In 2015 China launched the Digital Silk Road (DSR hereafter). The DSR is an essential part of the One Belt, One Road (BRI) strategy with significant domestic and foreign policy objectives. China has made enormous investments that have allowed it to achieve rapid technological advancement and economic growth. As of 2021, Chinese firms were three of the world’s largest technology companies by revenue. According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in 2020 China reported 1.5 million patent applications, 2.5 times more than the second leading country, the United States. The DSR is part of China’s plan to spread its technical and proprietary knowledge by building telecommunications, data, and financial infrastructure in countries participating in the BRI. The Nigerian digital …

On the 20th of May, 2016, the Oxford Digital Diplomacy Research Group (#DigDiploROx) held a one-day seminar at the University of Oxford focused on Diaspora diplomacy in the digital age. Convened by Professor Corneliu Bjola together with Jennifer Cassidy and Ilan Manor (both doctoral students at Oxford) the seminar aimed to analyse the impact digital tools have on the relations between diaspora communities and MFAs/embassies. Attended by representatives from twenty embassies to London and the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the workshop combined presentations on the topic with a roundtable on digital diaspora engagement. It also included two DiploHacks addressing the issues of crisis communication and online backlash. In this blog post we offer a series of policy recommendations that …