ABSTRACT
Just like communication is driving change in organizations, and in their relation to the civil society, public diplomacy, which aims at increasing a nation’s leverage and impact abroad, is experiencing transformation. A range of subcategories has emerged in the field of public diplomacy, creating new language and symbols to allow for adaptation and effective outreach. These include the concept of digital diplomacy . Apart from the technological approach to adaptation, which embeds the use of digital technology in the work of foreign policy, the concept also deals with the shift in power and inf luence from hierarchical structures to citizens and grassroots. This shift may at times provoke institutional tension and unease, but also awakens the curiosity and energy required to stay on top of change and to find new strategies for adaptation in a global context. This raises the important question of how diplomats can embrace change in a way that minimizes institutional resistance and helps foster new methods for communication and relationship building in a global context. The chapter suggests that the behaviour of diplomatic institutions and the way in which things are done, is increasingly becoming part of the message it wants to convey as this allows for new forms of engagement and communication, thus creating trust, inf luence and legitimacy.
