Cyber Partnerships: The US and Brazil in the Digital Age

 The preponderance of the world's more than 2 billion Internet users will be in developing countries in the coming years. All of these nations are responding to disruptive forms of social and political activism that are transnational, establishing new technology policies, and opening new markets. Additionally, these networks facilitated the rapid development of movement with an extraordinary impact. However, these technologies are not inherently progressive, democratic, or ideological. They amplify the existing social and political forces and enable the desires of consumers. We are required to respond to the positive and negative consequences of the dynamism of networked societies. The structure of information systems in contemporary societies has undergone fundamental changes, as evidenced by the emergence of these new forms of decentralized power. Take into account the three primary information networks of international relations: trade, personal communications, and mass media. Over the centuries, the infrastructure that transports products across the globe has evolved from ships to rail to highways. Our communication networks have evolved from the post to the telegraph to the telephone.

Our mass media have transitioned from print to radio to television.

The 21st century statecraft agenda is concerned with the pervasive, disruptive, and difficult-to-predict new forces that are driving change in international relations. The unique characteristics of 21st century statecraft indicate the direction of more profound transformations that will progressively permeate all of foreign policy: the substitution of new tools, the expansion of its scope, and the modification of its values. We are reconfiguring our development and diplomatic agendas to address traditional challenges in novel ways and utilizing one of America's greatest assets—innovation—to adapt our statecraft. This is the 21st century statecraft, which combines traditional foreign policy tools with newly innovated and adapted instruments of statecraft that fully leverage the technologies of our interconnected world.

American values that prioritize open markets, societies, and governments are the foundation of 21st century statecraft. Power dynamics worldwide have been transformed by open information networks, necessitating governments to initiate responses. In general, we have observed a decentralization of power from large institutions and the government, and toward networks of individuals. The trend is unmistakable, despite the fact that it occurs erratically in various locations. The barriers to access in new markets are significantly reduced. Traditional societies are experiencing fractures as a result of the emergence of novel political speech forms. And the ubiquitous nature of networks is providing opportunities for those who were previously excluded from economic, social, and political power. The global community is now significantly more aware of them. Millions of citizen correspondents are creating a record of the daily lives of their respective nations for the global audience. This significantly complicates the maintenance of a substantial disparity between the actions of the governing and the aspirations of the governed. Given the advent of digital media, governments are no longer capable of managing information systems.

Diplomats are required to address the novel question.

The United States and numerous other governments have responded by coordinating their policies and actions to promote greater transparency. In a sense, this is merely acknowledging the unavoidable. These modifications are imminent. They are incapable of being contained. The disruptions that we have observed present both new opportunities and new threats. They are delivered in a bundled form, and we are unable to prevent or regulate them. We have the option to either embrace these changes and attempt to both amplify the positive and mitigate the negative, or we can be tossed back and forth by changes for which we are unprepared. These modifications are persistent and systemic. In order to effectively address the situation, we have established a flexible agenda of 21st-century statecraft that encompasses all of our activities. We have implemented modifications in four significant domains:

Diplomacy in the 21st century: Statecraft "These technologies serve as the foundation for the commerce, collaboration, and communication of the 21st century." More importantly, they are establishing connections between individuals, knowledge, and global networks. The traditional work of diplomacy, which involves interactions between representatives of sovereign states, continues to be the foundation of our work. Nevertheless, the advent of new communication technologies has significantly altered diplomatic communications in recent years. In addition to state-to-state diplomacy, we have incorporated state-to-people, people-to-state, and people-to-people diplomacy. It is now feasible for a significant number of individuals to engage in ongoing and decentralized communication with governments. This is a transnational form of public diplomacy that is unconventional in tone and its breadth of topic.

It also presents an opportunity to enhance mutual comprehension among communities, governments, and the public. Digital media is fundamentally distinct from conventional print and broadcast media. These technologies are one-to-many communication systems. The Internet is a technology that facilitates the exchange of information between numerous entities. Consequently, the most valuable aspect of new media for diplomats is not the capacity to communicate with new audiences, although that is crucial; rather, it is the capacity to listen to new audiences and gain a more comprehensive understanding of their perspectives and values. The State Department's public diplomacy efforts have become more active on social media platforms in order to engage with new audiences. Our diplomats in Washington, as well as at embassies and consulates, are being instructed and motivated to incorporate both local and global social media platforms in order to foster international communication. In just a few years.

We have achieved an extraordinary level of activity.

We have over 2.6 million followers on 301 official Twitter feeds that communicate in 11 languages. Our department maintains 408 Facebook accounts, which collectively boast more than 15.5 million admirers, friends, and followers. Additionally, we engage with millions of individuals on a variety of social media platforms worldwide on a daily basis. We engage with approximately 20 million individuals worldwide, taking into account the numerous social media platforms we employ. The function of new media in public diplomacy has transitioned from being virtually nonexistent to being a standard practice. In the spring of 2011, possibly the most prominent of these engagements was a question-and-answer session with Egyptian bloggers on the Arabic social media platform masrawi.com. Questions were submitted by over 6,500 Egyptian adolescents during this period. This marks the commencement of a new era in diplomatic engagement that significantly expands global participation.