Digital diplomacy as a new soft power argument of the European Union

Abstract

Soft power is one of the concepts that stand out in the international relations. Along with the effect of globalization, soft power is the most important political tool to control and influence other societies in social and humanitarian areas such as language, culture, technology, and humanitarian aid. Digitalization, which contributes to globalization and transforms the process, is rapidly taking place at every level of social life from diplomacy to economy. In this context, digital diplomacy reveals itself in the context of moving soft power into the digital space; requiring the redesign of power balance in the digital field. The European Union has taken place effectively in the digitization process with the ability to adapt quickly to global change and transformations. In this context, digital diplomacy is one of the main areas that the European Union is quickly organizing and planning for its digital future. The concept of Digital Europe is often expressed between member states in the context of policy development with neighboring countries and international organizations, as digital diplomacy is effectively used. This study aims to take the concept of digital diplomacy from the theoretical framework and discuss its concept in the context of soft power, taking the European Union as a sample. In this study, content analysis will be used for analyzing the official documents published by the European Union, together with the literature. This study is intended to contribute to the digitalization process and political science, through the European Union perspective, together with power and diplomacy dimensions.

Keywords

• Digital Diplomacy
• European Union
• Soft Power

Avrupa Birliği’nin yeni yumuşak güç unsuru: Dijital diplomasi

Öz

Yumuşak güç, devletlerarası ilişkilerde öne çıkan kavramlardan biridir. Küreselleşmenin de etkisi ile birlikte diğer toplumları dil, kültür ve insani yardımlar gibi sosyal ve insani alanlarda etkilemek ve kontrol etmek için ele alınan politik algı araçlarından en önemlisidir. Küreselleşme sürecine katkı veren ve süreci dönüştüren dijitalleşme ise diplomasiden ekonomiye toplumsal hayatın her katmanında hızlı bir şekilde yer edinmektedir. Bu bağlamda dijital diplomasi, yumuşak gücün dijital alana taşınması bağlamında kendini göstermekte; dijital alandaki güç ilişkilerinin ve dengenin yeniden tasarlanmasını gerektirmektedir. Avrupa Birliği, küresel değişim ve dönüşümlere hızlı ayak uydurabilme özelliği ile dijitalleşme sürecinde etkin bir şekilde yerini almıştır. Bu bağlamda dijital diplomasi, Avrupa Birliği’nin hızla düzenlediği ve dijital geleceğini planladığı alanlardan biridir. Avrupa Birliği’ne üye devletler arasında, komşu ülkelerle ve uluslararası örgütlerle politika geliştirme bağlamında Dijital Avrupa kavramı sıklıkla dile getirilmekte ve dijital diplomasi etkin bir şekilde kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, uluslararası alanda dijital hakimiyeti pekiştirme sürecinde dijital diplomasinin bir yumuşak güç unsuru olarak kullandığı iddiasını Avrupa Birliği örneğinde değerlendirmektir. Bu değerlendirmede Avrupa Birliği tarafından sunulan resmi dokümanlar incelenerek, literatürle birlikte içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılacaktır. Bu çalışmanın uluslararası ilişkiler ve siyaset bilimi yazınında sıklıkla tartışılan dijitalleşme sürecine, Avrupa Birliği perspektifinden güç ve diplomasi boyutu ile katkı vermesi amaçlanmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Dijital diplomasi
• Avrupa Birliği
• Yumuşak Güç

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