I have just finished reading Naked Diplomacy: Power and Statecraft in the Digital Age by Tom Fletcher, Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon from 2011 to 2015. It is an entertaining read, which makes a feisty case for the continued relevance of diplomacy. His cutting-edge approach is far removed from traditional diplomatic stereotypes. His brand of diplomacy is powered by social media rather than social status, by innovative promotional activity rather than protocol. Although I am the best part of a generation older than Tom Fletcher, I have come to share his commitment to public diplomacy and his faith in digital media as an enabling instrument.
Part of the job of Irish diplomats is to do whatever it takes, and to use the most appropriate methods, to raise Ireland’s profile internationally for the betterment of our national interests. My colleagues all over the world are part of a collective, strategic effort, steered by Government and supported by Departments at home, with whom we co-operate ever more closely in light of the cross-cutting nature of the issues with which we deal. This was most in evidence during the post-2008 economic and financial crisis when we learned how important it was to deploy concerted efforts to protect our national reputation in the eyes of others.
When I started on this road 35 years ago, diplomatic relations were conducted in a more confined space and with a narrow enough focus on international political topics. At that time, diplomats engaged primarily with other diplomats and rarely spoke in public. Now we are the eyes and ears of Ireland around the world, but also a voice for the message we wish to convey to overseas audiences. Our work today has a sharp economic focus.
My affinity with new ways of pursuing old ends goes back to a conference of Irish Ambassadors in 2011 when one of our speakers told us that we would go the way of the dinosaurs if we did not adapt to the new opportunities offered by social media. Sheepishly, I asked a younger colleague about Twitter and decided to dip my feet, nervously at first, into this new world.
When I arrived in Iveagh House in 1978, it was home to an Information Section that published an impressive magazine, Ireland Today, which carried excellent pieces on Irish topics, mainly literary and cultural, but I wonder how many readers it reached. Today, most of our embassies are active on Twitter and we can build communities of people with an interest in what we do, and can communicate with them instantly and inexpensively. Social media comes into its own in particular during crises when we can communicate in real time with citizens – and hear back from them.
For my part, I am not seeking to goad, entertain or startle my followers. I simply want to deepen their understanding of Ireland and of our particular points of view on key issues. I employ Twitter to engage with the substantial Irish community in Britain, to promote our exports, tourism and inward investment, to influence British audiences on issues of relevance to Ireland and to share insights that will serve to enhance our standing in British eyes as a valuable partner with which the UK has an interdependent relationship. I am probably less adventurous than Tom Fletcher was as British ambassador in Beirut, where he resorted to sending open letters to the Lebanese people. I have not done that – yet!
Last year I tweeted a daily quote from WB Yeats to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth and this year I have blogged and tweeted about the Easter Rising, seeking to promote better awareness in Britain of the distinctive dynamic of our modern history. When I laid a wreath for the first time at London’s Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday 2014, the tweet I posted afterwards was seen by some 80,000 people.
In the run-up to the UK’s recent referendum, I sought to address the issues involved on social media on a daily basis. My aim was to convey our government’s apprehensions about the potential impact of Brexit for Irish-UK relations.
I am absolutely clear that activity on social media is just another means to an end. It augments but cannot replace more traditional methods. No social media initiative can substitute for visits by the Taoiseach, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other Ministers, who can connect with the British system at the highest political levels.
Nor can a tweet match a conversation with a politician or a senior official that can help throw light on British thinking on key issues, or during which we can explain our views face to face. For that reason, our Embassy devotes considerable attention to cultivating influential contacts in Westminster and Whitehall. Next month I will attend each of the main party conferences, seeking to deepen our understanding of the political debate surrounding the Brexit issue and explaining our specific concerns with regard to trade, the need to maintain an open border in Ireland and the common travel area.
Furthermore, a message on social media cannot match positive coverage of Ireland in the mainstream media, which is why we pay considerable attention to developing our interaction with key journalists and media organisations.
In Ireland’s case, we are not seeking to project power but to advance our economic recovery by promoting trade, tourism and investment, and to maximise our influence – within the EU, as a member of the UN and as part of the global community of nations. Hard power (whose utility tends in any case to be overestimated) can never be a recourse of ours. Ireland’s tools in international affairs are the quality of the arguments we can bring to the table as a member of the EU, our commitment to the UN and its peacekeeping operations and our development aid programme. For a country of our size, we are fortunate to be well-endowed with soft power resources – our literature, our theatre, our traditional culture and the global spread of our people.
But we live in a world of almost 200 nation states, all of whom vie for advantage in their international activities. This means we need to be smart and use all of the resources available to us in order to make our voice heard above the cacophony of today’s world.
Fletcher summarises the qualities required by a diplomat as “courage, curiosity and tact”, to which I would add persistence because peace (as with most other things worth having) “comes dropping slow”. There are no easy or overnight solutions to the world’s problems. They require dedicated, disciplined, focused effort – and, in my view, an up-to-date, fully-clothed diplomacy!
