Real-Time Diplomacy Politics and Power in the Social Media Era [Hardcover]

In light of the events of 2011, Real-Time Diplomacy examines how diplomacy has evolved as media have gradually reduced the time available to policy makers. It analyzes the workings of real-time diplomacy and the opportunities for media-centered diplomacy programs that bypass governments and directly engage foreign citizens.PART I: 2011 The Political Revolution The Media Revolution PART II: DIPLOMACY TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN Traditional Diplomacy and the Cushion of Time The Arrival of Rapid-Reaction Diplomacy The Expeditionary Diplomat and the Case for Public Diplomacy PART III: SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICAL CHANGE The Promise of Networks Ripple Effects Looking Ahead

Carefully researched and written, this is a valuable study of the role of the changing global media environment on political behavior, including a discussion of the 2011 Arab world uprisings and the diplomatic challenges that both popular movements and media developments present to many governments, including ours. At a time when pundits and commentators offer differing theories on these events, the author gives us a balanced, sober and insightful account that provides specialists with new ways of thinking, and general audiences with a valuable overview. This book will be assigned reading for my students. - William A. Rugh, former US ambassador, visiting professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and author of Arab Mass Media

Real-Time Diplomacy not only draws readers into the compelling narratives of personal sacrifice and collective risk during the Arab Spring, but it provides the broader context needed to really understand the political impact and implications of technology diffusion. Seib is an authority on public diplomacy, and his latest book is real-time social science at its best. Most important, for the policy makers, journalists, and interested public who don't want to just be spectators to current events, this book offers insight into the long-termlS‘