The naked diplomat: understanding power and politics in the digital age

Description

Previously published as Naked Diplomacy. Who will be in power in the 21st century? Governments? Big business? Internet titans? And how do we influence the future? Digital technology is changing power at a faster rate than any time in history. Distrust and inequality are fuelling political and economic uncertainty. The scaffolding built around the global order is fragile, and the checks and balances created over centuries to protect liberty are being tested, maybe to destruction. Tom Fletcher, the youngest senior British ambassador for two hundred years, considers how we – as governments, businesses, individuals – can survive and thrive in the twenty first century. And how we can ensure that technology can make it easier of citizens truly to take back control. Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph PREFACE: The Diplomat Who Arrived Too Late INTRODUCTION: Here Lies Diplomacy, RIP? PART ONE – Glad-handing on the Shoulders of Giants: A Short History of Diplomacy 1. Early Diplomacy: From Cavemen to Consuls 2. Diplomacy By Sea: From Columbus to Copyboys 3. Diplomacy’s Finest Century 4. From Telephone to Television 5. From E-mail to E-nvoys 6. What Makes a Good Diplomat? PART TWO – Statecraft and Streetcraft: Power and Diplomacy in a Connected World 7. iDiplomacy: Devices, Disruption and Data 8. The End of Secrecy? Assange, Snowden and the Death of Bond 9. Building New Power: Bombs, Books and Beckham 10. Using New Power: Only Connect 11. Selling Ladders for Other People to Climb Down 12. A Naked Diplomat 13. Envoy 2025 PART THREE – What Next? 14. Who Runs the Digital Century? 15. The Battle for Digital Territory 16. The Case for Optimism 17. A Progressive Foreign Policy ‘To Do’ List 18. Citizen Diplomacy EPILOGUE: Valedictory Acknowledgements Further Reading Notes Index About the Author About the Publisher