which reviews specific SDGs and monitors progress. The forum noted that progress is not advancing fast enough, especially for these targets.
• The coming into effect of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), on 25 May, immediately triggered the first court cases. While the cases proceed, discussions on issues related to privacy, data protection, and the effects of the regulation continued to unfold.
• The Internet Governance Barometer for July/August shows the Internet economy, digital rights, legal issues, and new technologies as the most prominent issues during the past two months.
• The main digital-policy-related events held in International Geneva in July and August included the CFD-WB Series: Harnessing Data for Development, the 18th Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR), the launch of the policy paper Digital Dangers, and the second meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.

Join us for September’s briefing on Internet governance

What are the main Internet governance updates in September, and how will they shape future developments? What can we expect in October? Join us for our next monthly briefing, on Tuesday, 25th September, for a round-up of the major global IG and digital policy developments. Registrations are now open.

Diplo promotes capacity building in Nigeria

The workshop on ‘Strengthening capacities in Internet governance in Africa’ was held in Abuja, from 27 to 29 August 2018. The event was organised by the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau in partnership with DiploFoundation and hosted by the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) of Nigeria. The goal of the workshop was to strengthen capacities of the ITU membership in the field of Internet governance. The intensive three-day training counted on a multistakeholder group of speakers. It encompassed practical exercises and simulations and involved more than 60 participants, mostly from the governmental sector.

Reminder: Upcoming IFDT WebDebate on space diplomacy

In our next WebDebate, we will be looking at space diplomacy at the intersection of old geopolitics and new frontiers for collaboration. Recent developments such as the dispute over the EU’s Galileo Satellite and British access after Brexit as well as the US announcement of creating a space force remind us that this is not a marginal topic, but a hotly debated issue of geopolitical dimensions. However, space diplomacy also offers the potential to work together and pool resources in the interest of achieving a larger goal. There also seems to be a need to foster better collaboration between scientists and diplomats under the various guises of science diplomacy. To address these issues, we will be joined by Dr Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Observer Research Foundation; Dr Bleddyn Bowen, University of Leicester, UK; and Dr Jean-Christophe Mauduit, Fletcher School at Tufts University, USA.

Join us online on Tuesday, 4th September at 11:00 UTC. Register to reserve your place.

What’s been happening in Diplo blogosphere

In Ready for the future? Germany’s emerging AI strategy Diplo’s Katharina Höne reflects on the German AI strategy and her experience at last week’s Die Zeit AI conference in Berlin. She identifies three specific elements of the debate: the sense that Germany needs to catch up to avoid falling behind; the idea that Germany and Europe should pursue a third way that is different from the approach of the two AI giants, the USA and China; and the insistence of combining technological progress with social progress.

The two other new blogs in Diplo’s blogosphere zoom in on questions of intercultural communication, from two very different perspectives. In The Education field’s contribution to intercultural communication, guest blogger Phoebe Farrag Mikhail looks at the intersection of education and diplomacy and highlights the key role of intercultural communication in bringing diplomats and educators together, meeting diverse learning needs, and fostering intercultural exchanges. She concludes by reminding us that ‘both educators and diplomats engage in work that requires effective intercultural communication’. Diplo’s blogosphere often features blogs from key experts and diplomatic practitioners. But we also need to wonder how these same issues look from ‘the other side’? How are they experienced by non-experts and non-practitioners? In ‘Halfie!’ Questions of belonging and cultural identity, Mina Fu, an 18-year-old Serbian-Chinese woman, looks at intercultural communication through the lens of her personal experience.