Abstract
Direct telecommunication between governments is now a very important channel for the conduct of diplomacy, in normal times as well as in crises. This chapter begins by examining the strong appeal of telephone diplomacy, also known as audio teleconferencing, to heads of state and government and senior officials; this endures despite its numerous risks, which the chapter also details. The second half of the chapter deals with video-conferencing, the medium’s advantages and disadvantages once more structuring the analysis. Video-conferencing in diplomacy certainly took off during the pandemic in 2020–2021 but levelled off at a low altitude. To support this conclusion, the chapter notes the anxiety of diplomats in key negotiations to revert to face-to-face talks at the first opportunity.
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Berridge, G.R. (2022). Telecommunications. In: Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85931-2_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85931-2_8
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