Delineating the term cyber diplomacy is not without debate. Sometimes used equivalently to digital diplomacy, which, expanding on Public Diplomacy 2.0, rather outlines the use of digital means in exercising diplomacy. Cyber diplomacy instead, is better described as employing means of diplomacy to respond to challenges in cyberspace. In this context, it is the small, yet influential Gulf nation of Qatar that continues to make considerable strives.
Driving an ambitious soft power strategy already since the mid-nineties, Qatar did not limit itself to investing its gas-wealth in its own media, infrastructure, tourism and business sectors to compel foreign direct investment and advocacy. It also pursued underpinning its diplomacy early on through a diversity of investments abroad, and by profiling itself as an important player in areas of global relevance. Multilateral exchange in the interest of cybersecurity was particularly important.
Drawing worldwide attention to the risks attached to today’s digital environment, the rupture between Doha and four of its neighboring capitals saw Qatar at the receiving end of a wide-scale cyberattack and disinformation campaign. In June 2017, hackers uploaded fabricated information onto the Qatar News Agency website, bots then multiplied an avalanche of incendiary content on social media, all of which led up to today’s incessant Gulf stalemate. Parallel to the fierce controversy around foreign meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Gulf crisis not only placed Qatar at the center of a global cybersecurity debate involving technology experts as well as political, security and policy analysts. It also set a globally visible precedent for a nation-state’s capability to adequately respond to such an intrusion.
By understanding the situation as an opportunity, Doha has made a virtue of necessity. The country has since accelerated its cyber diplomacy efforts. In particular, by not only f ..
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