Relevance of digital diplomacy in promoting the national interest of states: reflection on Ethiopian case

Abstract

The advent of the Internet and social media revolutionized all aspects of human life, and diplomacy has not been unscathed. This is manifested in the creation of a new mode of conducting international relations, which has been described as digital diplomacy. Current diplomatic trends show that digital diplomacy has emerged as a more preferred foreign policy instrument across the world, including in Ethiopia, as it annihilates the spatial and temporal constraints of conventional diplomacy. This study therefore examines the essence of digital diplomacy in the Ethiopian context for communicating the foreign policy objectives of the country. To this end, the study employed both primary and secondary sources, which were collected through semi-structured interviews and a review of relevant archival materials. The findings reveal that recently Ethiopia has been streamlining its diplomacy by integrating e-tools into its diplomatic practice to pursue its national interests, which are democratization, development, and the projection of its national pride and prestige via persuasion and attractiveness. Even though it is not sufficient, by enabling the country to capitalize on soft power in the realms of national image building and public diplomacy, digital diplomacy facilitates the articulation and realization of the country’s foreign policy objectives.

Keywords:

• Digital platforms
• digital diplomacy
• national interests
• image building
• public diplomacy

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Robert Read, Economics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK

SUBJECTS:

• Organizational Communication
• Political Communication
• International Relations
• Politics & The Media

1. Introduction

Diplomacy is the art of conducting discussions, usually in the context of international affairs, between two or more parties. It is a complicated and diverse procedure that entails a variety of actions such as negotiation, mediation, and representation (Manuwa, 2023). On the other hand, Olubukola (2017) defined diplomacy as an essential communication tool through which states project their foreign policy goals and organize their efforts to influence foreign governments and people’s decisions and actions in a peaceful manner. Likewise, Senya (2016) defines diplomacy as the ‘communication system of international society’. Indeed, this definition heralds the essentiality of communication for diplomacy as blood to the human body (Magambo, 2011). This means in other words, it is hard to envision diplomacy in the absence of communication.

With this in mind, diplomacy flourishes at the outset on the basis of the need for effective communication among states. Nevertheless, communication, which is one of the key pillars of diplomacy, has been strongly influenced by the revolution in information and communication technologies (Verrikia, 2017). In the conventional form of diplomacy, communication among states has been undertaken through state-nominated diplomatic agents or with the support of state intermediaries. Nevertheless, this means of communication has been altered following the advent of ICT, most significantly the internet (Magambo, 2011). Internet technology shifts the world’s political, social, and economic landscape, which in turn changes the way people and the state interact and exchange information in international relations. This reality underlines that diplomacy as a noteworthy facet of international relations and foreign policy implementation method has reinvented itself following the footsteps of progress in ICT. Therefore, newness in diplomacy today has everything to do with applying new communication technologies into the diplomatic profession of information gathering, pursuing the country’s foreign policy objective, and promoting a positive state image (Hocking & Melissen, 2015).

This indicates that diplomacy as an instrument of foreign policy implementation has been affected and transformed by technological innovation, which eventually culminates with the birth of digital diplomacy(DD) as a new mode of undertaking international relations with the help of the internet and ICT (Bjola & Marcus, 2015). In other words, it is a relatively new concept (Constantinou et al., 2016) in which diplomats conduct international relations in an innovative and virtual fashion with the help of internet and social media platforms. Digital diplomacy is also perceived as ICT-driven diplomacy, whereby diplomats encapsulate digital tools and internet technologies to execute their routine functions.

Current diplomatic trends show that DD has emerged as a more attractive form of undertaking international relations and has been used by many countries around the world to promote effective communication between states and their relevant stakeholders, their missions abroad, and domestic public annihilation of temporal and spatial barriers. Consequently, Ministers of Foreign Affairs (MFAs), diplomats, and political leader’s adopted DD in complement to formal diplomacy to articulate their country’s interest in international relations more effectively and efficiently. Embassies and consulates of developing and developed countries interact using online websites, and state departments unlock Facebook and Twitter accounts (Verrikia, 2017). Above all, the USA foreign minister has been vanguard in practicing and reaping the opportunities of DD since the establishment of the office of ‘e-diplomacy’ in 2003 for the purpose of knowledge sharing, directing the convergence of diplomacy and technology, and conducting technological consultation (Senya, 2016). The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of Great Britain also published a ‘digital strategy’ in 2012 to employ digital tools to support Britain’s prosperity and its nationals overseas (FCO, 2012). Nevertheless, recently, DD becomes global phenomenon as foreign ministers from Seoul to Baku and Nairobi to Bogota are trying to adapt their practices to the online sphere (Bilate, 2022).

Likewise, Huda and Muchatuta (2022) noted that even though existing literature subtly addressed the issues and toned-down African experiences, like those of their western counterparts, African countries embraced DD earlier in the 2000s, so it is not new to governments, diplomats, and diplomacy scholars of the continent. He also suggests that although the continent still lingers behind western countries in terms of internet penetration, computer infrastructure, and internet accessibility, African governments, among which Ethiopia is one, appear to be as equally committed to engagement as their western counterparts.

As one of African countries, Ethiopia has become cognizant of the potential of digital tools in the field of international relations since the introduction of internet technologies. Amayu (2015) asserted that Internet technology was launched in the country in 1993. However, it was closed for wide use until 1997 as the service was delivered to international organizations, NGOs, researchers, and private companies alone. That is to say, in its early days, the use of Internet was restricted to promoting intra-organizational communications.

To take full advantage of the internet, however, the Ethiopian government adopted an e-government strategy in 2010 with a view to releasing e-services at the ministerial level, of which the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) was one among others, thereby setting a stepping stone for the launch of the practice of DD in the country. Like in other African countries, however, the practice of DD in Ethiopia, which was commenced as a result of the opening of the first website at the MFAs as an end to the plan proposed in the e-government strategy, remains unorganized, un purposeful, and is practiced inadvertently and haphazardly in the absence of dedicated institution and designated diplomat for an extended period of times (Wekesa, 2022).

Nonetheless, Ethiopia’s commitment to the practice of DD reached its height in 2016 with the establishment of a separate and dedicated institution in the foreign ministry of the country known as the Digital Diplomacy Directorate (DDD), with the main responsibility of overseeing the overall operation of DD of the country (Hibamo, 2017). Even though it is too late, the Ethiopian MFA is currently conscious of significance of DD and making considerable strides in this venture as an instrument of foreign policy implementation in compliment to the elite diplomacy. As a result of the changing perceptions and commitments of political leaders since the reform, DD is getting growing attention and has been seen as a vital tool to engage and manage Ethiopia’s diplomatic relations. Consequently, the Ethiopian MFAs and its diplomatic missions overseas flocked to social media to create conducive diplomatic environment to realize the national interests of the country, which are peace and development. The ministry is also currently expanding its digital presence on digital platforms to promote the country’s image, investment opportunities, and tourism sites (Bilate, 2022).

Nevertheless, the study of DD is almost non-existent in African universities, meaning that there is a large research gap on the topic (Wekesa, 2022). Due to the fact that much of the existing research on DD has been conducted mostly by western scholars focusing on Euro-centric experiences (Gilboa, 2016), African DD, including the Ethiopian case, is not being sufficiently problematized and debated. Focusing on the experience of Ethiopia, this study aims to examine the importance of digital diplomacy in advancing the national interests of states. Hence, the critical questions addressed in this study are: How does digital diplomacy enhance the realization of Ethiopian national interests? To what extent does the country utilize digital platforms to project its positive image and foster its public diplomacy? Why does the country fail to exploit the full potential of e-tools in its diplomatic activities?

2. Literature review

2.1. Diplomacy and new communication media: Nexus

New media refers to instruments of communication utilized in DD, essentially the internet and social media, and their impact would be both positive and negative. The introduction of the internet and social media as instruments of diplomatic communication influences diplomacy in different ways. Ziolkowski (2013) asserted that the assimilation of new communication technology influences diplomacy essentially in four areas. First, it shifts the priority of state preference from economy, politics, and social issues to technology, since strength in technology leads to strength in other areas (politics, social issues, and the economy). Getting plenty of natural resources (land and raw material) and advanced infrastructure has historically been the secret to states ‘ success, which at the time was a rare case unless substantiated by technologies.

With the advent of the internet, however, the battle front has changed from a real fight to an unnoticeable electronic world where everything is achieved in cyberspace through the internet. At the same time, war and peace also evolve in an atmosphere in which the boundaries between the political space and the military space are increasingly indistinguishable (Iyasu, 2018). This means that new communication media shift the attention of the state from hard power (military and economic power) to soft power. Soft power implies the ability of a state to achieve foreign policy goals through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion. Accordingly, in DD, instruments of foreign policy execution are moved from military force and economic sanction to more subtle instruments, which are attraction and persuasion; the use of soft power to win the hearts and minds of others (Gumbo, 2017). In other words, in this volatile and disruptive international environment, the soft powers of knowledge, beliefs and ideas allow political actors to achieve their foreign policy goals (Grado, 2015).

New communication media introduce new tools for conducting diplomacy. In the age of the internet, MFAs and their missions abroad use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, emails, and teleconferences as instruments of diplomacy to project their foreign policy objectives. Unlike traditional diplomatic tools, resolving spatial and temporal communication constraints, these communication tools facilitate fast and efficient communication and improve the effectiveness of conventional diplomatic service delivery. Such modern diplomatic instruments also resolve the drawbacks of conventional diplomatic means of communication, such as uncertainty and insecurity, since they are safer and more secure means of communication (Rashica, 2018).

New communication media change venues for conducting diplomacy from the actual world to the virtual world by inspiring the establishment of virtual embassies (Gilboa, 2016; Ziolkowski, 2013). Virtual embassies are embassies that have no physical premises in the host state but exist in an internet-based space. But this does not mean virtual embassies are embassies without ambassadors. In real embassies, ambassadors reside in the host state, but in virtual embassies, they reside in their capital cities. At the moment, few countries in the world have established virtual embassies to represent themselves in the virtual world. In this case, the USA State Department launched a web-based embassy for Tehran in 2011. Similarly, following the closure of the British embassy in Tehran, the FCO used a ‘UK for Iranians’ website and social media to continue communicating key messages with Iran (Manor, 2016). In these cases, the virtual embassies substituted the functions of real embassies in states where normal diplomatic relations couldn’t be established or were broken (Gilboa, 2016). This also means that new communication media overcome the limitations of traditional diplomacy because, in conventional diplomacy, diplomatic relations require the physical presence of embassies and ambassadors in the host state, but this is not compulsory to establish diplomatic relations in the era of internet technologies.

New media also brings new threats and new agendas to diplomatic practice (Barston, 2014). Before WWII, state agendas were economics and politics, but later on, internet governance (IG) and cyber security appeared as new topics in state relations as they required international regulation of the cyberspace environment by developing global dialogue and cooperation (Ziolkowski, 2013). Criminals of cybercrime employed arsenal digital warriors to commit cybercrime against targeted entities, whether individuals, states, or organizations. Pool (2013) pointed out that Arsenal Digital Warriors exploited denial service programs and malicious programming as weapons to disrupt the normal function of computers, and these malicious programs include viruses and varieties of worms. Thus, since no single state is immune from this challenge, states are required to cooperate in the area of developing legal and institutional frameworks to address the challenges of new communication technologies effectively and efficiently (Iyasu, 2018).

Moreover, Olubukola (2022) asserted that the proliferation of new communication media multiplies and amplifies the number of voices and interests involved in international policymaking. Traditionally, undertaking international relations was reserved to state-nominated officials. Later on, non-state actors emerged and began to take part in international relations following the boom in technology (Westcott, 2008). This means that new communication media opens the room for non-state actors to take part in diplomacy, eventually pave the way for the flowering of public diplomacy and later on its doppelganger (DD), in which both state and non-state actors are endowed with the same opportunities to run foreign relations. This means that, as a result of internet technology, the exclusive power and dominance of international relations by state actors is diminished as a new generation of diplomatic actors, such as individuals, groups of people, and businesses, join the sphere of international relations (Jagla et al., 2013).

2.2. Diplomatic function in digital age

According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) of 1961, diplomats have the function of representing the sending state in the host state, protecting in the receiving state the interests of the sending state and of its nationals within the limits permitted by international law, negotiating with the government of the receiving state, ascertaining by all lawful means conditions and developments in the receiving state and reporting thereon to the government of the sending state, promoting friendly relations between the sending state and the receiving state, and developing their economic, cultural, and scientific relations. Nevertheless, the advent of internet highly influences and transforms these functions (Wekesa, 2022).

2.2.1. Representation

Representation implies acting and speaking representing the sending state in the host state in relation to its national interests (Magambo, 2011). Maintaining diplomatic relations through representation is expensive, mainly for states that have budget deficit and smaller states with limited capacities, since it requires the establishment of embassies and permanent residence of ambassadors in the host state. Ziolkowski (2013) declares that in order to overcome challenges allied with lack of representation, states innovate five alternative means of maintaining diplomatic relations. One such alternative is the use of missions in multilateral posts, in which smaller states nominate permanent missions to international organizations, mainly to the UN, for diplomatic or consular activities that cannot be conducted bilaterally. In the same vein, states assign non-resident ambassadors to specific regions to cover diplomatic activities within all countries that belong to that region. The use of the ‘roving ambassador’ or Scandinavian model of representation, in which diplomatic activity is performed by non-resident ambassadors from the home capital, is the third innovative diplomatic practice followed by states with inadequate human and financial resources. The use of honorary consuls, recruited from citizens living in the host state, extra nationals, or professional communities, and contracting some services, either from friendly nations or from specialized private operators, are the other common practices of maintaining diplomatic relations used by countries across the world.

Timely, the innovation of new communication media commenced the sixth alternative mechanism of maintaining diplomatic relations, which is virtual representation. In virtual representation, physical embassies were replaced by virtual embassies, and websites were opened by state MFAs to represent their countries in the virtual world as well as to offer service to their respective nationals. This means that internet technology creates space for diplomats to serve the target population using online websites and virtual embassies. Therefore, today’s lack of representation doesn’t imply an absence of communication since MFAs create virtual embassies as communication platforms.

Even though representation via website and the opening of virtual embassies are essential, it is also associated with certain risks. Because diplomacy conducted through new media is impersonal in nature, it is difficult to build relations based on trust, confidence, and respect (Bjola & Marcus, 2015). With the online presence of diplomats, diplomatic services are also more vulnerable to fraud, and this challenges the representation role of diplomats. Essentially, in such kind of representation, a diplomatic website that has legal and political importance (a sensitive issue) has been left in the hands of technical specialists or designers (Nweke, 2012).

2.2.2. Protection and consular service

Diplomats have the responsibility to protect and provide consular service for nationals of the sending state in the host state. Magambo (2011) argued that protection of nationals and consular assistance implies defending or safeguarding any assets or interests of the sending state and its nationals, including their assets and interests abroad. Today, an increasing number of diplomatic services use digital tools to interact with their target audiences. Consequently, digitalization contributed to improving the service delivery of consular, MFAs, and embassies by adding quality and speed to the service in the area of consular services. Internet-facilitated e-service delivery as most missions and MFAs have websites, through which they can afford information on travel advice, visa application procedures, information on tourism, and investment opportunities. Mainly, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media platforms helped many MFAs and agencies to maintain ties with some of their country’s citizens abroad and provide them with valuable consular assistance (Olubukola, 2022). With the innovation of new media, the use of e-tools also comes into the sphere as effective tools of communication at a time of crisis to protect one’s own nationals overseas. In nutshell, Rashica (2018) summarizes the significance of social media in crisis management as follows:

In times of crisis, embassies can create groups in WhatsApp that include the ambassador, consular officer, press secretary, staff who collects online information, diplomats from the headquarter and staff answering citizens questions on the internet. This group can function as a crisis management cell and enables the collection of real-time information, decision-making and dissemination of information.

The most important demonstration of the relevance of new media in crisis management is the launch of a free online mapping tool called Ushahidi (meaning testimony) in Kenya to document human rights violations like violence, riots, and rapes by identifying the place where they were happening through the use of web and SMS functions of mobile phones following the contested outcome of the presidential election in 2007 (Magambo, 2011). Kenya also utilized Twitter to facilitate the evacuation of its citizens from South Sudan following the outbreak of internal conflict in 2013. That is to mean, because of their accessibility and reachability, social media are the most effective tools to disseminate information to nationals during crisis so that enhance protection of one’s own citizen at a time of disaster by providing leeway to do anything even in war zone. Consequently, new media have essential role for humanitarian assistance and support of one’s own citizen as people organize themselves by using all available e-tools, including mobile phones, twitter, and Facebook at a time of crisis. In line to this, Stanzel (2019) asserted that new communication media shorten timeframe for responses to incidents as it facilitate rapid transmission of information between embassies abroad and foreign ministries as well as between other foreign policy actors.

2.2.3. Negotiation

Negotiation is the other diplomatic function that has been immensely influenced by internet technologies. Most of the time, some countries with limited capacities in terms of finance and human capital may not be able to attend negotiation events. In the internet age, it is possible to have technology-mediated negotiation (e-negotiation). In addition to saving budget and time, e-negotiation permits states to participate in multiple negotiations occurring simultaneously in different geographical locations (Magambo, 2011). Today’s text exchange and commenting through mail, as well as video conferences and Skype, are used to follow negotiations through the internet by faraway participants. In other words, heads of government and diplomats no longer travel to remote areas in order to hold meetings (Manuwa, 2023) since technologies like Skype and Face Time allow people to communicate issues remotely as if they were around the table (Verrikia, 2017). Technology-assisted negotiation is also more relevant as it reduces the need to travel for meetings where there is security and logistical concern.

One recent example of such an event was the virtual meeting of African heads of state and government chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Africa’s response to the pandemic in March 2020 as countries went into lockdown. In another example, in February 2021, newly elected US President Joe Biden also held an annual summit with African presidents and Prime ministers virtually (Wekesa, 2022).

Even though virtual meetings enable the negotiating parties to communicate remotely, they do not necessarily replace the tradition of face-to-face interactions. Instead, they should be complementary. Physical meetings are important because negotiations often take place on the sidelines of international gatherings. Plus, physical meetings provide an opportunity for participants to observe and interpret the body language and emotions of the parties, which may help in decision-making. Thus, a hybrid format of physical interactions and online meetings seems to be the best approach for diplomatic engagements (Olubukola, 2022).

2.2.4. Information gathering and reporting

Precise and fast access to information is decisive for the proper functioning of MFAs. Thus, with internet technology, Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and the blogosphere serve as important sources of information for diplomats. This indicates that in the digital age, diplomats rely on internet technologies to gather information of all kinds-political, economic, commercial, and social-in the host state, unlike information collected from conventional media (Ziolkowski, 2013).

The information-gathering function of the diplomat is sourly tested by various factors in the digitalization period. The existence of diversified sources of information, which leads to the difficulty of identifying reliable and realistic from fraud, is one among others. This is the reason for Westcott (2008) to describe this era as a ‘digital dark age’. For him, the Digital Dark Age (DDA) implies the presence of diversified information sources and unfiltered information, which is difficult to sort out. So, sorting out relevant information from irrelevant information requires the high professional skill of diplomats while they are gathering information. As compared to modern times, information gathered by traditional diplomats was more likely reliable and factual. Because, before the internet era, there were limited information sources and information was gathered through the physical presence of diplomats so that it reflected the correct reading and critical observation of the political, social, and economic condition of the host state. Bjola and Marcus (2015) argued that this is due to the fact that face-to-face contact allows the diplomats to exchange information not only through what they say but also through what they do not say, as their facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and even unconscious movements or reactions all provide clues to the sincerity and intentions of the information. Recently, however, diplomats gathered information virtually and this led to fraud and confusion in selecting factual information (Stanzel, 2019).

Internet technology also makes the reporting function of diplomats faster, more effective, and less formal. Traditionally, diplomats represent their government abroad and report back to their homes invaluable and fresh information that was gathered formally and informally. But, with the flourishing of social media sites as channels of communication, diplomats have lost their monopoly on reporting occasions since ordinary citizens can pick up their smartphones and report events in other countries. Digitalization also provides officials at headquarters with immediate access to information from international media to adjust their foreign policy goals. Therefore, with the advancement of communication technology, diplomats are competing with ordinary people and journalists to report events since anyone, anywhere, has the opportunity to get the same information at the same time (Verrikia, 2017). This refers to the loss of diplomats the exclusive right to report new events from the host state to the sending state.

Most of the time, information released through social media is fake, unfiltered, and fraudulent (Narwal, 2018). Because of this, the reporting function of diplomats should be qualified with sorting, interpreting, and analyzing information gathered from Internet sources. In other words, diplomats were entitled to sort the wheat from the chaff to supply the government with value-added information, which is essential to making verdicts on global issues, and this indicates even in the internet age, diplomats have inimitable roles in information gathering and reporting (Stanzel, 2019, p. 9).

3. Methodology

3.1. Research design

The researcher employed a qualitative method to conduct this research. The qualitative research method focuses on the discovery and understanding of the participant’s experiences, perspectives, and thoughts. This means that qualitative research focuses on providing a thorough explanation of a given phenomenon. This method also enabled the researcher to understand the phenomenon in-depth as it elicited more detailed information by examining meanings while the researcher had the opportunity to interpret the subject (Creswell, 2014). As a result of this, the researcher employed qualitative research methods to analyze digital diplomacy’s relevance in promoting states’ national interests. This study also selected a case study research design to investigate the relevance of DD in advancing the national interest of the country. The case study design allowed the researcher to develop an in-depth investigation and analysis of a single case, often a program, event, activity, or process (Lewin & Somekh, 2005), like that of the topic under investigation.

3.2. Method of data collection and data sources

Method of data collection is determined by the type of questions to be answered, the nature of the research objectives and the research problems to be addressed. In this study, both primary and secondary data collection methods were used to generate relevant information to build the study finding. Consequently, the study used the review of archival material as an instrument for secondary data collection and semi-structured interviews as a primary data collection instrument. Semi-structured interview allows depth to be achieved by providing the interviewer with opportunity to probe and expand the interviewee’s responses. It also helps the researcher to collect first-hand information from people in the field. With this in mind, the researcher conducted a total of six key informant interviews from 17 to 25 February 2021, with consented interviewees who were selected purposefully from Ethiopian MFAs because of their professional experience and engagements in the country’s practice of DD. These participants were selected from the digital diplomacy directorate, the public diplomacy directorate, and the information management and ICT directorate of the ministry-two individuals from each department.

While conducting the interviews, the researcher prepared an interview guideline in advance to indicate a clear list of issues to be addressed and questions to be answered. This checklist allowed for in-depth probing, greater flexibility and permitted the interviewer to keep the interview within track of the aim of the study during the interview process (Abawi, 2013). During the interview session, interviews were recorded using mobile devices and field notes were taken and respondents were probed and asked follow-up questions to elicit valuable information. Depending on the interviewee’s motivation, interest, and capacity, each interview lasted, on average, from 50 minutes to one and a half hours. The researcher also used books, articles, magazines, reports, international instruments, domestic legislation, and digital platforms of the ministry as a source of secondary data to enhance the validity of information gathered from primary sources.

3.3. Data analysis

In this study, the researcher used thematic data analysis methods to analyze the relevance of digital diplomacy in promoting the national interest of states. Of the qualitative data analysis, the researcher employed inductive thematic data analysis, in which themes and codes naturally emerge exclusively from the data analysis. As such, to prepare the data for its correct interpretation, the researcher passed through the six stages of thematic data analysis identified by Braun and Clarke (2006). Accordingly, initially, the researcher cautiously transcribed the audio records of the interviews word by words. After acquainting himself with the transcript texts through reading and re-reading, he developed the primary codes manually using highlighters. Then after, he developed and applied an analytical framework to group similar codes into categories through the data reduction process. After refining and reviewing the themes against the study objectives, the researcher finally identified the overarching themes that were rigorously interpreted in the findings section.

4. Findings and discussions

After carefully investigating the relevance of DD in promoting the national interests of Ethiopia which are development, peace, and national pride and prestige as illustrated in the foreign policy of the country, the research identified two essential and highly interconnected areas where the practice of digital diplomacy enables the country to capitalize its soft power of persuasion and attractiveness. These are national image building and the practice of public diplomacy. In addition to presenting the extent to which the country integrates e-tools into the areas mentioned above, the research is also dedicated to shedding light on trends of digitalization of diplomacy and institutionalization of the practice of digital diplomacy in Ethiopian contexts.

4.1. Trends of digitalization of diplomacy: Ethiopian context

Jönsson and Hall (2005) noted that diplomacy gained its modern architecture in the 15^th century in Europe. Until this time, it had remained at an embryonic stage, as it was conducted by ad hoc envoys with narrowly focused responsibilities. Eventually, with the intensification of diplomatic activities in Europe, it was professionalized and institutionalized as states started to set up embassies and exchange permanent ambassadors because of practical and economic reasons. Importantly, diplomacy has been transformed and streamlined in the aftermath of the modernization of the means of communication and has recently reached the stage of virtual diplomacy, in which international relations have been established with the help of cyberspace.

History reveals that, although the practice of modern diplomacy can be traced back to the era of Emperor Tewodros, Ethiopia has had long-lasting external relations with the outside world. This means that both in the past and present, Ethiopian rulers have been engaged in diplomacy to win the hearts and minds of external countries to seek support for the country’s modernization effort, to repel foreign aggression, to protect and uphold the integrity of the country, and to settle border disputes with their neighboring countries (Ram, 1986).

To maintain diplomatic relations with external countries, the successive Ethiopian Emperors used various forms of diplomatic communication at different times. The sending and receiving of missions, envoys, and messengers for a specific period and specific purpose was one among others until it was replaced with permanent consuls or permanent ambassadors at the end of the 19th century. Accordingly, Emperor Yohannes sent non-resident diplomatic missions to London in 1872 to reveal the Egyptian aggression against Ethiopia and to solicit British support in the resolution of the incident. Menelik also sent missions to Europe to secure technical assistance for the modernization of his country and to seek diplomatic help for access to the sea (Ram, 1986).

Ram (1986) argued that, in their relationship with Europe, the successive Ethiopian emperors used the European press and other prominent groups to spread Ethiopian interests. Mainly, Emperor Yohannes and Menelik appreciated the role of the newspaper in shaping and educating public opinion; they used it to educate British and French public opinion on Ethiopian issues and to combat anti-Ethiopian propaganda.

Abel and Mehari (2018) argued that although Ethiopia has maintained bilateral relations with the external world for many centuries through a variety of means, the country streamlined its diplomatic practice with the institutionalization of MFAs at the beginning of the 20^th century by Menelik II. In line with the establishment of a diplomatic institution, the Emperor launched the sending and receiving of permanent ambassadors (Keller, 1987) and introduced various communication technologies, which, in turn, helped to modernize the country’s diplomatic communication and practice. The Emperor therefore introduced telephone and postal services in 1894 and telegraph technology in 1904 as a critical means of transmitting information for political and administrative purposes. As far as diplomatic communication is concerned, these technologies have detached communication from distance and facilitated effective and efficient diplomatic communication among states (Alemayehu, 2013).

Although it was disrupted by the Italian invasion, Emperor Haile Selassie proceeded to modernize Ethiopian diplomatic practice by launching multilateral diplomacy by appealing to membership in the League of Nations (Keller, 1987), increasing the penetration of telephone and telegraph technologies, and incorporating other diplomatic communication technologies such as radio and television into its diplomatic practice. Hence, in 1935, the Emperor launched radio broadcasting, intending to connect Ethiopia to the outside world and to assist the country in communicating with other nations of the world. In the context of Ethiopia, radio was used for the first time as an instrument of diplomatic communication during the Italian invasion of 1935, as the Emperor appealed to the world for assistance against the fascist invasion. The Emperor also institutionalized the Ministry of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone in 1941 to restore the ravaged telecommunications infrastructure as a result of the Italian invasion (Tsigereda, 2019). Furthermore, in 1964, the Emperor introduced television to educate and inform people and to further strengthen and ensure the country’s sustainable development, peace, and democracy. Television also enabled the people to have a good understanding of the world through access to current information (Gera, 2017). The Derg regime has also used all these diplomatic communication tools, mainly radio, to communicate its ideology and foreign policy objectives to its internal and external audiences.

Following the downfall of the Derg regime and the takeover of power by the EPRDF, Ethiopia’s foreign policy focuses on creating convenient environments to ensure rapid economic growth, creating democracy and good governance, building a positive image of the country, and interpreting the impact of globalization in the context of Ethiopia as stated on the country’s foreign policy document. To communicate these foreign policy objectives, the country re-established its MFAs in 1995, introduced new structures to its organization, and recently integrated emerging communication technologies into its diplomatic communication. Given this, even though Internet technology was introduced in the country in 1993, the Ministry assimilated it into its diplomatic practice from 2010 onwards with the unlocking of its website for the first time. The digitalization of diplomacy in the country, which commenced with the opening of a website, transcended to social media platforms, mainly Facebook and Twitter, in 2013. To replace the old version, the ministry also launched a new website with improved features of security, accessibility, graphics, synchronization, and up-to-datedness in 2016. In the same year, to cope with the changing circumstances brought by new communication technologies into diplomatic practice, the Ministry set up a separate directorate dedicated to the practice of DD.

As noted by Bilate (2022), efforts by foreign affairs to enhance its digital activities focused on accessibility; commitment is less effective. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the commitment of political leaders after reform, however, reversed this reality. Accordingly, since the reforms, the Ethiopian MFAs has focused on designing appropriate digital diplomacy strategies to provide up-to-date information to the public. The top government officials and diplomats, including the Prime Minister, have started practicing their daily communications and activities through DD systems. The MFAs also showed further moves to intensify its social media presence on Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram, in addition to Twitter and Facebook in view of achieving the country’s foreign policy goals. In the same vein, as a result of social distancing and travel restriction induced by the pandemic, African leaders, diplomats, and other government officials were compelled to integrate digital tools into their modus operandi (Huda & Muchatuta, 2022). As an African country, this reality also applies to the Ethiopian context. The practice of DD in the country, which commenced in the name of the implementation of e-governance, has recently been streamlined and deepened as a result of the commitment of political leaders and the outbreak of COVID-19 (Bilate, 2022). Consequently, the Ethiopian MFA has recently emerged as the most digitally active African MFA, along with Kenya’s and Rwanda’s MFAs (Caulcrick-Odebo, 2022).

This does not mean, however, that the practice of DD in Africa is without challenges. A study conducted by Huda and Muchatuta (2022) reveals that despite Africa’s progress in embracing DD, the continent continues to face principal challenges such as poor policy formulation, low internet penetration, the rural-urban digital divide, and digital illiteracy among diplomats. In line with this, Bilate (2022) noted that in African countries, the practice of DD encounters critical challenges related to a lack of commitment from political leaders, poor technology usage, a lack of available resources, and a lack of human skills development. According to him, these factors are severely affecting the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia. ‘Clear, formal, and published or accessible DD strategies and policies are still not in place in most, if not all, African countries’ (Wekesa, 2022). Even though the continent still lingers behind western countries in terms of internet penetration, computer infrastructure and internet accessibility, African governments, however, appear to be as equally committed to engagement as their western counterparts (Caulcrick-Odebo, 2022). Indeed, the cases of Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda’s ministries of foreign affairs validate this argument. As noted by Huda and Muchatuta (2022) this reveals the fact that the future of African diplomacy is not as desolate as suggested by Afro-pessimist analysts. Because despite the prevailing challenges, African countries, even those who suspects digital platforms, have started to embraces social media into their diplomatic practice, mainly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Huda & Muchatuta, 2022).

4.2. Institutionalization of practice of digital diplomacy

Aware of the fast-growing significance of digital technologies in the field of international relations, the Ethiopian MFA incorporated it into its diplomatic practices; hence, it has adopted DD as an essential foreign policy strategy and integrated DD outreach as a diplomatic route to make the internal and external public aware of its full spectrum of diplomatic operations and activities (Revised draft foreign policy document, 2011). Both external and internal factors propel the ministry towards the launch of the practice of DD. In this sense, it is reasonable to argue that globalization and the spread of ICT, which in effect leads to an incredible increase in the power of social media and its overshadowing of mainstream media, could be external factors, while the need and urge to reach large segments of societies behind the milieu of conventional diplomacy, the need for informed decision-making that is done on information, the desire for effective, efficient, and timely information processing, and others could be internal factors.

Wekesa (2022) noted that early adopters of DD such as the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, and other countries put formal strategies and policies in place to guide the practice in the 2000s. They also established entities, usually in the MFAs, to specifically undertake the practice of DD. In this case, the US’s digital diplomacy department which was re-launched recently as the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy is a good example. The early adopters also designated certain diplomatic officials as digital diplomats. Unlike the early adopters, African countries however failed to prioritize public diplomacy, which is considered as the foundation for DD. As a result, public diplomacy entities were found only in a few African countries such as South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya, thus transition from traditional public diplomacy to DD proceeds ambiguously rather than as a matter of state-driven planning and strategy.

Like its African brothers and sisters, Ethiopia is also lagging in implementing DD policies and strategies (Bilate, 2022), but it stands alongside African countries that institutionalized the practice of public diplomacy and DD at earlier times. Accordingly, the country set a specific institution that was dedicated to the practice of public diplomacy in 2008 and that of DD in 2016. Ethiopian DD, which was launched in 2010 and intensified during the period of Tedros Adhanom, was therefore implemented and administered under the auspices of the Public Diplomacy and Communications Directorate-General (PDCDG) of the ministry until 2016. Nevertheless, in 2016, the ministry endorsed a proposal prepared by the PDCDG to set up a Digital Diplomacy Directorate (DDD) as a separate DD institution with the view of modernizing, further expanding, and deepening the digital activities of the ministry; thereby, the Ministry established the DDD, which was the first of its kind to manage the overall operation of the DD of the country as a subdivision of the PDCDG. Truly speaking, before the institutionalization of the DDD, the Directorate of Foreign Media Relations was the only digitally active department of the Ministry (Benyam, 2016).

Together with the other organizations of the ministry, DDD would have continued to operate as one of the subdivisions of the PDCDG until December 2018. Following result-oriented public sector reform, however, DDD was placed and operated under the auspices of the Spokesperson’s Office since the beginning of 2018. The spokesperson’s office consists of two directorates: the media relations directorate, which includes the foreign media relations directorate and the local media relations directorate on one hand, and the DDD in the other side.

Out of directorates operating at Ethiopian MFAs, DDD has been primarily responsible for running the website and the official social media accounts of the ministry. In the age of proliferation in the infotainment industry, DDD has been also tasked with crafting and rendering palatable information supported by state-of-the-art videos, graphically rendered photos, and infographics to both domestic and overseas digital audiences (Mekuanint, 2018, p. 50). As noted by the digital diplomacy officer of the ministry, the department is responsible for content development and editing; message crafting and administration; collecting and disseminating information; providing first-hand information with regards to the country’s overall diplomatic activities to diplomatic communities, journalists, and external and domestic audiences; as well as rectifying misconceptions and false news disseminated by internal and external media and social media about the country’s diplomatic relations through disseminating credible information so that the audience would have a balanced view of reality.

In fact, along with DDD, Ethiopian MFAs operates to inflate its social media followers primarily on Facebook and Twitter, diversify digital assets from mainstream Facebook and Twitter to other tools such as Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram, as well as others, to expand the dissemination of information to mass audiences. The DDD also has a mission to ensure the security, transparency, openness, and versatility of the web to facilitate two-way communication between the Ministry and its audiences, increase internet penetration and narrow the digital divide, establish credible and trustworthy social media influencers and increase the use of ‘transnationalizable content’ with a clear shape and direction, based on a shared perception between different segments of the public, such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Ethio-Djibouti railway (the first fully electrified cross-border rail line in Africa), Gilgel Gibe III (Africa’s tallest hydro-electric dam to double the energy capacity of the county), the ascription of Gada as an intangible world heritage and the new brand of Ethiopia’s tourism (Benyam, 2016). Hence, although much is expected, it is straightforward to argue that DDD enhances the digital visibility of the ministry through improving accessibility, content crafting, presence, engagement, opinion building, image creation, and image building.

4.3. Embracing digital diplomacy in promoting the national interest of the country

This section endeavours to illustrate how the integration of e-tools into the diplomatic practice of Ethiopia creates a receptive climate for its foreign policy implementations through revolutionizing its practice of public diplomacy and national image-building efforts which in turn enhances the country’s soft power at the global level. In international relations, public diplomacy, and national image building are inalienable concepts that advance the broader foreign policy objectives of the country on the global stage by shaping the perceptions, attitudes, and opinions of foreign audiences towards one own countries.

4.3.1. Fostering public diplomacy

Public diplomacy is a communication strategy that aims to support the state’s foreign policy objectives by informing, persuading, and influencing international audiences to change their negative perceptions of particular countries. In order to achieve their foreign policy goals via public diplomacy, various states, including Ethiopia, employ a variety of public diplomacy tools. Prior to ICT developments, traditional media (television and radio), scholarship grants, citizen exchanges, embassy press briefings, cultural exchanges and cultural exhibits, and televised interviews with ambassadors and religious leaders, artists, prominent individuals, and military commanders were used as instruments of public diplomacy practice (Yonas, 2013). With the advent of the internet, however, social media platforms have become indispensable tools for diplomats to engage directly with foreign audiences, share information, and shape public perception. This enables them to reach a wider audience to promote the values and policies of their countries (Manuwa, 2023). Digitalization also helps all states and non-state actors to maintain websites and blogs to present their history, policies, values, culture, science, and other achievements, as well as their positions on current affairs (Gilboa, 2016).

As revealed in the revised draft foreign policy document, Ethiopia has adopted public diplomacy as an essential foreign policy strategy to realize the country’s foreign policy objectives. In this context, apart from practicing public diplomacy using traditional communication tools, the ministry and its overseas missions are flocking online to address their foreign audiences through strategic communications using internet technology. Within Ethiopian MFAs, PDCDG and the Office of the Spokesperson have a lion’s share in the promotion of the country’s public diplomacy. This means that, in support of the activities undertaken by the Ministry’s public diplomacy section, the Office of the Spokesperson is actively engaged in digitalizing the country’s public diplomacy. Consequently, the ministry uses its websites and social media accounts as platforms for informing, persuading, and influencing the public. In this sense, one informant from the ministry stated as follows:

We employ websites and social media platforms as spaces to engage directly with foreign audiences. This means that digital tools enable us to collect and analyze dozens of messages, questions and suggestions and receive best wishes, praise, and even criticism from both domestic and foreign audiences. These tools also allow us to disseminate more information pertaining to our daily diplomatic activities, current issues, and news to our digital audiences more quickly and effectively with a view to promoting the national interests of the country, which are development, democracy, and good governance.

This means that through the ministry’s digital platforms, the country communicates with foreign audiences about on-going developments, peace, tourist attractions, investment opportunities, trade and cultural exhibitions, and current issues happening within and around Ethiopia. Enabling the country to publicize and disseminate timely information, digitalization therefore drives the country towards building a sense of transparency, accountability, and trust with its digital audiences in the realm of its foreign relations.

As stated by the public diplomacy practitioner of the ministry, Ethiopia is also harnessing emerging communication tools to listen and maintain ties with target audiences with key messages as they migrate online, to bend their perceptions towards the values, resources, and people of the country. It also uses the internet platform to publicize its positions on different issues and to promote its ideas worldwide. Digital tools and social media platforms also enable the Ministry to engage directly with foreign populations and foreign opinion makers, thereby building and managing the positive image of the nation, promoting policies, and creating awareness about the culture and values of the country. Moreover, technological innovations such as the internet enable the ministry and its missions overseas to extend their international reach and influence a large number of audiences, including those who will never set foot in the country and those who are not aware of the existing realities on the ground, so as to create a receptive climate for the country’s foreign policy implementation. In this case, senior diplomats from the Ethiopian MFAs stated as follows:

We influence only a population of less than 60 countries via our diplomatic missions overseas, out of a population of nearly 200 countries all over the world. But now, via information shared through our website, Facebook and Twitter, we can knock on and influence the hearts and minds of the world population anywhere and anytime, even in the absence of diplomatic missions, to create an enabling environment for the realization of our country’s foreign policy objectives.

In this case, the Ethiopian government highly utilizes social media networks to reverse the wrong narration disseminated by riparian countries and their allies over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Since the commencement of the GERD, riparian countries have been trapped in misinforming the international community that the construction of the GERD threatens their water security. With the view of reversing this wrong narration, Ethiopia uses its digital platforms to explain the realities on the ground that GERD’s objective is just to alleviate the country’s energy poverty, which is impeding development to international communities. The ministry also designated a separate section to the Nile issue on its official website to inform international communities of facts on the ground about the Nile River, so that someone who logs into the website has access to full and real information about the river as opposed to the Egyptian false propaganda. Consequently, the issue of GERD emerged as a nationalistic rallying point for Ethiopia, particularly on the internet, given that the country has continuously engaged in computer-generated information dissemination using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Google Maps as weapons to advance its respective positions on the issue (Chiu, 2023).

As noted by Olubukola (2022), new communication technology also ‘multiplied and diversified the number of actors and interests involved in foreign policymaking’. This means that unlike in the past, when non-diplomats were not interested in foreign affairs, they are now sensitive to know and participate in discussions about foreign policy as a result of the advancement of technologies (Bilate, 2022; Constantinou et al., 2016). Thus, digitalization enhances public participation in foreign affairs talks and the subsequent involvement of public opinion in foreign policy making. In addition to educating and informing the public about foreign policy goals and objectives, the government therefore uses social media platforms to collect input for foreign policy making and cultivate public support for policies they have selected. In this case, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) consulted online for its overseas territories white paper in 2011. Germany also used ICT platforms to extract ideas and public opinion to feed its foreign policy reviews in 2014 (Olubukola, 2017, p. 8).

A critical appraisal of the Ethiopian case exemplified that the ministry has been successful in educating and informing audiences about its foreign policy goals via digital platforms to cultivate public support but is lagging far behind in terms of engaging citizens in diplomatic decision-making. In Ethiopia, the culture of foreign policy-making has been concentrated in the hands of elites; thus, individual leaders have a dominant role in foreign policy-making. This means that, let alone social media, public opinion and conventional media, did not have any significant role in the process of foreign policy-making. In other words, given the monologue-laden nature of Ethiopian DD, Ethiopian MFA is unable to harness social media platforms in a full-fledged manner for the purpose of collecting inputs used for foreign policymaking at the level of early adopters of DD. One key informant explains the reason for this as follows:

Social media engagement for foreign policymaking is such a delicate process that its usage is not easily visible. Because policy making is a continuous and dynamic process that involves the voices of different stakeholders across different means of communication, and all information coming through social media is a piece-by-piece input for decision-making that one may not easily witness.

Indeed, even though it is not at the level of other countries, the integration of e-tools into the practice of public diplomacy allows multiple voices and perspectives to be heard in the country’s foreign policy-making and implementation processes. Ultimately, it creates a favorable environment for the country to engage a large number of audiences on a wide range of issues, whether political or economic.

Besides facilitating effective and efficient communication and allowing states to reach outsized audiences despite the spatial and temporal limitations, the digitalization of public diplomacy at the Ethiopian MFA is not immune from risks. In this case, information obtained from information management and ICT directorate of the ministry reveals that often the inter- and intra-communication system of the ministry has been vulnerable to warm attacks; the website of the ministry, its official accounts, and the personal accounts of diplomats have been exposed to the threat of cybercrime. Animosity is also another risk that the Ministry encounters while practicing online public diplomacy. In this sense, diplomats receive verbal attacks and hate speech from imposters because of animosity. Social media also serves as a platform for disinformation and the dissemination of false and unbalanced news, which are affecting the culture and norms of Ethiopian communities (Bilate, 2022). Ethiopian DD is also susceptible to blundering. For instance, the Ethiopian MFA published an inaccurate African map on its official website, which erased Somalia completely and instead revealed the self-declared territory of Somaliland, which is not internationally recognized (BBC, 2019). Diplomatic actors therefore now need to minimize mistakes (Bilate, 2022) and navigate the digital landscape carefully; balancing its advantages with the risks associated with online manipulation and cyber threats (Manuwa, 2023).

4.3.2. National image building

Ethiopia has been widely seen as a place of millennial knowledge, history, heritage, art, culture and traditions. It is home to Dinknesh or Lucy, the Axumite Civilization, the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the castles of Fasiledes, the Jegol Wall and Tiya monuments (Benyam, 2016). In addition to its historical values and cultures, as described in the country’s Foreign Affairs and National Security policy and strategy, Ethiopia is also proud to have been the only country that has successfully resisted colonialism and the only nation in Africa to maintain its independence. Nevertheless, given the pride of ancient civilization and prosperity, the reputation of the country has been blemished as a result of historical incidents such as poverty, backwardness, human rights abuses and national and religious divisions, which have closely linked the country’s name to drought, famine and war. As illustrated in Foreign Affairs and National Security Policy and Strategy, immigration is also another painful issue that paints the picture of the country black. As a result of those historical events, a large number of productive forces of the country, primarily adults, have lived in exile and worked as maid servants in Europe, America, the Middle East, and other countries.

Yonas (2013) claimed that the reputation of Ethiopia is also deteriorating at the international level as a result of the release of deceitful, aggressive and inconsistent stories, news and information from international media and the inflammatory Diaspora. Most of the time, these media organizations sell information with the pseudo-reality of the country and paint the image of a nation black by taking a single event and generalizing hastily to the whole trait of a nation. In the same ways, Mekuanint (2018) noted that there are also ‘organizations such as the Auckland Institution, which paints countries like Ethiopia black and criticizes negatively by undermining the positive achievements of the country in internal and external affairs. Definitely speaking, in this world of fierce competition, the wretched picture of the country has a negative repercussion pertaining to the influx of foreign investment and tourism.

Since a bad image is a terrible item in the diplomatic market, different governments all over the world implemented online branding initiatives and strategies to interrogate and reconstruct their countries deteriorating image in the international system. Accordingly, on the American continent, the US State Department promotes Brand America through its social media channels on Facebook (@usdos), Twitter (@StateDept), YouTube, and its networked blog, Diplopedia. In Europe, the British FCO uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a blog to support the new Great Britain Campaign, a holistic global branding initiative aimed at promoting the UK globally as a great place to visit, study and do business. In the African case, Rwanda promotes itself at the international level through Rwandapedia, a Wikipedia of documents providing fast data, videos and images about Rwanda (Hibamo, 2017). Kenya also strategically employed its social media, so that it created the hash tag ‘#chooseKenya’ to brand itself as a rising economic power and land of financial opportunity (Manor, 2016).

Ethiopia is also not exceptional in this case, as the country’s MFAs, along with its missions overseas, actively engaged on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Worldpress, Inistgram and YouTube to correct the wretched picture of the country that was painted black as a result of historical incidents and the release of unbalanced news from international media. In this sense, these social media platforms are used so as to reach a large number of foreign audiences and diasporas that seem unlikely in traditional forms of international relations, thus assisting the ministry to communicate with its digital audiences the suitability of the country for investment and tourism to stimulate the inward injection of tourism and foreign direct investment, which in effect augments economic developments. The Ministry also uses its websites and social media platforms to mold the image of the country towards new audiences, particularly to those people who are unable to set foot in the country and are unaware of the realities on the ground (Abrehet, 2017). Fundamentally, with regard to tourism, the country has inaugurated the ‘land of origin’ tourism brand to reflect the uniqueness of the country, as it is blessed with various extraordinary resources. Thus, with the aim of promoting the positive image of the country at international levels, the Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, promotes this brand name via its website and social media platforms.

The national government portal and e-service platform, which were designed to provide online services to foreign and domestic audiences, have also introduced historic civilizations of the country, such as the Rock Hewn Churches of Lalibela, the Fasiledes Castles, the Jegol Wall, the Tiya Monuments, and the Gada system, which was inscribed as intangible world heritage to the online customers who sign into the platform. The ministry’s social media platform also displays cultural events and numerous festivals arranged for the purpose of image building at different times and in different places. Besides, the ministry publishes a week in the horn, which reports on the anchor of weekly events in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, and disseminates through its and its missions websites and social media platforms, which in effect has vigorous ramifications for national image building (Mekuanint, 2018).

As far as image building is concerned, the ministry uses digital platform to communicate with diaspora communities to foster their constructive role in building a positive picture of Ethiopia in the countries of their residency. However, the Ethiopian MFAs and its diplomatic mission abroad did not fully engage the diaspora in identity building due to the country’s insecurity, negative pressure from the diaspora, and lack of communication skills. Therefore, in order to involve diasporas in the country’s image-building effort, the government should provide them with accurate and up-to-date information on current economic, political and social developments of the country (Revised draft foreign policy document, 2011), which, in turn, requires the launch of strategic communication with the aid of internet technologies.

This clearly entails that the practice of DD enables the country to connect emotionally and strategically with its digital audiences in a way that instills its ideas and aspirations in the minds of many people. In doing so, it enhances the sale of positive image of the country convincingly by capitalizing on its soft power at the international level. It also provides the country with unprecedented opportunities to rehabilitate its tainted reputation and cultivate its positive image, and it also played a significant role in creating, maintaining and sustaining the soft power of the country (Hibamo, 2017). This means that DD changes public behavior and responds to the misconception that traditional diplomacy cannot. This reveals the fact that by changing methods, its space, and the roles that diplomats have in the sphere, DD has completely transformed the image-building efforts of the country to a high level.

Nevertheless, except for the recently inaugurated tourism brand, the country’s national branding initiative has been constrained by the lack of holistic country brands such as the ‘land of ideas’ in Germany, with the overwhelming aim of making Germany visible and recognizable both domestically and internationally as a powerful innovator and creative force, and the ‘Great Britain Campaign’ in the UK, which promotes the country globally as a great place to visit, study and do business, the lack of a clearly agreed online national branding strategy, and the monolog and non-participatory nature of the Ethiopian DD practice (Hibamo, 2017). Despite promising initiatives, therefore, there is still a long way to go to make full and effective use of the ‘digital zeitgeist’ in order to paint a positive image of the country.

5. Conclusions

With an emphasis on Ethiopia, this article aims to shed light on the relevance of digital diplomacy in promoting the national interests of states through revolutionizing practice of public diplomacy and national image-building efforts which in turn enhances the country’s soft power at a global level. In this digitalized age, our country Ethiopia has redesigned and expedited its diplomatic endeavors by integrating digital technologies into its conduct of international relations by designing a website for the first time for its foreign ministers as an implementation of the plan proposed in the e-government strategy, followed by the unlocking of its official accounts on diversified social media platforms. However, the findings of the study show that, like in other African countries, in Ethiopia, digital diplomacy has been practiced inadvertently and haphazardly in the absence of clear strategies, dedicated institutions and designated diplomats for an extended period. This, however, slightly changed after the institutionalization of the practice of digital diplomacy with the establishment of a digital diplomacy directorate with the main responsibility of streamlining the overall practice of digital diplomacy of the country in 2016. For this reason, the study found that Ethiopia stands among the very few African countries that institutionalized, digitalized, and streamlined its diplomatic practice at an early age with the ultimate goal of communicating its foreign policy objectives which are peace, development, national pride, and prestige to its digital audiences, even though it is still lingering behind in leapfrogging its digital visibility’s at the levels of early adopters.

Despite this however, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with its Kenyan and Rwandan peers, emerged as one of the most digitally active African ministers of foreign affairs, communicating with its digital audiences about the country’s stability and prosperity, its cultural and national achievements, and the prevailing tourism and investment opportunities. This means that digital diplomacy enables Ethiopian ministers of foreign affairs to accelerate the realization of the country’s foreign policy objectives by projecting the country’s soft power, mainly in the realms of national image-building and public diplomacy.

As revealed in the findings, in the realms of public diplomacy, digital diplomacy enables the country to build relationships, foster understanding, and promote dialogue with foreign audiences, which ultimately contributes to enhancing a country’s reputation globally. Essentially, by enabling the country to connect emotionally and strategically with its digital audiences in a way that instills its ideas and aspirations in the minds of many people, it interrogates and reconstructs the wretched picture of the country that was painted black as a result of historical incidents and the release of unbalanced news from international media. This means that digital platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for the country to rehabilitate its tainted reputation and cultivate its positive image at the international level to stimulate the inward flows of tourism and foreign direct investment, which in effect augments economic developments. These facts reveal that in the Ethiopian context, the integration of e-tools into the diplomatic practice of the country creates a receptive climate for the country’s foreign policy implementation through the revolutionizing practice of public diplomacy and national image-building efforts which in turn enhances the country’s soft power at a global level.

Despite showing promising initiatives and fascinating progress however, in the Ethiopian context, there is still a long way to go to make full and effective use of the ‘digital zeitgeist’ to foster the practice of public diplomacy and paint a positive image of the country for realizing the national interest of the country in a full-fledged manner. Because, as in any African country, the practice of digital diplomacy in Ethiopia is constrained by challenges such as low internet penetration, the rural-urban digital divide, and digital illiteracy among diplomats. In the same vein, a lack of commitment from political leaders, poor technology usage, a lack of available resources, a lack of human skills development, and a lack of clear, formal, published and accessible digital diplomacy strategies and policies also remain in place, hindering the digital visibility of the African continent as a whole, of which Ethiopia is one, among others. African countries, including Ethiopia, are also discouraged from taking up their practice of digital diplomacy as a result of fears of risks associated with digital tools, such as warm attacks, cyber threats, vulnerability to verbal attacks and blunders, and the fabrication of disinformation and misinformation.

To harness the full opportunities presented by digital tools in their course of diplomatic practices, this article calls for African governments, including the Ethiopian government, to ensure internet freedom, allocate the necessary financial and human resources, train their diplomats, inflate their social media presence and set into place clear digital diplomacy strategies. Whereas diplomats should minimize mistakes and navigate the digital landscape carefully, balancing its advantages with the risks associated with online manipulation and cyber threats. Additionally, since the digitalization of diplomacy in Africa, including the Ethiopian case, is not being sufficiently problematized and debated, future research should focus on investigating African countries’ experiences of digitalization of practice of public and diaspora diplomacy both at their headquarters and their missions overseas with the ultimate goals of promoting their national interest through influencing the heart and minds of the target audiences via persuasion and attractiveness.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Misgana Yifiru Ayenew

Misgana Yifiru Ayenew is a full-time lecturer and researcher at the Ambo University, College of Social Science and Humanities, Department of Political Science and International Relations. He obtained BA degree in political science and international relations and has MA degree in international relations and diplomacy from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia in 2012 and 2020 G.C respectively. Now, he has been engaged in teaching political science and international relations students and mentoring undergraduate students in his respective departments. He is also interested in conducting and publishing problem solving researches in articulated peer-reviewed journals with research areas of digitalization of diplomacy in general and diaspora diplomacy in particular.