UNIVERSITÉ PARIS SORBONNE ENA
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences de l’Information et de la communication
Ecole Nationale d’Administration
Master Professionnel 2e année
Option : COMMUNICATION DES INSTITUTIONS PUBLIQUES
“Digital Diplomacy in India: Virtual networks, Real gains”
Nom et Prénom : Soodan Sarvjeet
Promotion : George Orwell
Option : Communication des Institutions Publiques
Soutenu le : 23 septembre 2016
Mention :
Note du Mémoire :
Acknowledgements:
I would first like to thank Ms. Boursin, professor, CELSA UNIVERSITY, Paris Sorbonne for her guidance and support.
Thanks are also due to the staff of Ecole Nationale d’Administration, most of all, Ms. Blaison for her constant availability regarding all our queries and doubts.
My colleagues in diplomacy, who took time to respond to my survey despite their hectic schedules deserve a special mention.
Last, but not the least, my friends and family, whose love and motivation keeps me going in all my pursuits.
Sarvjeet Soodan
List of the graphs and charts used
Part I
The active social media presence of Indian diplomacy Page 22 Screenshots (3) showing MEA app and services provided by the ministry Page 24 Digital Diplomacy Review 2016 Top 10 countries Page 25 Most Followed Leaders 2016 (No. of Followers) on Twitter Page 26 Narendra Modi’s most retweeted tweet and fourth by any leader Page 27 Most Effective World Leaders 2016 on Twitter Page 28 Modi’s Twitter Audit Report Page 29 Obama’s Twitter Audit Report Page 30 Most Listed World Leaders 2016 on Twitter Page 31 Part II
Make in India logo Page 38 Rescue in Yemen- Scale of Operations and its Success Page 42 Part III
Pie Chart showing how the extent of social media as perceived by diplomats Page 47
Graph showing utility of social media in consular/crisis diplomacy Page 48 Graph showing utility of social media in economic and commercial diplomacy Page 48
Graph showing utility of social media in cultural diplomacy Page 49 Graph showing utility of social media in political diplomacy Page 49 Graph depicting advantages of using social media Page 50 Graph depicting the results/effects of increased social media use Page 52 Pie Chart showing the greatest success of digital diplomacy Page 53
Graph showing various recommendations regarding use of social media
made by the diplomats and leaders Page 54 Graph showing foreign policy goals that can be achieved through social media
Page 55
Pie chart depicting reactions to the developments in Communication Technology Page 56
Best social media platforms Page 56 List of networks used by MFAs to build their social presence Page 57 Pie Chart showing the various platforms used by the Indian diplomats Page 58 Top Active Social Platforms in India Page 59 Digital in India- showing key digital statistical indicators Page 60 Social Media Use- Monthly active user numbers on the most active platform
Page 61
Pie Chart showing obstacles to success of digital diplomacy in India Page 62 Facebook User Profile- Detail of Facebook users by age group and gender
Page 66
INTRODUCTION ... 7
Part 1: The Rise, Scope and the Potential of digital diplomacy and mapping its spread in India: ... 11
1.1 Changing face of Diplomacy ... 11
1.1.1 Changing Audience and Actors ...11
1.1.2 Changing Subjects and Priorities ...12
1.1.3 Changing Methods and Means ...13
1.2 Public Diplomacy ...13
1.3 The Global Rise of Digital Diplomacy ... 14
1.4 Growth of Public Diplomacy in India: ... 17
1.4.1 The reasons for having a dedicated branch in Ministry of External Affairs: ...17
1.5 The Digital Diplomacy boom in India – Background, Facts and figures: ... 20
Partial Conclusion of Part I: ... 32
Part II Diplomatic aspirations of India – Past, Present and Future ... 34
2.1 Cultural Diplomacy ... 35
2.1.1 International Day of Yoga ...36
2.1.2 Cultural festivals in foreign countries ...37
2.2 Economic Diplomacy... 37
2.2.1 Make in India ...38
2.3 Consular Diplomacy ... 39
2.4 Political Diplomacy ... 41
Partial conclusion of part II: ... 43
PART III Digital Diplomacy: Hopes and fears-an insider analysis ... 45
3.1 Analysis of the survey results: ...46
3.1.1 The extent of social media use by different agencies of the Government of India, involved in diplomatic work: ...46
3.1.2 The utility of social media for different diplomatic objectives viz traditional (political) diplomacy, economic and commercial diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and for consular services and crises situations. ...47
3.1.3 Most important advantage of social media ...49
3.1.4 The most remarkable results produced by the increased use of social media over the last five years: 50 3.1.5 The greatest digital diplomacy success so far: ...52
3.1.6 Recommendations regarding the use of social media by diplomats and political leaders? .53 3.1.7 Foreign policy goals India can achieve by mobilizing world public opinion through social media. 54 3.1.8 Reactions to developments in communications technologies and interpretations of their implications for diplomacy. ...55
3.1.9 What are the obstacles to the success of digital diplomacy in India? ...59
3.2 Important observations and suggestions: ... 62
Partial conclusion of Part III ... 67
Final Conclusion ... 68
Annex ... 73
Bibliography ... 78
Abstract 82 Keys Words ...82
INTRODUCTION
I. Presentation of the subject:
“Diplomacy is the established method of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence”.1 Historically, diplomacy meant the conduct of official (usually bilateral) relations between sovereign states, but like any other art or science, over time, it evolved significantly in its methods and practices. By the 20th century, the multilateral diplomacy took centrestage. The two world wars, the prelude to them and their aftermath were the greatest experiments in the conduct of multilateral diplomacy in the modern times.
Another very significant change that occurred in the practice of diplomacy in 20th century was the involvement of public in the domain of diplomacy. Diplomacy, hitherto a domain confined only to official business between governments of the sovereign states breached the confines of this definition. Direct communication between the government of one country and the population of another, which so far was considered as a breach of sovereignty took centrestage. The so called public diplomacy got a shot in the arm with the invention of radio. But, the real watershed moment came with the mainstreaming of internet and the rise of what we call the Digital Diplomacy.
The foreign ministries across the world are competing with each other as far as adoption of digital technologies is concerned, but still there is no complete clarity over its definition. For the purpose of this study, digital diplomacy shall be considered primarily as the use of social media to reach out to domestic and foreign populations for the same age old objectives of diplomacy. It’s simply a change of means to the same end.
1 Definition given by Encyclopedia Britannica https://global.britannica.com/topic/diplomacy
India is a country of 1.3 billion people, which has added about 100 million internet users to the worldwide internet users’ population in 2016 which constitutes about 34.8% of the total number.2 Narendra Modi, the then three-time chief minister of an important Indian state, Gujarat saw enormous potential in the power of these numbers and consequently, in the potential of social media to mobilise them. He won the election to the highest office in the largest democracy in the world powered by his prudent use of social media as a tool of election campaign. But, he did not stop there.
In his inaugural address as the Prime Minister, after taking oath Modi said “I am a firm believer in the power of technology and social media to communicate with people across the world. I hope this platform creates opportunities to listen, learn, and share each other’s views.” Social media has been an important part of his governing style. The most interesting and impressive is the way the present Government of India is using social media to enhance the image of India in the international arena like celebrating June 21 as International Day of Yoga. Digital Diplomacy has become the primary tool of cashing on India’s soft power.
II. Personal and Professional Interests in the subject:
The present era is an era of a very sharp focus on the use of digital diplomacy by various agencies in India which most prominently include the foreign office and the Prime Minister’s office. Prime Minister Modi is the third most followed political leader in the world after United States president Barack Obama and Pope Francis.3 India’s External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj is the most followed female political personality on Twitter. There is a climate of social indulgence by the foreign ministry of India. This diplomatic outreach is not confined to foreign audience but also to the people of Indian origin amounting to more than 300 million across the world.4 According to a survey conducted by UN Department of Economic and Social affairs, India has the largest diaspora population in the world. As a citizen of India, I am
2 Internet Users by Country(2016); Internet Live Stats www.InternetLiveStats.com
Elaboration of data by International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Population Division, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), World Bank.
3 Twiplomacy Study,2016.
4 “India and its Diaspora” Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. 2012-10-18.
deeply intrigued by this active engagement with the public, which has been unprecedented in the history of modern India.
On the professional front, being a diplomat, it is in my prime interest to understand the intricacies of what is going to be my job for the next almost thirty years as a career diplomat. This study, I believe shall help me and perhaps many more of my colleagues to understand the changing dynamics of the diplomacy and where and how do we figure into it. It should in many ways equip us not just to adopt but also to innovate this modern tool of digital diplomacy in our hands.
III. Problematique and Hypotheses:
Problematique:
Whether the digital diplomacy will bring tangible political and economic benefits.
(Case study: India)
Hypotheses:
i. This phenomenon will increase the visibility of brand India and thus improve its international image.
ii. It is expected to bring greater political and economic benefits in the long run.
IV. Methodology:
Digital diplomacy is à la mode. It is being discussed all around. In some ways, it is the only form of diplomacy which is completely unclassified and participative. So, all the discourses on its functioning and utility are in public domain and are actively debated upon. Thus, although a relatively new realm of study, there is a decent amount of material available online. So, my first and foremost source of information has been the internet and enormous amount of information it provides.
The fact that I am a serving career diplomat accommodates my access to information and the conversations on digital diplomacy in a much wider and deeper manner. I contacted the Digital Diplomacy Division in the Ministry of External Affairs
from time to time to get all relevant information about Indian efforts in this domain.
We have very active forums on Google groups and Facebook where we often discuss and debate the virtues and vices, the functions and futilities of this modern iteration of Diplomacy.
Apart from these, the most interesting and powerful of my methods has been a survey I conducted with about 80 of my colleagues in Indian Foreign Service asking them pertinent questions about the challenges and opportunities that digital diplomacy offers in the current Indian scenario. It must be noted that this number comprise more than 10 % of the total strength of the Indian Foreign Service which is the feeder service for career diplomats. Thus, this was relatively a large sample size comprising of diplomats ranging from senior ambassadors to the young language trainees. The survey threw up some very exciting results and interesting observations.
V. Plan of the dissertation:
The dissertation will be divided into three parts. In the first part, I will try to understand the evolution of the concept and practice of digital diplomacy in the global context. This chapter will also deal with adoption of digital diplomacy by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and the recent impetus on it.
The second chapter will analyze the ways Indian Government is making the most of digital diplomacy in the current scenario and what might be the possible objectives in the long run.
The third and final chapter will give an insider view about what the Indian diplomats think about all this in an honest and candid manner. Their unbiased and
‘undiplomatic’ observations will provide an insight into the effectiveness and utility of digital diplomacy.
Part 1: The Rise, Scope and the Potential of digital diplomacy and mapping its spread in India:
Diplomacy, like any art or science can be evaluated on the basis of the means it employs and the ends it wishes to achieve. The ends of diplomacy have not changed much from the way Sun Tzu described it in 500 BC in his The Art of War, where the need to know oneself and your enemy was the key to any intervention outside of your borders; where rapidity and deception were the ingredients for taking your opponent by surprise. While the fundamentals of diplomacy stay the same, there have been subtle changes in the ways it is conducted. Diplomacy has come a long way from the bow tied well-dressed diplomats interacting with the power elite of a country within the closed doors, to the present times where open, quick and interactive discussions are in vogue.
1.1 Changing face of Diplomacy
What diplomacy aims to achieve for any nation is to increase its say or influence in international relations through ‘saam, daam, dhand, bhed’, which means by advising, buying, punishing or exploiting the secrets. These words by Chanakya said in 4th century BC still makes a lot of sense. Diplomacy as much as it may appear rosy through the eyes of Facebook and Twitter pages of diplomatic outposts, continues to have its grey shades doing rounds in the classified documents and cryptic messages. The dynamics of diplomacy can be categorized in the following manner:
1.1.1 Changing Audience and Actors
In the 21st century, the modern-day state is increasingly interconnected and subject to many interdependencies and alliances across societies. Non-state actors
are becoming more influential in the domain of international policy-making, once the exclusive preserve of professional diplomats. A number of contemporary participants in diplomacy are not even “agents” or “intermediaries” in the traditional diplomatic sense of carrying out orders and implementing policy. The engagement ranges from the Heads of states engaging in negotiations and other forms of diplomacy in summit meetings to a connected common person on street who can tweet or upload her vision of statecraft. As it is often said as an ode to power of social media, streetcraft has become the new statecraft.
1.1.2 Changing Subjects and Priorities
The subject matter of diplomacy, too, has vastly expanded. For centuries, diplomacy was primarily concerned with matters of war and peace and the use of force in matters encompassing high politics and strategic interests. These matters are of course still prominent, and now include questions of international security, but a vast variety of other matters have been added to the diplomatic agenda, pertaining to the economy, technology, scientific developments, education, the arts, law, and so much more.
There is virtually no aspect of life in society that has not, at one time or another, been on the diplomatic agenda. Interdependence and Globalization have greatly contributed to this development. Many issues that once were primarily domestic, such as human rights, are now of international concern and of relevance to diplomacy.
Aside from representation, communication, negotiation, observation of the political situation abroad, and reporting, the diplomatic personnel in our age of mass communication must engage in a good deal of public relations.5
Embassies must serve the needs of an expanding contingent of their fellow citizens traveling and working abroad. All of these developments have brought diplomacy far from the confines of traditional embassies in national capitals. Diplomacy retains many of its basic characteristics, but it has undergone significant changes.
5 Leguey-Feilleux, J.-R. (2008) The dynamics of diplomacy. Available at:
https://www.rienner.com/uploads/48e3ce00314fb.pdf (Accessed: 11 September 2016).
1.1.3 Changing Methods and Means
The changing character of diplomacy is more in terms of the changing ways in which states and other international actors communicate, negotiate, and otherwise interact. Face to face communication, diplomatic cables, telephone, radio, television, internet and social media. Diplomacy, quite understandably has utilized all the means that the technology of that era equipped it with. Three world events in the 1920′s and 30′s altered the definition and practice of diplomacy. The first was the widespread use and immense popularity of the radio. The second was the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Nazi’s rise to power in 1933 and the third was the use made by both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks of the radio in order to propagate revolutions in neighboring countries. Both Russia and Germany spoke directly to the populations of neighboring nations thereby circumventing their respective governments. And then was born the genre of Public Diplomacy.
1.2 Public Diplomacy
While direct communication of a Government with the populace of the other country was regarded as a breach of sovereignty in early 20th century, the world wars changed it all. The invention and mainstreaming of radio dealt a death knell to such sacrosanct compartmentalization between my people and your people. The Governments were now talking directly to the Governments of other countries and trying to influence their decisions. This led to the rise of public diplomacy.
Public diplomacy is an effective means of influencing the foreign public by cajoling or coercing them. Very often, the misinformation, rumors and discontent against the incumbent regime is disseminated to weaken the regime and force a change. Thus, it may be inferred that to understand the recent focus on the phenomenon of digital diplomacy, it is essential to underline the emergence of public diplomacy and how it changed the contours of the diplomacy.
Public Diplomacy in its earliest version was utilized more for undermining the foreign governments by spreading mistrust and discontent amongst the local populations. But, very soon, it adopted a more ‘diplomatic’ approach in the literal
sense of the word. Now, the focus is more about creating a positive image of your country and culture amongst the foreign public. This approach is called Nation Branding. Very simply, it means applying corporate branding techniques to countries.6 Thus, public diplomacy has been extensively used for creating a positive climate amongst foreign populations in order to facilitate the acceptance of one’s policies. Following the revolutions of the 1920′s and 30′s, numerous countries began to practice Public Diplomacy. France sent cultural attaché’s to its embassies abroad, the United States established the Voice of America radio station and the BBC’s world service began broadcasting in a variety of languages. As the Cold War intensified, direct communication with the opponent’s population was perceived to be just as important as the size of one’s nuclear arsenal.
Yet as the 20th century came to end, a new form of diplomacy known as Digital Diplomacy began to emerge. Digital diplomacy was to be proven as the most potent tool of public diplomacy so far.
1.3 The Global Rise of Digital Diplomacy
First described in 2001, Digital Diplomacy is presently the talk of the town in the corridors of International Diplomacy. Digital innovations are revolutionizing the institutionalized modes of communication. Foreign Ministries of the the world are are re-evaluating their roles in conduct of diplomacy. Digital Diplomacy is loosely defined as the growing use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and social media platforms in the conduct of Public Diplomacy.
There are strong debates on the use and significance of digital diplomacy.
There are digiphiles, who strongly believe in the potential of information and communication technologies to connect to a large number of people with relative ease. There are also the skeptics, who detest the hype given to it and strongly endorse that diplomacy continues to be a serious government to government business and excessive social media engagement is counter productive.
6 http://www.cfr.org/diplomacy-and-statecraft/nation-branding-explained/p14776
It is worth appreciating, though that Digital Diplomacy has given birth to a dialogue, which could replace the monologue of Public Diplomacy. Such two-way communication offers more opportunities for engagement with foreign publics, engagement that may facilitate the creation of relationships between one country and the population of another. Radio and television, the breakthrough tools of public diplomacy had already provided two essential components of diplomacy – the speed and the reach. Digital diplomacy adds another important dimension that is exchange.
The instant feedback and the possibility of a two-way communication has taken diplomacy out of the elite closed door circles and its now being discussed on the streets.
Thus, if we have to furnish an all-inclusive definition of digital diplomacy, we need to incorporate the views of two prominent schools of thoughts. The first claims that it is a new tool in the conduct of Public Diplomacy. Others maintain that it increases the ability to interact with foreign publics and actively engage with them thereby enabling the transition from monologue to dialogue. So perhaps the best definition of Digital Diplomacy would incorporate both perspectives and state that:
Digital Diplomacy is the growing use of ICTs and social media platforms by a country in order to achieve its foreign policy goals and practice Public Diplomacy.7
Numerous terms have been coined to describe these innovations in diplomatic practice. The abundance of more or less overlapping definitions confuses the debate on the policy agendas of the new forms of diplomacy. A conceptualization of digital diplomacy is therefore badly needed, both by the practitioners and scholars of digital diplomacy. Digital diplomacy incorporates various policy domains, such as digitalized public diplomacy, e-governance, networked diplomacy and, arguably, cyber- diplomacy.
The common denominator of the policy domains associated with digital diplomacy is their use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), in some way or another. Digital diplomacy is, however, more than a set of overlapping functional domains. Rather, it provides a framework to conceptualize innovations to the functions, capabilities and organization of diplomacy. Nevertheless, a more limiting interpretation of digital diplomacy may be considered more suitable for other debates.
7 https://digdipblog.com/countries-on-twitter-and-facebook/
The actual interpretation often depends on the institutional and cultural baggage of the actors in digital diplomacy.
As argued above, digital diplomacy is often equated with public diplomacy but also includes a number of other perspectives:
I. Changing foreign policy agendas: with issues of speed, less control over events and agendas; and with work processes and organizational structures adapted to networked diplomacy in the digital age.
II. Knowledge management: the problem of managing data – including big data - effectively and using resources to best effect.
III. Service delivery: utilizing digital resources in performing consular work and crisis management.
IV. Cyber agendas: digital diplomacy as a set of negotiating problems and scenarios:
for example, Internet freedom, Internet governance and cybersecurity.8
The broader context of diplomatic change and adaptation needs to be analyzed at two levels: diplomatic processes, geared towards the functions of diplomacy, and diplomatic structures, paying special attention to institutions of diplomacy such as foreign ministries.
The most common understanding of digital diplomacy and which is at the core of this study is the use of social media for pursuing diplomatic interests. Social media which has fueled the modern day revolutions, has given unprecedented power and legitimacy to non-state actors and is continuously evolving and innovating. The digital disruption, as we call it, has both negative and positive effects. One can love it or hate it but cannot escape it. Those who do not step on this new vehicle of diplomacy will be rendered outdated and obsolete. India was quick to realize this fact.
8
https://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Digital_Diplomacy_in_the_Digital%20Age_Clingendael_July2015 .pdf
1.4 Growth of Public Diplomacy in India:
Indian Public Diplomacy conceptually speaking goes back to the days of Chanakya who advocated the quality of listening as one of the most important attributes of an ideal king. Listening to the people on a day-to-day basis continues to be a very important part of Public Diplomacy in the 21st century.
Ministry of External Affairs of India set up its Public Diplomacy Division in 2006 to advance India's conversations with the world. It had the mandate to face the challenges posed by this rapidly changing global environment. Its role included, inter alia, the production of print and audio-visual material to enable the missions abroad to project the diverse facets of India more effectively. The focus of Indian Public Diplomacy has been on communicating India's raison d'être of its foreign policy decisions as well as traditionally branding India globally by producing documentaries, films, coffee-table books etcetera.
1.4.1 The reasons for having a dedicated branch in Ministry of External Affairs:
There was a plethora of factors that nurtured the growth of public diplomacy in India.
These included:
I. Strong Economy: Early twenty first century was a time, when the whole world started looking at India with a renewed interest. A vibrant democracy, a strong young workforce termed as demographic dividend and a consistent high growth rate even when whole of the world was grappling with financial crises.
These were the traits difficult to ignore. India on its own was a more confident nation who could slowly think of expanding its influence beyond its neighborhood and traditional allies. This, according to many Indians was the time to reclaim the past glory of the world’s oldest civilization.
II. Unparalleled soft power: Joe Nye’s seminal work on soft power has contributed to a new awareness of the potential to deploy this asset in pursuit of foreign policy objectives. In contrast to the coercive nature of hard power, soft power describes the use of positive attraction and persuasion to achieve
foreign policy objectives. In short, “hard power is push; soft power is pull”.
Joseph Nye, the originator of the concept, initially set out three primary sources of soft power as he developed the concept. Nye’s three pillars of soft power are: political values, culture, and foreign policy.9 It is an area in which India is unusually well endowed. The idea of India—an ancient civilization that nurtures a vibrant democracy, the secular ethos and a rapidly growing economy—is a powerful one. Cinema, dance, music, literature, yoga, Ayurveda, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and even the IT industry constitute a formidable array of soft power assets; each of these contributes in its own way to the attractiveness of India to global audiences. The success of the Incredible India tourism campaign played an important role in promoting Brand India – phrase being used to describe the campaign carried out by India to attract business and portraying India as a lucrative destination for investment.
The path to achieve this great power status had to be in conciliation with the Indian culture of peace and non-violence. India aimed to win the world not just through trade and politics, but through "soft" power, its ability to share its culture with the world through food, music, technology, Bollywood. As Shashi Tharoor, Indian writer and parliamentarian argues, “In long run it's not the size of the army that matters as much as a country's ability to influence the world's hearts and minds”.
In the words of Indian diplomat, Mr. Navdeep Suri, Social media is the best tool to exploit Indian soft power—a Zulu in South Africa who has become a skilled exponent of the Kathak, an Indian traditional dance form, a Senegalese group that belts out Bollywood numbers at a club, an Indian-themed soap on Brazilian TV, a Syrian scholar who has translated the epic Mahabharata into Arabic—the list is endless. PD professionals often consider Web 2.0 a godsend tool for public diplomacy and have been quick to embrace and deploy a wide array of tools.
Ironically, India does not figure in the Portland’s Soft 30 index of thirty countries with maximum soft power. This underlines the fact that we have not yet properly used the
9 http://softpower30.portland-communications.com/
immense possibilities that exist. An incessant social media campaign might well do the trick.
III. The domestic front: The growing interplay between foreign policy issues and domestic constituencies pointed to the need for a more informed discourse on these issues. Creating a space for conversations and narratives about real work involving real persons in the foreign policy space is not propaganda. It is public diplomacy trying to amplify actual stories in a way that they provide a countervailing narrative to the dominant theme of negativism. And it needs a change in our mindset, a paradigm shift from our ‘Need to Know’ tradition to a ‘Need to Share’ approach where we consciously devote time and effort to sharing details of some of the work that we do.
The PD Division stepped into the void by launching its MEA Distinguished Lecture Series on India’s Foreign Policy in February 2010.
IV. Powerful Indian Diaspora: “The Indian Diaspora is a generic term to describe the people who migrated from territories that are currently within the borders of the Republic of India. It also refers to their descendants. The Diaspora is currently estimated to number over twenty-five million”.10 Remittances to India that is the money transfers from Non-resident Indians (NRIs), employed outside the country to family, friends or relatives in India accounted for US$72.2 billion in 2015, which is about over 4% of the country's GDP India is the world's leading recipient of remittances, claiming more than 12% of the world's remittances in 2015.11
The success story of Indian diaspora cannot and should not be measured only in the term of their economic worth but also the political weight they hold all around the world, in much the same way the Jewish diaspora in the US influences international opinion and policy on Israel.
In recent years, the Government of India has made a concerted effort to harness the energy and assets of Indian communities around the world and the social media has become a very potent tool for the same.
10 As per the website http://indiandiaspora.nic.in/
11 “Remittances from Indian Diaspora on the rise”. The Economic Times. Feb 19, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
The consular services especially in the crises situations around the world have been accentuated by means of social media, thus providing a helping hand to the diaspora. The efforts of ministry in this regard have been widely appreciated.
V. Incidental Reasons: In the words of one of the pioneers of digital diplomacy in India, Ambassador Navdeep Suri, “The most significant achievement over the last few years is that very few within the Ministry now doubt the power of digital tools in general, or social media in particular, to be a game changer.
This is a long way from the era when social media was blocked in South Block12. The use of Twitter was popularized in the government circles by then Minister of State for External Affairs, who ran into many controversies owing to his outspoken comments on certain issues. But, controversy is better than oblivion and although the minister had to resign, the Ministry of External Affairs debuted on Twitter.
Another very important step in this direction was the debut of then Foreign Secretary, Ms. Nirupama Rao on Twitter. This opened all the doors. As the queries related to consular matters started flowing in to Foreign Secretary, the erstwhile Assistant Secretary in Consular Passport and Visa Division of Ministry was asked to open a Twitter account followed by the spokesperson of the Ministry. They were not left with a choice.
1.5 The Digital Diplomacy boom in India – Background, Facts and figures:
The victory of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in the general elections of 2014 is attributed to many factors. The conventional socio-political parameters that influence and shape the public opinion in a democratic society, being kept aside, one factor that distinctly stood out, was the extensive use of social media for his campaign. It was a campaign as never seen before in the history of India. Modi digitally reached every nook and corner of India. In a country of more than a billion people, this outreach was unprecedented and enormous. Modi took away all the available campaign space. There was nothing left for anybody else to have.
12 the seat of Ministry of External Affairs in India like Quai d’Orsay in Paris
India has very low digital literacy and even the people who use the cellphones, WhatsApp and other social media, barely understand it. During election campaign all these people, at the end of a hard day’s work would receive a phone call from the prospective Prime Minister of the country promising them ‘Achhey Din’ (Better times).
They were recorded voice messages or text or voice messages on WhatsApp, but they had a telling effect on those innocent ignorant minds. It was like an epiphany for them. A voice coming from the heavens.
In India, like in most of the engaging democracies of the World, we reserve our deepest gratitude and our most vitriolic rancor for our politicians. The demi god like status which politicians sometime acquire in India and then receiving a call from them on your personal number was like a divine call. It impacted the mindset of the voter. It crystallized the public opinion in his favor.
When Modi came into power, he strongly advocated this policy of connecting with people through the use of social media. All ministries, many of them hitherto socially shy, were soon running against each other to make their presence felt on the social media.
The Ministry of External Affairs, who has been one of the pioneers in the digital space in Indian government went full throttle, under the new regime. Modi believes in applying his local policies on national and international level. He started as the chief minister of one of the states of India and used his experience to a great success at the national level. Now, he was thinking even further. He believed that his victory in elections and even his earlier active use of social media as CM, has helped him change his image and also to capture the empty space on the mental maps of the people.
Indian diplomatic engagement with the public both Indian and foreign has increased by leaps and bounds in the recent years, coinciding with the ascent to power of Prime Minister Modi.
The following graphic shows the active social media presence of Indian diplomacy.
Source: http://digital.diplomacy.live/mfa-digital-diplomacy-atlas/
The digital presence of the Ministry has grown exponentially in the recent times. The numbers really speak for themselves.
On Facebook, the Ministry's page and the Indian Diplomacy page collectively account for 2 million plus followers.
Ministry’s official spokesperson’s official twitter handle (@MEAIndia) approaches 900,000 followers, and the @IndianDiplomacy handle follows close behind at 763,000. All these growths, as confirmed by the ministry officials have been the organic growth (as opposed to paid promotions).
On YouTube, minutes watched of MEA and ID videos have crossed 83 million and subscription to the channels are around 45,000.
MEA has a presence also on Google+, SoundCloud and Flickr. Earlier this year, MEA entered Instagram, and has already crossed 20000 followers.
Just in terms of pure numbers it’s a collective followership exceeding 4 million (excluding that of the Missions and Posts) and weekly impressions (views, profile visits, etc.) is usually five times of this number that is about 20 Million.
Almost all Indian Missions and Posts are on Facebook and Twitter, and have standardized and verified the accounts under the "India in" label that amounts to a total of 165 Missions and Posts on Twitter and 172 on Facebook.
The Missions' social media outreach has really grown - reaching out with innovative videos, graphics and competitions. Some FB accounts are well past the 100 000 mark. So for everything from passports services (all Passport Offices are on Twitter, guided by @MEAQuery and @CPVIndia) to crises situations (From Libya in 2011, to South Sudan in 2016), and consular queries, to the active exhibition of India’s soft power, the potential of social media is being effectively used.
In this ever confusing and ever innovating world of social media, there is a need for an easy management of a number of social media accounts of the ministry of external affairs and to achieve a practical convergence, the MEA app and related Facebook app, giving a full access to the complete digital presence of MEA has been designed. (Screenshots on the next page)
Screenshots (3) showing MEA app and services provided by the ministry
An engagement of such length and depth has put India on top in the world digital diplomacy rankings, second only to few European countries and the United States of America. Digital Diplomacy Review 2016 (#DDR16), which is an
assessment of 1098 digital diplomacy assets used by 210 MFAs worldwide is realized by using both qualitative and quantitative data produced by MFAs.13
13 http://digital.diplomacy.live/
Prime Minister Modi is the third most popular world leader after President Obama and the Pope. Considering that the Pope’s account as shown below totals his account in nine languages, Modi practically ranks two, if we take one account at a time. Similarly, if we add up PM Modi’s two accounts @NarendraModi (personal account) and @PMOIndia (official account), again he ranks number two. In this scenario, by next year, when Obama steps down as president, he may well be the most popular world leader. In the following graphic, it is also worth mentioning that India’s Minister for External Affairs, Ms. Sushma Swaraj who presently ranks number nine after having overtaken President of Mexico, Nieto, is the most followed female leader in the world.
Among the foreign ministries, the U.S. State Department (@StateDept) is the most followed with over 3.3 million followers on its multiple language accounts, ahead of the Indian Diplomacy with over 1.5 million followers on its two accounts.
The Turkish (@TC_Disisleri), the Russian (@MID_RF) and the French (@FranceDiplo) foreign ministries complete the Top 5 with more than 1 million followers each.
Twenty-two world leaders have seen some of their tweets retweeted more than 20,000 times, reflecting major announcements and historic events. Examples include @NarendraModi’s election tweet “India has won!”. It is the most retweeted Indian tweet ever and the fourth most retweeted tweet by any leader in the history of twitter.
Amongst the list of most effective leaders, which in this study by “Twiplomacy”
is on the basis of number of retweets, Indian Prime Minister ranks at a decent six.
This effectively estimates the reach of your message. It measures, how far and wide you can reach your audience and also how quickly. Remember that this is the direct information coming from you and is not the analysis of a newspaper or magazine. So, this is the raw information, which is transferred, the way you want it.
Retweets and likes to one’s tweet can be one way of finding the impact of a message but another potent way is finding out the profile of the people, who are actually following you and retweeting. The quality of followers on social media gives a lot of authenticity to a profile. However, it is understandable that in case of political leaders there will always be a huge number of profiles which are either fake or inactive as depicted through the analyses by Twitter Audit Score.
Twitter Audit Report (https://www.twitteraudit.com/)
Twitter audit reports of Modi and Obama show striking similarity in the sense that there will always be a huge proportion of fake and inactive followers. This holds true for almost all major world leaders and thus cannot be termed as a criticism.
Another sign of Twitter popularity is the number of times an account appears on a Twitter list. This is one statistic that is hard to fake and early Twitter adopters are the clear favorites. @BarackObama is the most-listed world leader, appearing on 215,002 Twitter lists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in spite of starting very late is catching up pretty fast.
Source: Burson-Marsteller's Twiplomacy study 2016
The Public Diplomacy Division in the Ministry of External Affairs has been doing an impressive job by staying up to date with the most recent innovations. In order to make the content eye catching and attractive, they keep trying new things like this new form of the video - not the traditional documentary, but the short snappy 'docu-mercial' – a blend of documentary and commercial, e.g., the documercial done during the PM Modi’s visit to Belgium on the Devasthal Optical telescope got a lot of attention.
Short catchy animations like the one on PM Modi’s South Africa visit and explanatory videos like the one clarifying the position of Ministry of External Affairs on
the image of MEA depicted in a commercial Bollywood movie are some of the innovative and new ways of interacting with the common man.
For an audience with decreasing attention spans and increasing visual appetites, the dilemma is how to find the balance between attractive content that adds value without 'dumbing down'. Of course, videos bring with it additional burdens - finances, turnaround times, but each with its own solutions. Videos have been extensively used in traditional events like the Press Conference - e.g., putting EAM's Annual Presser on Facebook Live this year, viewed by around 58,000, with a reach in excess of 1.2 million, and regular Facebook Live Press Briefings, apart from live streaming content on YouTube.
Apart from these social networking apparatuses which are in the public eye.
MEA Officials make a very productive use of social media with in the professional circles for enhancing their productivity. Intranet servers for quick exchange of relevant information, division specific or event specific WhatsApp groups for real time communication, google sheets for collaborative working are the other tools of social media used abundantly by the diplomats.
Partial Conclusion of Part I:
Digital diplomacy, the newest avatar of diplomacy is best manifested through the use of social media. The speed, the reach and the quality of communication is unprecedented. There is real time feedback and the messages multiply exponentially. Social media is as much as a means of speaking to the people as it is one to listen to them.
Social media has given everybody a voice. It is the real democratization of opinion. Everyone has an opinion and everyone often gives a judgement on everything as depicted in the cartoon below.
The governments around the world are conscious of this fact. They have to use it in a constructive manner to achieve their domestic and diplomatic objectives.
The Government of India is also conscious of this reality and aims to score big in this game of numbers.
We have to realize that India is a country, which is hard to be beaten in numbers. These numbers are not just 1.3 billion native Indians but also more than 25 million and generally very influential Indian diaspora. The strategy of the Modi Government is to harness the power hidden behind these numbers. it can also lay claim to the largest cadre of unofficial ambassadors. This diaspora has influenced various layers of culture in societies across the globe.
Modiplomacy, if we may call it is the synergistic effect produced by the personal appeal and charisma of Prime Minister Modi, that attracts thousands of people to his public meetings outside India along with his enormous following on social media. This creates an impact that is unprecedented in the history of modern India.
Part II Diplomatic aspirations of India – Past, Present and Future
Diplomatic aspirations of a nation are determined not by wishful thinking but a series of important factors like its history and geography, economic and military strength, technological prowess and cultural richness amongst many others. All these factors collectively instill a sense of national pride which puts a nation on the quest of its rightful place in the world.
India, the long standing mystic land of the orient had intrigued the west for long. The music and the dance, the culture and the civilization, the diversity and the expanse, the riches and the poverty, everything was magnetic for the outside world. India, always had, what Joseph Nye described as soft power. India had this charm long before the diplomats started defining and measuring it. It has stayed on with India for ages. These symbols of soft power have also become sort of clichéd, in the sense that India today is much more than what it was some 50 years back.
Just after independence, India was economically a very poor country, completely sucked of its resources by a long excruciating colonial rule of over 300 years. When British came to India, Britain had 2% of world GDP and India 20% however, when they left in 1947, it was the other way round.14 With its finances in doldrums and administration in mess, thanks to 500 odd princely states waiting to break free, India was a challenge to administer.
India, however survived despite the predictions of the west that it will politically disintegrate and economically degenerate within few years. A newly independent India punched much above its weight in the diplomatic circles. It dared to adhere to
14 Madison, Angus (2006). The world economy, Volumes 1–2. OECD Publishing. p. 638.
doi: 10.1787/456125276116.ISBN 92-64-02261-9.
the policy of non-alignment and worked for the unity of the third world. It followed a foreign policy of equal distance and thus equal engagement with both the military blocs of the cold war world. In the era of brute hard power displayed by the conflicting blocs of NATO and Warsaw Pact countries who were threatening each other with nuclear weapons, India was able to create a coalition of like-minded progressive countries, which believed in peace and mutual co-existence. Those were the first experiments in soft power of an independent India. So, the genesis of Indian soft power can be traced back to the very first steps of an independent India.
Long standing cultural charm and independent political thinking have been the cornerstones of India’s diplomatic appeal to the international audience. India’s political moral upright behavior in international relations has sometimes been criticized by many commentators as too utopian. In this backdrop, in the current scenario, there are strong voices in India which ask for a foreign policy that is more practical and then suggest pro-active ways and means to achieve these foreign policy goals.
2.1 Cultural Diplomacy
Indus valley civilization is considered by many scholars as the oldest civilization in the world. About 5000 years of continuous existence and constant interaction with the outside world has given Indian subcontinent a richness of culture which is hard to be found anywhere else in the world. Throughout its history, there have been socio-economic exchanges with outside travelers, businessmen and invaders be it Greeks or Turks or Mughals or Europeans. All these exchanges added to the cultural richness and beauty of this nation.
India has always taken pride in its rich history and culture and have tried to sell it to the world. Most recently, with the recent disposition at the center, this feeling of having a strong national pride has increased. The present Modi Government is often termed as the nationalist government that takes huge pride in its past. Thus, the present day Indian diplomacy is putting an impetus on selling India’s rich culture to the world.
This is done ostensibly for two reasons. The first and a more apparent one is the tourism. India has not exploited its tourism potential and needs to put its food on tourism marketing to achieve numbers that do justice to its rich diversity. The Incredible India Campaign had been a very successful initiative but we have to move beyond it now. The other reason for highlighting India’s cultural richness is to use it as a foreign policy tool.
India has the cultural resources to influence the people around the world.
Yoga, Ayurveda, classical dance and music, Bollywood and cuisine – all are the potential tools of India’s soft power, which have proved to be very influential and are followed by a huge number of people worldwide. But, somehow, there is an impression that the potential is not fully tapped and the spread of these practices has been more despite the Government rather than because of an active support by it.
The recent Government has undertaken a few initiatives to give a push to cultural diplomacy, in order to harness the full potential of immense soft power we have.
Some of these initiatives are described below.
2.1.1 International Day of Yoga
In 2015, the UN General Assembly with an overwhelming majority declared June 21st as the International Day of Yoga, on the initiative of the Prime Minister of India. This was considered as a significant diplomatic success of Indian soft power.
What followed was an almost fierce publicity of this day across the diplomatic missions of the Government of India. All across the world, on sea, land and water, yoga was practiced thus giving an impetus to Indian image associated with ancient school of learning, health and meditation. This was a considerable advertisement of India’s soft power.
It must be highlighted that all across the world, the social media handles of the Government of India were replete with the stories and photos of yoga. This again underlines the fact that social media is an indispensable tool for furthering the soft aspects of a nation. People of all nationalities, colors and creeds were sharing their pictures on the social media practicing yoga. Yoga appeared as a great uniting factor and the Indian embassies around the world organized programs and carried out enormous social media campaign for the event.
2.1.2 Cultural festivals in foreign countries
I am taking this example in the wake of upcoming Namasté France cultural extravaganza being organized by the Embassy of India in France. This festival highlighting the salient features of Indian art and culture, starts on the 15th of September, 2016 and will continue till the 30th of November,2016. There will be different expositions displaying the rich diversity of art forms, cuisine, languages and people India has. The Indian Government’s strategy here is to organize events and to ensure that it makes an impact beyond the audience that go and actually watch it.
For example, the opening ceremony of Namasté France is expected to receive more than 2000 people. Active social media campaigns have ensured that the event is already oversubscribed. Strategies are being put in place to ensure that all different events organized throughout the course of programme are given great publicity mostly through the social media. People are asked to share their sentiments about their experiences and ideas of India. Such social assimilation often brings the political gains, so characteristic of foreign policies.
2.2 Economic Diplomacy
There is no denying the fact that Economic diplomacy is more policy determined rather than propaganda driven. Advertising a nation as the best investment destination will yield zero results unless you put in place the economic policies that will attract the investors. World businesses are not enamored by mere words and slogans. Having said that it has to be understood that once specific policy changes are made, social media can be used to reach out to the business community to properly publicize all these reforms, otherwise, they may go unnoticed in this competitive business environment.
Another method by which business diplomacy is yielding rich dividends is the real-time counselling and Grievance Redressal. India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) is very active on Twitter and often gives instant replies to all business queries. This allows the businessmen to avoid too much of redtapism and corruption, which still plagues many of Indian systems. Some
interesting campaigns of economic diplomacy by the government of India are as mentioned below.
2.2.1 Make in India
Make in India campaign is the offer by Prime Minister Modi to the businesses around the world to carry out manufacturing process in India. India has a huge pool of cheap skilled and unskilled labor, an improving infrastructure, a strong intellectual property regime. All these factors can attract big businesses to come and invest in India. The present government has initiated a spate of economic reforms like single window clearances, reduced tariffs and automatic approvals to aid and handhold the companies willing to make in India.
What is interesting as part of this initiative is how well this has been publicized especially through social media? The Make in India logo has become iconic and symbolic of the present day confident India, which is moving forward on the path of prosperity.
The digital marketing agency ‘To the New’ was assigned the job of amplifying and advertising this new initiative to interested parties. As per their website
(http://www.makeinindia.com/home), they were able to reach thousands of influences worldwide, and initiate seeded conversations with them, thus providing the campaign with an incredible reach which is well displayed through the whopping statistics displayed on their website:
4.6 billion Global digital impressions 804,690 overall mentions
3.4 million fans on Facebook
36% positive Year on Year growth in global FDI to India during duration of the campaign in 2014-15
2.3 Consular Diplomacy
Consular diplomacy is unarguably the biggest beneficiary of digital diplomacy.
India’s Minister of External Affairs, Ms. Sushma Swaraj is followed on twitter by over 5.9 million people. She is commendably active and replies quickly to all the questions posed to her on the mundane issues of visas and passports to more serious ones like crisis overseas or requests for evacuation etc. She commands enormous respect in India across the party lines for her engaging involvement in sorting out the peoples’ problems.
Another aspect of India’s consular diplomacy is the hugely influential Indian diaspora which numbers more than 25 million. The Government wants to cultivate them by involving them in different development projects in India. Very recently, the Minister shared a video through Facebook and Twitter appealing the Indian diaspora to donate money to fund various development projects of the Government of India and thereby, connect to their roots. Another of her recent initiatives is to register all the students studying abroad through Student Registration Module madad.gov.in.
Thus the Ministry’s extensive social media engagement with the diaspora is evidently two-way. The Non Resident Indians and the People of Indian Origin raise their demands on social media and get immediate replies. The Ministry similarly makes clear its expectations from its powerful diaspora. Prime Minister Modi on 27th of September addressed a large gathering of Indian Americans in Silicon Valley where he described the Non-Resident Indians as the brain deposit, a stark departure from earlier used term of brain drain.
Another very effective use of social media by the Government of India is during the times of crises. These moments of crises may range from some terrorist attack in a country followed by guidance through emergency helpline and social media support and go all the way to full scale evacuation of thousands of Indians residing in the conflict zones. In the recent years, India has successfully evacuated thousands of Indians who find themselves in flagrant conflict zones from Middle East to Africa. All these relief and evacuation plans depend on the strength of social networks be it on ground or virtual.
The Indian missions worldwide are encouraging the locals to register on the websites or other social media portals of the Embassy, so that they can be quickly traced in case of crises situations. The recent Yemen evacuation, Operation Raahat by the Ministry of External Affairs was widely appreciated as a very well managed operation by international media.15 Social media helped connect everyone awaiting evacuation in Yemen with relatives, authorities and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who was available 24X7 to respond to peoples’ queries. The scale of operation and its success is depicted in the graphic below.
15 http://www.firstpost.com/politics/india-stuns-world-with-brave-yemen-rescue-mission-us-france-germany- seek-help-2187645.html, http://www.folomojo.com/indias-greatest-rescue-mission-in-yemen-7-reasons-why- the-world-is-applauding-operation-rahat/
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/yemen-evacuation-when-ins-tarkash-men-showed- bravery/article7096263.ece
The use of social media to connect to the people in distress is imperative for the success of all the rescue and relief operations. A list of major evacuation operations conducted in the recent past is as under.
In 2011: India evacuated around 670 people from Egypt and more than 16200 of its nationals from Libya. In 2011, itself, India evacuated around 800 Indian nationals from Yemen.
In 2014: MEA effected evacuations from South Sudan, Ukraine, Iraq, Libya and Gaza.
The success of all these programs had a very strong imprint on the sue of social media.
2.4 Political Diplomacy
One of the greatest criticism of digital diplomacy is regarding the conventional political diplomacy. The purists of diplomacy detest the idea of extending the serious
negotiations and decision making to the domain of social media. They insist that putting too much of information in the public sphere hampers the process of decision making on sensitive issues as there are undue political pressures that creep in. This school of thought is widely accepted too as it can be seen during important political meetings where there are clear instructions on staying away from social media regarding the contents of the negotiations, what in diplomatic terms is called the Chatham house rule.
The above argument holds a lot of water as India cannot negotiate with Pakistan on terrorism or with China on boundary issue under the full glare of media, social or otherwise. These are sensitive issues requiring sensitive handling. But, does that mean, social media has nothing to offer to the conventional hardcore political diplomacy?
In a recent article in NY Times by David Samuels titled “The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru - How Ben Rhodes rewrote the rules of diplomacy for the digital age”, he writes, “Standing in his front office before the State of the Union, Rhodes quickly does the political math on the breaking Iran story. “Now they’ll show scary pictures of people praying to the supreme leader,” he predicts, looking at the screen. Three beats more, and his brain has spun a story line to stanch the bleeding. He turns to Price. “We’re resolving this, because we have relationships,” he says. Price turns to his computer and begins tapping away at the administration’s well-cultivated network of officials, talking heads, columnists and newspaper reporters, web jockeys and outside advocates who can tweet at critics and tweak their stories backed up by quotations from “senior White House officials” and “spokespeople.” I watch the message bounce from Rhodes’s brain to Price’s keyboard to the three big briefing podiums — the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon — and across the Twitterverse, where it springs to life in dozens of insta-stories, which over the next five hours don formal dress for mainstream outlets. It’s a tutorial in the making of a digital news microclimate — a storm that is easy to mistake these days for a fact of nature, but whose author is sitting next to me right now.”
The above anecdote shows the startling power of social media in political matters. The crux of the story is that indeed social media doesn’t have much role
