DiploNews – Issue 231 – 2 July 2013
Upcoming study opportunities
Autumn 2013 online courses
Now is the right time to plan your professional development for the autumn. Diplo offers several stimulating online courses on important contemporary diplomacy topics:
Apply by 5 August for University of Malta accredited courses and by 2 September for Diplo Certificate Courses. For further information or to apply, click on the titles of the courses above, or visit our courses website. Register now to reserve your place.
Call for applications: New online course on Capacity Development
Capacity development has been emerging as a central approach within development for more than two decades. This approach has gradually shifted the focus of development practice from simple financial aid and technical cooperation towards a complex new paradigm that encourages and demands active involvement and ownership from the people and communities involved in aid programmes. To help you better understand and master this complex paradigm, this course introduces the key concepts, principles, and practical skills for implementing capacity development activities. The course was developed with the support of the SDC, UNDP, LenCD, and Learn4Dev. Visit the course webpage to read more about this unique new course, and apply online. The first session starts on 2 September; please apply by 22 July.
Applications open for 2014 Master in Contemporary Diplomacy
We are now accepting applications for the 2014 Master in Contemporary Diplomacy, and the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with an Internet Governance specialisation. These unique postgraduate programmes, offered in cooperation with the University of Malta, include a 10-day residential workshop in Malta followed by 16–20 months of online learning. To learn more about what it's like to participate in this programme, you can read an interview with current programme participant Kevon Swift, or view a video with participant Desiree Zachariah:
Please visit the Master in Contemporary Diplomacy webpage to read more and to apply. The programme starts at the end of January 2014 and the application deadline is 1 October 2013.
Call for applications: Humanitarian Diplomacy online diploma course
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and DiploFoundation will offer a new session of the Humanitarian Diplomacy online diploma course starting 2 September 2013. This 12-week course, led by Ambassador Christopher Lamb, will extend the knowledge base and develop practical skills of current and future practitioners in humanitarian diplomacy and policy. The application deadline is 22 July 2013. For more details and to apply, please visit the course webpage.
Sign up for our courses mailing list to be informed about upcoming courses!
New diplomacy publication
Diplo alumni member Dr Eugenio Matos, Minister Counsellor at the Dominican Republic Embassy in The Hague, was instrumental in the launch of a new publication for diplomats: Diplomat Magazine. This monthly online magazine aims at both the diplomatic community in The Hague, and the international community of diplomats and others who work in international relations. The magazine will cover topics ranging from diplomacy, politics, finance, and economy to culture, tourism, FDI opportunities, bilateral and multilateral issues, and important events and activities. Several Diplo faculty members contributed articles to the first edition, as did the Ambassador of Malta to the Netherlands, as reported on the Maltese MFA website.
What's been happening in Diplo's blogosphere
The webinar on Wikipedia for diplomats held on 21 June was part of a larger initiative by DiploFoundation and the Italian Diplomatic Institute to promote dialogue and cross-fertilisation between the Wikipedia community and the diplomatic community. Read more in this post: Wikipedia for diplomats: a tool for information and public diplomacy?
Another hot topic this month is international networking and how it enriches learning about diplomacy and Internet Governance. Kevon Swift, a business analyst at the External Relations Unit, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Trinidad and Tobago, talks about his experience with DiploFoundation/University of Malta’s Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with an Internet Governance specialisation.
Aldo Matteucci, in his post Diplomacy and spying: ye olde chestnut, notes that governments have been caught spying on each other. So what else is new? Before taking informed decisions, governments weigh benefits and costs of action. To this end they gather – by hook or crook – as much contextual and social information as they can afford. In a somewhat lighter post, Aldo explores Diplomats on a swing … (not swinging diplomats) and suggests that all negotiating venues have a multi-seat swing.
Over on the e-diplomacy channel, Pete Cranston asks whom would you trust to take care of your digital assets? Guy Giradet looks at the role of crowdsourcing in policy formulation. We also take a peek at citizen engagement and at remote participation in the ITU. And wrapping up what was a busy period on this channel, Jovan Kurbalija asks whether e-mail and e-documents have diplomatic protection.
Remember, you too can have your say by commenting on these or any of our blog posts. And, if you’d like to be a guest blogger, let us know.
Discussing Internet governance
The reports confirming the existence of NSA’s surveillance program shook the online community. Many question still remain unanswered, but our June IG webinar aimed to address some of the complex issues. The webinar was hosted by Katitza Rodriguez, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who discussed the effects of states’ surveillance power on Internet users worldwide. Watch the webinar recording here:
and read the digest here.
On the same topic, academic and former diplomat Nicholas Dynon has written a two-part series on NSA’s surveillance activities, and how these are viewed in China. Read the first part: The Snowden Affair: ‘Differences’ on the issue of cybersecurity reading more like similarities; part two will be published later this week.
On Diplo’s IG community platform, Yahaya Gobir also writes about the PRISM program and the individual who leaked the information to the press. In Edward Snowden: Balancing Privacy, Justice and Security, the author reflects on the whistle-blower and on the role of regulation.
On a different note, Gobir writes about the second Nigeria Internet Governance Forum 2013, and the ICT-related developments taking place in the country, while Grace Githaiga writes about Kenya’s mobile money platform Mpesa and the speech she delivered recently during the Deutche Welle Global Media Forum 2013.
Follow IG-related news and discussions on Diplo’s Internet governance channel, and on Diplo’s IG community blog roll.
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