Diplomacy has to work closely and collaboratively with advancements in science to tackle the challenges that the world faces in the modern era, noted a US diplomat.
“Science, policy and diplomacy have to go together, work collaboratively for facing the modern challenges as the new world order has brought its own benefits as well as large number of challenges,” said, Barbara Bodine, former US ambassador to Yemen.
Bodine was delivering a public lecture titled ‘Diplomacy in an Era of Disruption, Discontinuity, and Discord’ at Georgetown University in Qatar Wednesday.
A view of the audience at the event
Bodine started highlighting that the global order that has emerged after the Second World War, has created an international order that has worked well for most part of the world, for most people and most of the time.
“It has led to more political empowerment, more and more people have been out of poverty and level of education has risen and many more. These developments could been unimaginable before 1945. The world has been better off for the last several decades compared to the scenario before the Second World War,” explained Bodine.
“ At the same time, it has also brought up several issues. Peace, justice and security have been concerns among many. The plight of refugees, oppressed minorities, the wellbeing of children, terrorism and violent extremism, climate change and its aftermath, war crimes and genocides among others have been major concerns of humanity in the new world order,” continued the official.
The official also highlighted that the new order offers advanced communication possibilities with the hyper connectivity offered by the modern technology which has made the world more substantially a better place.
With the advancements in communication, social media has become a prominent platform for instant communication and information but it has also generated its own unfeasible forms of miscommunication, false information and fake news, maintained, Bodine.
Ambassador Bodine pointed out that the rise of nativism is another major challenge that the world is facing today leading to several mishaps and attacks on racial or religious grounds and the tragic events that the world has witnessed in the recent months are testaments to it.
“Malignant social media activities and its weaponisation could be the new challenges that the world has to face in this new order. There could be many other challenges too. Diplomats have to be more conversant with these new challenges which they may not have come across in their earlier years. Diplomats now have to work at a speed of their relevance,” she concluded.
Bodine was delivering a public lecture titled ‘Diplomacy in an Era of Disruption, Discontinuity, and Discord’ at Georgetown University in Qatar Wednesday.
A view of the audience at the event
Bodine started highlighting that the global order that has emerged after the Second World War, has created an international order that has worked well for most part of the world, for most people and most of the time.
“It has led to more political empowerment, more and more people have been out of poverty and level of education has risen and many more. These developments could been unimaginable before 1945. The world has been better off for the last several decades compared to the scenario before the Second World War,” explained Bodine.
“ At the same time, it has also brought up several issues. Peace, justice and security have been concerns among many. The plight of refugees, oppressed minorities, the wellbeing of children, terrorism and violent extremism, climate change and its aftermath, war crimes and genocides among others have been major concerns of humanity in the new world order,” continued the official.
The official also highlighted that the new order offers advanced communication possibilities with the hyper connectivity offered by the modern technology which has made the world more substantially a better place.
With the advancements in communication, social media has become a prominent platform for instant communication and information but it has also generated its own unfeasible forms of miscommunication, false information and fake news, maintained, Bodine.
Ambassador Bodine pointed out that the rise of nativism is another major challenge that the world is facing today leading to several mishaps and attacks on racial or religious grounds and the tragic events that the world has witnessed in the recent months are testaments to it.
“Malignant social media activities and its weaponisation could be the new challenges that the world has to face in this new order. There could be many other challenges too. Diplomats have to be more conversant with these new challenges which they may not have come across in their earlier years. Diplomats now have to work at a speed of their relevance,” she concluded.
