DiploNews – Issue 165 – 15 August 2010

DiploNews – Issue 165 – 15 August 2010

Upcoming Study Opportunities: Just-in-Time Training for Autumn 2010

This autumn, Diplo offers two online courses to help you acquire the knowledge and skills you need to participate effectively in important upcoming global meetings:
 

Migration and Development : Prepare for the November meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Mexico. The Instituto Matías Romero of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and DiploFoundation are offering a new online course on migration and development, covering migration and global governance; states, diasporas, and development; achievements and challenges. Online course materials and tutoring will be provided in both English and Spanish. Diplo is pleased to offer a special  introductory reduced fee for this course. To apply: The course runs from 31 August to 6 November 2010. Places are limited, so please visit the course website  and apply online as soon as possible to ensure your registration. You may also read the course description in Spanish.
 

Climate Change Diplomacy : Do you need to brush up on your climate change diplomacy knowledge and skills before the December 2010 climate change conference in Mexico? Diplo’s online course on climate change diplomacy provides relevant knowledge and practical skills for diplomats, scientists, and others who participate in the climate change policy process. The course will equip participants to represent and promote effectively the interests of their own countries in national, regional, and global climate change policy processes. Full scholarships are available for diplomats, civil servants, and academics from developing states involved in climate change policy processes and negotiations, with priority given to applications from small developing states. The course begins the week of 20 September 2010 (application deadline 23 August). For more information and to apply online, please visit the course webpage.
 

2011 Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy

Earn an accredited Master’s degree while remaining on-the-job and accelerate your career with Diplo’s
Master/Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy, offered through the University of Malta. This online programme guides working diplomats and international relations professionals through the theoretical and practical building blocks of diplomacy, with a focus on contemporary issues and challenges. A 10-day residential workshop in Malta builds the skills used in diplomatic practice and extends your professional network, while a 16 to 20 months online study period provides flexibility and a
unique in-depth grasp of contemporary diplomacy. The application deadline is 15 October 2010.
For more information and to apply, please see the course webpage.

Other Autumn 2010 Online Courses

You are invited to apply for our course on Development Diplomacy, beginning the week of 11 October 2010. This course is available as a Diplo Certificate Course (application deadline 6 September). For further information or to apply, click on the title of the courses above, or visit our courses website.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Past and Future

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy, in collaboration with Diplo, is pleased to offer a new online course on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Past and Future. With the resurgence of nuclear arms control diplomacy, the persistence of unresolved nuclear proliferation issues (in regard to Iran and North Korea, for example), and the worldwide revival of the nuclear power industry, the 40-year old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is central to disarmament, arms control, and international security. Familiarity with the NPT is increasingly important for practitioners and analysts in navigating their ways through current and future nuclear issues. This course will provide participants with a mix of factual information (both current and historical, substantive and procedural) and elements for debate, to familiarise them with the main purposes of the NPT, the multilateral process of its implementation and review, the main issues at stake, and, naturally, the contents of the treaty itself. Taught by Dr Christophe Carle, Visiting Scholar in Disarmament at the Geneva Centre and former Deputy Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, the course runs from 4 October to 26 November 2010. The application deadline is 10 September 2010. For more information and to apply, please visit the GCSP website.

A New Web Diplomacy?

A recent article in The New York Times Magazine, titled Digital Diplomacy, follows two young members of the United States State Department who embrace new web 2.0 services, such as Twitter, to reach a wider audience. The article also recounts various incidents over the last year in which Twitter and similar services played an important role. While the article paints a very positive picture of new technology and its possibilities in diplomacy, it also engages with criticism like that of The Digital Dictatorship by Evgeny Morozov published earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal. The article has engendered further comment, such as that of Diplo’s Jovan Kurbalija.