ABSTRACT
In many respects, digital diplomacy is similar to the Rorschach inkblot test, the famous psychological technique analyzing the perception of images. As a recent development, digital diplomacy has been interpreted, defined and understood in different yet similar ways by researchers and practitioners alike. As such, there is no widely accepted theoretical framework that covers the concept; instead, digital diplomacy, so far as it is understood currently, has been defined by scholars and journalists independently unfolding their understanding from the ground up from how they perceived digital diplomacy to be implemented in some case studies. Like the subjects and samples of the Rorschach test, there does not seem to be universal agreement on what digital diplomacy stands for, what it represents, its importance and its comprising elements. As such, digital diplomacy has not been adopted and developed after a common blueprint. Given the individual interests of each of the major players and their particular situations, the pioneers of the practice have only followed some of the initial steps undertaken by others, with the final result, not being completed yet and ready for mass distribution. This illustrates the overall theme of the book of diplomacy as change management , namely, how the practice has dealt with the changes that it encountered throughout history, be they socio-political or technological, and how these changes have been managed internationally and inter-nationally. In this latter case, as probably in most others, the change has encountered a two-fold reaction, both one of acceptance, and a resilience and fear as to its unknown results and implications.
